flourish together

our sensory garden and allotment project

We have opened our fully accessible sensory garden and allotments in Clydebank and are about to run a large year-round gardening and sustainability project. This project will focus on connecting people with the outdoors, educating them on sustainability, nutrition and upcycling and building confidence and transferable skills.

The individuals involved in the project will benefit from access to a purpose built accessible sensory garden and allotment with an ongoing calendar of sessions, events and workshops. They will be given ownership and responsibility at the plots, have the opportunity to cultivate, plant and grow their own plants including being able to take these away. We will be teaching all aspects of gardening and horticulture to all age groups and abilities and encouraging them to share these skills with new members to the group.

We have plans for several workshops and are currently planning more but some examples would be - Herbs and How to Use Them, Build your own Window Box, Mindful Gardening, specific repair workshops, Composting, Grow Your Own sessions, Allotment Management, Understanding Plants, Growing Food to Support Wellbeing and Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Reinvest.

The benefits

Our Flourish Together project will offer a holistic approach to wellbeing. It will support mental, emotional, and physical health while providing opportunities for learning and social interaction in an inclusive, supportive outdoor environment. It is designed to be a wonderful way to engage people and help them build confidence, new abilities, and connections with others.

We currently work with an animal therapy CIC (Patchwork Ponies) who will bring ponies to the allotment space to combine the benefits of time with animals to the calming atmosphere of our sensory garden.

The long-term benefits would include physical and mental health benefits for participants including stress reduction, increased physical activity and increased connection to nature. It will allow us to increase environmental awareness and action through sustainability education waste reduction and biodiversity promotion.

It will also lead to increased community building due to the natural social interactions, intergenerational connections and shared pride and collective ownership of the space.

More long-term benefits would be skills development through gardening knowledge and practical skills, increased sustainability skills and building on people’s creative and practical problem-solving abilities.