A SPACE APART

Instagrammer James Martin shares his love of gardening and how much it has helped him and his family both mentally and physically under very difficult circumstances

- James Martin

How long have you been growing your own and how long have you had your allotment? 

I've been an avid gardener now for well over 10 years, learning as I go while also trying to teach my two children, Imogen (10) and Oscar (5). Before we got the keys to our allotment a little over three years ago now, we used to grow some fruit and vegetables in our garden, but since then we have stopped that, slowly turning it into a tropical themed garden. Once we gained our plot, it gave us the space to ramp it up a few notches, to grow new things and also a space where we could escape the real world and gather some head space, which we have benefited from immensely.

You have a young son who is undergoing treatment for leukaemia. How does gardening help you to deal with the stresses and strains this must inevitably cause?

As some of you may already be aware, my son Oscar has been battling acute lymphoblastic leukaemia since he was diagnosed back at the beginning of June 2022. Gardening was already a part of our lives before that, growing things as a family and posting about it on our Instagram account. Having this platform already has given us the opportunity to also try and raise awareness of childhood cancer while also carrying on with the garden and our allotment.

Having both of these has given us the distraction that we needed to escape the mental torture of watching your little boy struggle day to day. I can't really put into words just how awful it was and still is, but just knowing you had that space to clear your head in was very comforting.

I remember back in the early days, when we basically lived in hospital, I used to come home in the early hours and just sit there trying to comprehend what life can throw at you sometimes. Without gardening though, we certainly wouldn't be where we are today, mentally and physically.