Issue 29

Compost Corner

Hello, my name is Richard and I started as an OT tech at Caswell Clinic in June. My background is mainly in horticulture. I have studied and worked at Edinburgh botanical gardens, worked in various garden nurseries and have had my own landscape garden business.

For the last 17 years I have worked with people with various abilities. These have included blind gardeners, people with learning difficulties, mental health issues, people with dementia and who have had strokes. I have set up and worked in gardens in the private and public sector.

I have really enjoyed my time at Caswell so far and in particular, the garden. As you all know my main nemesis, are the rabbits. This really changes what we can grow in the garden and also what we do in the greenhouses. The plan is to grow plants that they will not eat in the plant beds and most of the vegetables etc will be in the greenhouses. So far we have been weeding, watering, pruning, taking cuttings and sowing seeds in the last few months. We will hopefully be doing a lot of planting in with a mixture of herbs and flowers and you should see a big difference in the garden in spring. We have focused mainly on the areas around the greenhouses but some of the gardeners have done work on some of the ward gardens.

Richard