Growers create life and nurture their tiny ‘babies’ to their full potential. Holly Eastlake has taken this creative power a step further. When not tending her allotment, she’s helping deliver human babies at the nearby NHS hospital. This is a story of hope and an invitation to celebrate life.
Holly’s love for horticulture was grafted by her gardening-enthusiast parents and
grandparents, who cherished the outdoors. As her passion bloomed, she surrounded herself with plants, even in shared rental accommodations. This evolved into cultivating a patch in her parents’ garden before her determination culminated in acquiring an allotment in 2019 – just in time for the challenges that would arrive the following spring.
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Shift patterns, long hours, emotionally charged situations, and staffing shortages come with the territory – but adding the pandemic transformed her vocation into something unrecognisable. Holly still struggles to articulate those experiences. Like many gardeners who find therapy in their plots, her allotment became a literal “life raft”. Between shifts, she would escape to her plot, feeling the dirt under her nails and the sun warming her skin. It helped her process the hospital experiences and the isolation that would be lonely if it wasn’t for the magical power of life at the lot.
“Sowing seeds, believing in a future and having something to put my mind to helped me through the pandemic,” she says.
Documenting her allotment journey on social media has brought joy and connected her with like-minded people, both online and at her growing site. Gardening doesn’t require
perfection, but it’s a process where we’re ultimately in Mother Nature’s hands, much like at a delivery ward. Holly wishes to show that gardening is accessible to everyone, regardless of how busy life gets. On her Instagram profile, she’s posted her experiences with various squashes, Pati pans, and red raspberries, which magically turn into a homemade drizzle cake. The key to joy is just to get going, no matter where you start.
“You don’t need a garden, allotment, fancy equipment or lots of spare time to grow your own,” Holly says. “In a small repurposed pot on a windowsill, we can all bring the joy of gardening to our homes and enjoy the rewards it provides.”
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Holly Eastlake helps deliver babies at the NHS hospital. Outside of work, she nurtures plant babies at her allotment, a joy she says we can all experience.
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