GP Pilot Project: Gardening for Wellbeing

Imagine walking into your GP practice and seeing a thriving garden where patients, staff, and the community can connect, grow, and heal. Our vision is to make this a reality — embedding therapeutic gardening within GP practices across Scotland.

Many people present to their GP with mild to moderate depression, anxiety, or stress. Too often, the only options are medication or long waits for specialist services. Yet the evidence is clear: gardening is a powerful self-management tool that improves mood, reduces isolation, and helps people feel more in control of their health.

The GP practice at the heart of this pilot sits in one of Scotland’s most deprived areas. Here, health inequalities are stark — and the need for accessible, non-medical interventions is urgent.

This 12-month pilot in East Lothian will:

• Create a therapeutic garden at a GP practice in Cockenzie.
• Run tailored gardening sessions for patients with mild to moderate depression.
• Co-design programmes with participants, ensuring activities meet their needs and preferences.
• Link patients to local community gardens for ongoing recovery and connection after the pilot ends.
• Develop resources and share learning with Link Workers, GPs, and the wider Trellis network.

A key part of this project is developing the Growing Well in Practice Toolkit — part of our Growing Well Toolkit Series

his practical resource will give GP practices everything they need to start and sustain therapeutic gardening programmes:

• Multi-week structured activity plans
• Indoor and seasonal alternatives
• Simple tools and sourcing lists
• Risk assessment templates
• Evaluation resources

By piloting both the programme and the Toolkit together, we’ll create a scalable model that could be the systemic change needed in our health care system.

• For patients: improved mood, confidence, and self-management skills; reduced symptoms of depression; greater social connection.
• For GP practices: a proven, non-medical intervention to support patient wellbeing.
• For communities: stronger links between health services and local green spaces.

In short: a low-cost, high-impact intervention that can reduce pressure on the NHS while improving lives.

• We have funding secured to deliver the pilot at Cockenzie, East Lothian.
• We are working closely with GPs, Link Workers, and patients to co-design the programme.
• We have committed, together with The British Society of Lifestyle Medicine, to share the learning nationally.

With further investment, this project could be scaled to GP practices across Scotland. Your support can help us:

• Expand beyond the pilot site to multiple GP centres.
• Develop the Growing Well in Practice Toolkit.
• Provide training and mentoring to GP staff and Link Workers.

Every £5,000 enables us to support a practice to run its own programme — reaching dozens of patients and embedding gardening as part of everyday healthcare.