Growing plants and self-esteem

Growing Grounds Farm and Nursery offers workers recovering from mental illness a place to raise perennials and annuals—more than 100,000 plants are sold each year including some at its retail store in downtown SLO

By Written by Sharon Crawford Photographed by Lance Kinney

With a goal of helping clients move into “real world” jobs, Growing Grounds Farm and Nursery was launched in 1984 as a joint project of the San Luis Obispo County Department of Mental Health and Transitions Mental Health Association.

The hope was that the garden, located on Orcutt Road on property marked by large power poles, would provide a place where people recovering from mental illness would be able to work within their capabilities in a supportive environment.

For 20 years, the garden’s output was fairly small, but four years ago, program manager Craig Wilson and nursery coordinator Megan Hall sought to increase production and improve quality control at the nonprofit wholesale nursery. This required more from workers, but Wilson and Hall discovered that when they began referring to workers as employees rather than clients, job performance as well as output improved.

The first year of the new system, Growing Grounds production increased from 11,000, mostly annuals, to 100,000 plants. The addition of perennials and native plants was a boon to buyers such as retail nurseries, landscapers and landscape mitigation organizations like the Land Conservancy.

Just showing up each day can be a challenge for some employees, but most enjoy the work and companionship. Daily worksheets and assignments provide structure in the 10 a. m.-to-1 p. m. workday. As employees’ skills develop, their self-confidence and self-worth grow along with the plants they tend.

There are three garden areas on the seven-acre farm.

The Journeys Garden near the entrance is an ongoing project of a church youth group that “journeys” to the site each July to contribute another major project.

Recently, a handsome wood bench was built around the trunk of one of the Chinese elm trees. A flock of chickens wanders among newly planted flowers and shrubs, making snacks of any insects or snails they find there.

Near the nursery office, a dry landscape demonstration garden is a teaching project directed by local landscaper, John Doyle. Employees interested in learning landscape construction developed the garden, where a rustic bench carved from the trunk of a tree overlooks a rocky dry stream flanked by drought-tolerant plants.

The Healing Garden, created as an Eagle Scout project, is used by staff for occasional meetings and is separated from other work areas by a seasonal creek. The garden area is accessed across a wooden bridge.

Three huge Chinese elm trees, their mottled trunks surrounded by flowerbeds, provide a sense of shelter. The garden’s location and several memorial plaques create a peaceful atmosphere.

A livelier atmosphere prevails around a pavilion and picnic tables that are made more festive with colorful mosaics and tiki torches. The area is used for employee appreciation parties, often with a barbeque lunch and live music.

The Growing Grounds system for developing employee empowerment offers proof that horticultural therapy works. Two years ago, Transitions-Mental Health opened a retail store in downtown San Luis Obispo to sell Growing Grounds plants and other goods to the community.