While living in a flat in Manchester, I started doing a little windowsill gardening, trying to grow whatever I could. It was mostly edibles, easy things like herbs and spinach. I also love to cook so making meals using what I’d watched and helped to grow felt really good!

From there, I became interested in wildflowers, trees, and learning more about growing things myself. The whole mythology behind fairy tales set in forests is magical and something I’ve always loved – even just walking among trees, plants and nature is so special. For a long time, I didn’t feel the need to explore any of it further – I knew I loved nature, and that was enough.

My opportunity came when I moved back to my hometown five years ago.

Working up a greater taste for nature

At the same time that I was job hunting, one of my best friends, who owned a gardening business, needed someone to work with her. Although I was quite new to it all, she knew I was really keen to learn and invited me to give it a go. I knew it would be on the understanding I’d be doing simple things to start off with – weeding, carrying, and doing what I was told as I soaked up as much knowledge as I could! It was good fun and such a great experience to work with a friend. She is someone I really admire and she taught me a lot during that time.

Unfortunately, the work stopped when my friend moved away, but the practical experience I’d gained gave me the desire to keep experimenting and learn more. I grew things in pots, which mostly went very well, and claimed a little area of our flat’s shared garden space. Even with the humble set-up I had, being outside with my hands in the earth always relaxed me.

Outdoor opportunities

As all of the casual work I’d been doing before covid dried up when the first lockdown hit, I desperately needed a new job by the middle of 2020. I put all my effort into applying to a local garden centre, working with the plants. I was so excited to find a job that would involve doing something I love!

I got the job, luckily, as after about six months of doing it, I accepted an opportunity to share an allotment. I think without the extra knowledge I’d gained at work, I would have been too afraid to take it on.

Some people have this lovely idea that when you get an allotment it’s a big bare space that’s dug over nicely with no weeds. This can happen sometimes, but it’s pretty uncommon! Ours had been neglected for a couple of years and was very overgrown!

Planting the seed

There was a lot to do so we got stuck straight in. I’d been feeling unwell for a month or so before the hard work began, generally putting it down to stiffness from sleeping funny or being tired, and this was also how doctors dismissed my symptoms. Often the symptoms – especially the pain in my elbows, were worse after a massive digging session on top of my busy job. This seemed to make complete sense, but my arms also wouldn’t straighten, and I knew something else was going on with my body.

The allotment progressed much quicker than I expected and we excitedly planted seeds. It was exhausting but rewarding – growing your own appeals to me because you can control the growing conditions, and also grow unusual varieties of food that you can’t often find in supermarkets.

We impressed ourselves by growing a candy-striped beetroot called Chioggia, which I’ve only seen on occasion in organic health food shops. It’s so pretty!

My arthritis diagnosis scared the bejesus out of me!

Everything felt like it was coming together in 2021. I got married in summer, my husband and I decided to start saving for a house, covid restrictions were finally lifting, and we were enjoying the allotment. Then there was a spanner in the works – the rheumatologist phoned to tell me I have arthritis.

In a very matter-of-fact way, she told me I have either psoriatic arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis. I think I knew really, but I was still clinging to the hope that my symptoms might be caused by something curable instead. What’s more – there’s no magic pill for arthritis. How would this continue to affect my life? Would it just get steadily worse forever? I was so frustrated. The pain and fatigue had already got in the way of my gardening – might I have to stop doing everything I loved?

The diagnosis scared the bejesus out of me!

Thinking hopefully

After panicking for a while (a phase that thankfully passed but I now realise was necessary!), I looked for other people in similar situations, focusing on those who were doing well. I wanted to learn from these people, as they had obviously found something that worked for them! A blog on the Arthur’s Place website about talking about your condition led me to further useful resources and the Arthur’s Heroes podcast. I realised it’s still early days of my diagnosis – there’s no point being defeatist. Instead, I decided to think hopefully.

Growing your own food is such a magical and healing thing to do for me, so I leapt right back into it and kept going, making sure I went easy on myself whilst learning my limits. Unknowingly, I’d had uncontrolled arthritis the whole time I’d had the allotment, and I had managed to do so much. Maybe once I’ve figured out the treatment I will be capable of even more! It’s a great way to keep active, mentally and physically. It feels so good and right for me to be digging, weeding, growing and picking.

As well as the outdoor time and exercise, the allotment also produces healthy, nutritious food as a result – so much so that our vegetable intake has increased a lot! Getting creative in the kitchen is fun too – we’d come home with a huge bag of swiss chard or a fistful of sorrel and that inspired us to find a new recipe to try out! I’ve just bought my seeds to grow this year, and among them are some beautiful deep purple French beans, and an unusual variety of cucumber called Crystal Lemon which you can grow outside.

Changing seasons

I can’t wait for the summer again, to eat straight from the plot and have bonfires with friends. The allotment is a really friendly environment to be in with people of all ages.

A very important thing I have learned from gardening is patience. I am a very impatient person by nature, I get really passionate and sometimes I want everything to happen immediately! When you start gardening you quickly learn that nothing is instant. You think ahead, you wait, you have disappointments and victories. All of these lessons were perfect ones to learn just before being diagnosed with arthritis. I am learning that there are unexpected setbacks and exciting little victories in my journey with arthritis, just as there are with my veg growing, but patience and a positive mindset makes a world of difference.

If I feel stressed or get overwhelmed by negative thoughts about my illness or the future, I love that I can escape to this special place with a hot flask and take time for myself, being mindful of my own pace – nobody is making me go to the allotment, I go because I love it. I’ve started treatment now so by next season, I’m hoping to see a difference in my joints but in the meantime, I’m going more slowly as I try to build my strength up again. Sometimes I just sit there, listen to the birds and go into a happy little world with my plants.