As you know we were huge fans of Elspeth Thompson. Her lovely books and blog were an inspiration to us, and by all accounts she was a very special person.
Gardening was one of her passions in life and the final post on her blog before she died, posed the question. Why do we garden? And why does the passion with which we garden so often seem to be in inverse proportion to the conditions in which we do it?"
She had planned a new blog to document the progress of her own seaside garden and to champion those who also tried to create gardens in 'unlikely and compromising places'. She called it Gardening Against the Odds.
Elspeth wrote for the Sunday Telegraph for 14 years and they have teamed up with the Conservation Foundation and Green and Blacks to set up the Gardening Against the Odds award, to carry on Elspeth's championing of ordinary gardeners.
Entries can be from, or on behalf of, individual gardeners or small communities who have created a beautiful garden (of any size) or green corner that touches the lives of others. The obstacles overcome may include the following
- Creating a garden in an unlikely, or inhospitable corner – such as a derelict site or built-up area.
- Gardening in the face of physical health problems.
- Gardening in the face of mental or psychological health problems such as depression or grief. Elspeth Thompson herself suffered depression and in March, following an extreme spell, she took her own life.
Check out the Telegraph website for more information or nominate a garden here.
