Blooming marvellous! Flower seeds are on their way to help you connect with nature

Lots of you took us up on our offer of free flower seeds during Mental Health Awareness Week 10-16 May, which is great news!

We ran our flower seed giveaway to spread some happiness and give our customers and colleagues an opportunity to focus on their mental health. This year’s theme was ‘nature’ and its powerful mental health benefits.

Your flower seeds are now in the post. They will be landing with you shortly and we’re looking forward to seeing how your gardens, patios and balconies grow!

Our Neighbourhood Care team will also be supplying tips and advice to help make sure your garden grows with the fabulous flowers, so stay tuned! If you’re sowing your seeds indoors you can find tips about how to do this on this page – scroll down for more.

This fantastic giveaway idea was suggested by our colleague and Wellbeing Champion, Becky Braid, who wanted to help lift customers’ and colleagues’ spirits this summer. And we hope we achieve just that!

We’d love to see your pictures and videos and hear your stories about how you get on growing your flowers, so do share them with us. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or you can email pics to us at communications@fcho.co.uk.

Tips for successful sowing indoors

Tony from our Neighbourhood Care team is among our colleagues who keeps the green spaces in your neighbourhoods looking good throughout the year. He has put together this handy step by step guide to help you get started if you're sowing your flower seeds indoors.

You'll need:

• Flower seeds
• Seed tray or small pots to get started. Empty yoghurt pots, egg cartons or a margarine pot work just as well, too. Pierce holes in the base for drainage and remember to place a saucer or plate underneath to catch the water.
• Slightly bigger pots for transplanting/potting on.
• Seed compost - this is ideal for seeds to germinate in
• Spray bottle and clean water. If your going to recycle a spray bottle, make sure you clean it out thoroughly.

Step 1: Fill your small pot three quarters full with seed compost. Gently firm the compost down with your fingers and give it a spray with clean water to add some moisture.

Step 2: Sow one seed per pot. Lay your seed on top of the compost in the middle of the pot and gently press it down.

Step 3: Top up your pot with compost, filling it almost to the top. Gently firm the compost down and spray it with water so it's moist, not saturated. If it gets too wet it will rot.

Step 4: Carefully place your pots somewhere indoors. Check them daily to make sure that the compost hasn't dried out and give them a light spray with water if they need it. The seed will start to germinate within 7-10 days usually.

Step 5: Transplant or ‘pot on’ the young plants to a slightly bigger pot or container when the second pair of leaves emerges. When you transplant the seedlings, gently take them out of the pot with the compost and be very careful not to disturb the root. Fill your pot with compost and plant the seedlings a few centimetres apart. Place your pots on the windowsill and turn them occasionally to make sure they get enough light. Again keep the compost moist and don't allow it to dry out.

Step 6: After a couple of weeks the young plants will have grown big enough to plant in plant pots or be planted outside in soil.