HEALTH
Gardening is a therapeutic activity, everybody knows that. But at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a horticultural charity has taken it a step further and is using gardening therapy in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Jamie Downham reports
T
HE FLOWERBEDS and lawns at Royal Hospital Chelsea are famously neat and uniform, trimmed with all the military precision you would expect.
However, tucked away on the fringes of the site are two other gardens growing all sorts of wild and wonderful plants and produce, and these are cared for by veterans.
One is a set of allotments set up to keep the Chelsea Pensioners active. The other is a peaceful collection of flowerbeds run by the pioneering horticultural therapy charity Gardening Leave, where former members of the armed forces suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can come and garden. The idea of both is to get veterans outside in the fresh air, engaging in activities that take their minds off the terrible things they saw in battle. Over at the pensioners’ allotments, 82-
year-old Lee Osborne-Wakley is growing fruit as exotic as the far-flung places he served during his 25 years in the army. He nurtures melons, grapes, pears, and his latest pride and joy, a Himalayan banana tree, which is living in a small greenhouse. “The trouble is, it grows 12ft high,” he explains. “I might have to think again.”
Since he left the army, Lee has been a keen gardener, to the extent that when his wife built him a conservatory as a surprise, he used it as a greenhouse. So when he came to the Royal Hospital ten years ago, he signed up for an allotment immediately. “Gardening keeps you fit,” he says. “I never lie on my bed in the afternoons. I’ll generally come down here and mess about. I come every day. I think you either do a thing or you don’t. I’m not one of those 50/50 people.” Nor does he do things by halves in the competitiveness stakes. When the man
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