I don't know what made me visit this forum today, but I'm glad I did. What a fantastic resource Twigs is (thank you for the link the that website). I am pleased to hear you have found gardening such a help in your recovery. Stick with it! :-)

While I am not a new gardener, I am not a seasoned gardener, either, so I am not sure what advice I could give you other than to enjoy what you're doing and not take it too seriously. Sometimes trial and error and "happy accidents" are the most effective teachers.

Best of luck with your courses! I hope you keep us posted about your progress.

Thank you, I will. So far we have prepared seed trays, sifted compost and planted seeds, covering with vermiculite then watering and placing in a propagator. We also learned about stratification and scarification and we have to memorise the parts of a plant before Friday. There are 12 sessions in all and a lot to learn in that time but it's fun and it gives me confidence.

What kinds of plants are you growing from seed? Mostly flowers, mostly vegetables, or both? I tend to grow mostly vegetables, but I admire people who grow flower gardens. Such an art and science to making them look beautiful!

For the course, I planted some champagne bubbles (Icelandic Poppies) but on Monday my keyworker asked me to plant some cabbages, lettuces and broad beans. He let me do it however I wanted and he was impressed with the results. He said I did a professional job. I just did it how we were taught except I covered the seeds with a thin layer of compost rather than vermiculite. I hope we learn both flowers and veg because when I move to Sweden, my girlfriend and I want an allotment to grow our own veg in.

This post was edited by BrianW23 on Thu, Mar 13, 14 at 17:10