Gardening course to boost your mood

An exciting new gardening course in Liskeard is offering a green-fingered solution to building confidence and maintaining your mental wellbeing.

Taking place once a week in the gardens of the Liskerrett Community Centre, the new ‘Your Road to Wellbeing’ course takes a no-pressure approach, using gardening skills as a vehicle to aid personal, social, and vocational development.

Students have already started growing vegetables on a ‘no-dig’ bed, laying compost and manure on a cardboard base which was put down directly on top of grass.

As a passionate gardener, tutor Martin Pallett has a strong belief in the therapeutic benefits of “being outside, connecting with nature and plants”.

Martin said: “Everything we do is centred on building trust and confidence. Some of our students use the sessions to combat feeling isolated at home, others want to meet and perhaps talk to others.

“There are no exams or tests, and the course is focused on demonstrating student progression. Perhaps this could mean someone feeling better about themselves for getting out or maybe for learning a new gardening skill like seed sowing or taking cuttings. Students learn at a pace that is right for them,” Martin continued.

“I like to feel that my enthusiasm for gardening is a benefit to the students. I know I always personally feel better after being out in the garden. I get a real buzz from sowing seeds in particular; seeing them emerge as seedlings and then growing them on as vegetables to eventually eat or as flowers to admire.

“The last year has been a difficult time for all of us and this course is a fun and stimulating way to reconnect again, meet others and learn new skills.”

Adults of all ages and abilities can join the course on Thursdays from 10am-4pm and no prior knowledge of gardening is necessary.

The course is part of a county-wide community health project delivered by The Cornwall College Group (TCCG), offering a wide range of short courses in arts, creative crafts, ceramics, gardening and horticulture, for adults to improve their wellbeing and mental ill health and develop their employability skills.

The Liskerrett Centre is also hosting Art for Wellbeing, a course designed to aid wellbeing through creative play. Focusing on the physical act of doing rather than the creation of a finished piece of work, the half-day sessions cover a range of different techniques including printmaking,  painting and mark making.

There is an additional gardening for wellbeing course on Fridays from 9.30am-3.30pm at alternative venue the Coach House. The group are currently designing a new herb garden with culinary and medicinal herbs which they have been researching.

“This is an exciting opportunity to get involved in our projects in Liskeard,” said Tina Fox, community health programme manager at TCCG.

“These courses could be ideal for you if you are looking for a new beginning, an opportunity to improve your self-worth, or a positive distraction from worries and anxiety,” continued Tina.

“Whatever you’re interested in, our courses are great mood-boosters, and will help you develop your creative, practical and communications skills.”

To find out more or to book a place on the gardening or creative arts courses at either the Liskerrett Community Centre or the Coach House, please get in touch on 0330 123 2523 or enquiries@cornwall.ac.uk