Help your garden grow with Thrive’s easier gardening tips

Now the weather is getting warmer, people are enjoying spending more time in the garden– but what can be done to make gardens easier to maintain? National horticultural therapy charity Thrive has released its top 10 tips for spring and summer to help everyone make their gardens beautiful.

Thrive’s 'Tips for Easier Gardening’ leaflet provides practical instructions, hints and tips as well as advice on tools and techniques and a list of easy-care plants. Although aimed at older people and individuals with a range of disabilities ranging from arthritis to backache, everyone can take advantage of the helpful suggestions. Thrive’s top 10 tips for easier spring and summer gardening are:

1. Raise the soil level or use raised beds to make accessing your garden easier.
2. Line containers and hanging baskets with plastic to help prevent them drying out.
3. Group pots together to make watering easier
4. Choose climbing plants that are self-clinging – no support is required and they do not have to be regularly tied up.
5. Avoid very fast-growing plants which will require frequent pruning.
6. Choose plants that are less susceptible to pests and disease.
7. Use mulches of bark, plastic or gravel to help suppress weed growth and conserve moisture in the soil.
8. Replace hedges with fences for easier maintenance.
9. Use ground cover plants to cut down on weeding
10. Grow vegetables and salad crops in containers to avoid digging and avoid bending by raising the pots off the ground!

Thrive chief executive Nicola Carruthers says, "Thrive’s tips provide a range of simple and effective solutions which can help people adjust their garden to suit their needs. Whether it’s buying self-clinging plants or putting up a fence instead of a hedge, a few small changes can make your garden easier to maintain!"



For more information on easier gardening visit Thrive’s website www.carryongardening.org.uk which is packed full of gardening techniques and tools to help you carry on gardening.

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For more information, please visit www.thrive.org.uk or contact Emma Hall for Thrive on 07956 307 382 or emma@thesmallbusinessconsultancy.com

Note to editors:
Thrive is a national charity, founded in 1978, whose aim is to research, educate and promote the use and advantages of gardening for those with a disability. Thrive’s vision is that the benefits of gardening are known to, and can be accessed by, anyone with a disability.

For more information contact: Thrive, The Geoffrey Udall Centre, Beech Hill, Reading RG7 2AT, T: 0118 988 5688, F: 0118 988 5677, Email: info@thrive.org.uk, Website: www.thrive.org.uk / www.carryongardening.org.uk Registered charity no. 277570