HE SUFFERS from poor mental health following a childhood affected by what he describes as trauma, anxiety and depression.

Now Leigh Johnstone, 33, of Shirley, Southampton, is planning to use his own back garden to help other people facing similar issues.

Leigh, an artistic director for a theatre company, is launching a project called The Giving Garden.

People supporting the not-for-profit project will be able to study a list of plants and chose the ones they would like to "foster" for a friend, family member or colleague.

They will then receive seasonal updates on how the garden is progressing.

Once their plant or flower has come to the end of its growing season Leigh will save the seeds or press the flowers, which he believes would make an ideal Christmas gift for the person who was nominated.

Leigh said: "It's the power of growing plants and flowers that helps me deal with my mental health when times are bad.

"I'm passionate about giving other people the opportunity to explore how gardening can improve your mental health. Now I want to use my own back garden as a tool to help me do that on a bigger scale.

"In 2020, in the midst of several lockdowns and the forced isolation that came with it, I started sharing my garden with people on Instagram.

"I posted pictures of flowers and started talking about how my garden was helping my mental health at the time.

"People started to notice and the account took off. I was getting messages from all over the world about how gardening was helping them and how much they found my content helpful.

"When my grandmother died from Covid-19 I found a box of gardening seeds in her greenhouse.

"I gave most of the seed packets away to gardeners across the UK. It was a nice way for me to process my grief, knowing something of hers was being shared and cared for by other people.

"It was lovely to receive pictures of the flowers growing in other people's gardens. This sparked the idea of The Giving Garden.

"It'll be full of plants and flowers, each one dedicated to someone struggling from poor mental health, low mood or just in need of a pick me up."

For more details go online and visit crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-giving-garden

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