By Dave Bradley

Tucked away at the back of Gransha Park is a gem of a garden centre  providing horticultural therapy to 23 people with learning disabilities.

Sow and Grow is part of the HSCs Learning Disability program. It allows a mix of people living in residential care, in independent living environments or living with parents, to work in a garden centre environment.

Users of the service can come to work up to five days a week and for the first time a woman has joined the group.

The centre is open to the public all year round selling a range of plants and shrubs and during the quieter winter months Christmas Wreaths and table centrepieces made onsite.

Liam McCloskey is the acting senior day-care worker who described the benefits working in the centre provides.

“It’s an opportunity for the group to improve both their mental and physical health and develop their social skills too. It’s not only horticulture on offer, on Wednesdays we go out for different fun activities like bowling. We also take the group shopping which helps them get used to handling money.”

Two men, Thomas Moore and Jimmy Sweeney have been here for more than 20 years each and described how they feel about working here. Thomas says he loves working outdoors and maintaining the site. He has also made friends and likes how the centre keeps him busy.

Jimmy prefers working by himself at the cutting table, taking the plant cuttings and potting them in compost. He also likes working on the wreaths at Christmas time. Thomas likes the weekly day trips but its not for Jimmy who takes that day off.

A productive partnership has been built up with Derry City/Strabane District Council where in autumn the council workers gather bulbs and roots of plants from planters and beds around the city and deliver them to the centre. They are then cleaned and stored overwinter and come spring they are re-potted for sale at low cost to the public. Any profits made are put back into the centre.

This year the centre is providing plants for a bed as part of City in Bloom. They are having an open day in June on a date to be confirmed and are encouraging the public to attend to raise the profile of the centre and the work they are doing there and of course to buy a few plants too.

Sow and Grow is based in Gransha Park, Derry.