Find out about Friends and Members
Thrive logo

Thrive will help you carry on gardening, whatever your disability

Thrive is a small national charity that helps people with a disability to start or continue gardening.

We have practical information to make garden jobs easier, advice on taking care, useful hints and tips and details of the equipment and tools which will be particularly helpful.

If this is your first visit to our website, go to About this website for a guide to what information you'll find where.

If you can't find the information that you need on gardening with a disability, send us an email or call on 0118 988 5688. We'll be pleased to hear from you and happy to help.

Gardening Changed My Life

Mark
"When I lost my sight I feared I'd have to give up gardening - I've always enjoyed being in the garden."
Find out more about Mark

Angela

Angela
"After my stroke I wanted to get back in the garden and do as much as possible. You have to keep trying to do it for yourself."
Find out more about Angela

Ian

Ian
"I didn't think there was anyway I could garden again with only one functioning hand. Gardening helped me learn to live again."
Find out more about Ian

Fred

Fred
"Thrive helped inspire us to make changes to our garden and we found the information and advice invaluable"
Find out more about Fred

How can I carry on gardening?

This section looks at jobs that you might want to do in the garden and gives practical information to make the tasks easier.

Each section is carefully written to help you start or continue gardening with a disability, and gives top tips for each task, advice on how to take care and useful information on the most suitable equipment and tools.

Thrive's top tips for disabled gardeners is a general section with information for all disabled gardeners, and then there are specific sections for gardening: after a stroke and with heart disease; sitting down and from a wheelchair; with sight loss; with a weak grip; with one hand; if you can't bend easily; and for emotional wellbeing.

Equipment and tools to help you

Equipment
Look at the latest gardening products designed to help make gardening easier and read our general advice on what to look for when choosing and buying new tools.

You can look at equipment and tools by the type of garden job you want to do or by disability, where you will see a selection of products which are easier for people with a specific disability to use.

All the products mentioned are available from good garden centres, from gardening shopping websites, hardware stores or in some cases direct from the manufacturer.


Find out more about equipment and tools to help you.

Thrive News

Planting for Chelsea
Published - 10/05/2012
It's all go in Battersea now as we get ever nearer to RHS Chelsea Flower Show. This week we held interviews with gardeners on our Working it Out programme to see who gets to go and plant the Alitex greenhouse and cold frames on May 18.
Find out more about Planting for Chelsea
Joe Swift talks about his first Chelsea garden
Published - 07/05/2012
Joe Swift is a garden designer, President of the NGS and well know TV personality presenting BBC2's Gardeners World since 1998. He is currently designing his first Chelsea Garden for Homebase and the Teenage Cancer Trust. He takes a few moments to chat to Thrive.
Find out more about Joe Swift talks about his first Chelsea garden