Nicola and Betty

Here are three things I’ve learned from a year with Edinburgh Garden Partners:

Learning by doing

I don’t know about anyone else but at my first day in the garden I had no idea what I was meant to know or do. However, in the last year I have been on multiple wonderful courses learning as much as I can about plants, have learned how to prepare for winter, dug up many a gnarly unkempt weed and most recently brought my family round to visit and put them to work for an hour – something I’d never even have thought I could when I first started.

Learn to be kind to yourself

I have also been able to eat (in abundance) beautifully fresh salad leaves, including: lettuce, spinach, rocket – and get excited every week by the progress of my broad beans, peas, fava beans, raspberries, onions, garlic, potatoes (feels like thousands of them!) and more. It is definitely not the glut I dreamed of when I first signed up, I genuinely envisaged never having to buy vegetables again.

When you see other peoples’ beautiful plots, it’s hard to figure out where you went wrong or what you could do better. I constantly have to remind myself that prior to this, I’d never really grown anything more than herbs on my windowsill. On reflection I’m so pleased to have learned so much in the last year. As I’ve already seen, a lot can change in a year.

It’s not just about the garden

My life would not be the same if I hadn’t been introduced to the lovely lady who owns my garden – Betty. She’s 89, and sadly can’t move too much, but is so full of life, joy and fantastic stories. She’s been in the house and loved the garden for 88 and a half  years and it took a while for her to feel comfortable inviting me in, but just 2 weeks ago I had my family around to visit and she was delighted to meet them all, share some stories and crack some jokes. When we first started working together, she said she wouldn’t set her foot in the garden again. Now, she’s told me she has tried to walk through it with one of her friends on a few occasions – I’m so delighted! It is so much more than just getting to share some garden space.

This thing I do every week is a very important part of my life. From the friends I’ve made at EGP, through to the lovely voicemails I get when Betty’s not been able to get up and say hi, I have no regrets about my choice to volunteer with such a great organisation. Not only am I helping someone enjoy their garden, I’m getting outside, eating more great food and genuinely feel so much better for it. Here’s to another great year!