Share your story
We love hearing about how your gardens and our Thrive advice have helped support your wellbeing. If you would like to share your story, email info@thrive.org.uk
When Fi and her husband moved from rented accommodation into their own home, with an established garden, she was enormously excited to spend time in it. The sudden and unexplained damage to her eyesight shortly after moving in came as a blow.
“With my right eye, I have a detached retina and hole in the back, so can only see light and dark,” explains Fi. “The left eye had lots of retinal tears. It’s been zapped a lot. I am lucky enough that I’ve still got vision in it, so I can get around and do things. My main problem is double vision, depth perception and the blind side, which I’ve not fully adjusted to.”
“It was a sudden change. They say it shouldn’t have happened and don’t know why it did.”
The loss of vision coincided with the first Covid lockdown. As a result, Fi experienced anxiety and depression. Having to give up so many of the things she had previously enjoyed, like yoga and swimming, was very difficult.
Regaining gardening confidence
Fortunately, one activity Fi is finding she can continue is gardening. Doing so has involved researching ways to adapt her garden and gardening technique. There has also been plenty of learning as she gardens:
“My husband is very practical and comes up with lots of ideas,” says Fi. “I’ve also spoken to lots of visually impaired people via forums and RNIB groups. When I ask for gardening advice, a lot of people say they don’t garden any more, which makes me sad.”
It was a conversation with her Rehabilitation Officer for Visual Impairment (ROVI) from the local council sensory team that led her towards Thrive.
“I had a lovely ROVI who came to my home once a month and shared lots of tips,” explains Fi. “She noticed I was a gardener and suggested I try Thrive.”
“I’m not local enough to come to a Thrive garden, so I signed up to Thrive Gardening Club and also bought some large print guides from the website.”
The information shared via Gardening Club is really helpful ... it's very good content, seasonally relevant and practical.
Fi
“The information shared via Gardening Club is really helpful. On a personal level, it’s the visual impairment stuff I’m interested in, but I also like gardening in general, so all tips are useful.”
“It’s very good content, seasonally relevant and practical. I also love the quizzes. It has made me feel much better!”
Finding ways to keep getting enjoyment from the garden has had huge benefits for Fi.
“I like being in the garden. I’m an outdoors person; I like nature. There’s so much I enjoy - flowers in particular, weeding – all sorts of things.”
“Gardening has been my saviour for my mental health. It’s not an urban legend what they say about time in the garden!”
Fi’s next project in the garden is to keep adding big, bold flowers in colours she can more easily see. With a garden full of flowers that attracts plenty of wildlife, she also wants to keep making time to just be in it and enjoy it.
Gardening has been my saviour for my mental health. It’s not an urban legend what they say about time in the garden!
Fi
Fi shares some of her discoveries and solutions that may help when gardening with visual impairment:
We love hearing about how your gardens and our Thrive advice have helped support your wellbeing. If you would like to share your story, email info@thrive.org.uk
Gardening can be fantastic for our wellbeing. If you are blind or visually impaired, there are ways to adapt your space and technique so you can keep enjoying time in nature.
