Stephen, Carl and Mike’s story

Stephen, Carl and Mike share a deep love for the outdoors and a passion for growing their own food. What began as a small project has blossomed into a thriving garden full of life, colour, and community spirit. With the dedicated support of their staff team from 1st Enable Ltd, they have created a space that provides not only fresh, organic produce and also happiness, relaxation, and a deep sense of fulfilment.

The staff team explain more about the garden and its impact:

“Stephen, Carl and Mike share their home with three others, and growing things is one of their passions. Their garden is thoughtfully divided into two main areas; a vegetable patch, where they grow seasonal vegetables and herbs, and a wildflower area, designed to attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.

Each year, as autumn arrives and the growing season slows, the group enjoys sitting outside together with a warm drink in hand. These cosy moments are spent reflecting on their progress and planning what to grow in the coming year. It is a time for conversation, laughter, and shared excitement about new ideas for the garden.

In February, they begin the important work of nourishing the soil and preparing the land. Carl, who absolutely loves doing all the digging, eagerly takes charge of turning the earth, adding compost, and ensuring the soil is rich and healthy. His enthusiasm and hard work lay the foundation for a successful growing season. Stephen and Mike follow by helping to plant the seeds in early spring, each taking care to nurture the young plants as they begin to grow. They each take it in turns to water the patches daily and keep the soil free from weeds. With encouragement and support from the staff team, the garden quickly transforms into a vibrant space full of energy and life.

Spending time outside in the garden brings countless benefits. The fresh air, sunshine, and connection with nature help everyone to relax and unwind. They often talk about how happy and fulfilled they feel while tending to the plants, seeing their hard work and efforts turn into thriving vegetables and colourful blooms gives them a true sense of accomplishment.

When harvest time arrives, they gather the rhubarb, butternut squash, French beans, garden peas, potatoes, spring onions, courgettes, carrots, pumpkins, chillis, tomatoes, coriander and a few other herbs. These homegrown ingredients are used to prepare wholesome meals for everyone in their home, food that’s loved by all. Their garden’s success even led them to cook for 1^st Enable Ltd, proudly sharing their organic produce and their story of teamwork and joy.

Next year, they plan to expand the garden, adding more vegetable beds and extending the wildflower area. With ongoing support and Carl, Mike and Stephen’s love for working outdoors, their garden’s success will continue to grow, lasting happiness, teamwork and the joy of being in nature.”

Encircle Housing wanted to support our tenants and their amazing garden project and has recently provided some compost to help nourish the soil ready for next year’s harvest.