The thing we have missed most in these past months of lock down is being together. Up until recently we have been going to the garden in ones and twos over the winter just to try and keep it ticking over but we missed the synergy of the group. I think all community gardeners know we make friends from doing things together and where better than under the wide skies, fresh air and beauty of a garden?
Our garden hasn’t been open to the public for a year now which is much missed by the community. When the last lockdown was enforced we decided if people couldn’t come to the garden then we would take it to them and we started our ‘hugs in a jar’ scheme!
We have to do all the processes separately so one of us goes and picks whatever we think will look nice, mainly a backdrop of evergreens, heather and twiggy sticks with a ration of maybe 3 snowdrops each or a crocus and lately the little tete a tete daffy. Someone else makes then into posies, another makes the labels and our artistic volunteer makes lovely stickers for the labels! Then a few people deliver them to folk who are isolating or for some reason a bit low and needing some cheering. We also put some in our sharing shed and they disappear almost instantly! People I don’t know keep bring me jam jars and leaving them at my gate! It’s worked beautifully.
It’s a simple but very effective way of passing on a little kindness and it helped keep us in touch with each other and our gardening group alive. We still gather in small numbers at a distance but what joy to work alongside each other once more, against the backdrop of spring.
Author: Jan Cameron St. Ronans Wells, Innerleithen
