When you step outside for your daily exercise or to do your essential shopping, how many spring bulb shoots can you see popping up through the soil? Slow down your pace and allow your eyes to look around. Daffodils? Snowdrops? All getting ready to bloom and show their beautiful flowers!

These bulbs will have been planted in the darkest months, deep under the surface. Growing slowly, spreading out their roots and getting ready to emerge in Spring when conditions are better.

As bulbs teach us, through dark times, beauty grows and will re-emerge. The last year has been a tough battle mentally and physically for everyone, but we will get there, we now have hope and positive signs of a safer future.

In the meantime remember its OK to cry or laugh, feel angry, sad, scared, overwhelmed, confused or happy. Emotions can be a rollercoaster even in the best of times. Keep looking out for those shoots, reach out to friends, family or care services and know that we are always here to support you. Whether in person, on the phone or online via messenger. We can get through this!

If you are on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, tag us in any of your gardening photos and show us the shoots that you see.

Lastly, an idea if you are having the challenge of homeschooling little ones; perhaps you could get them outside and task them to count, record and photograph all the shoots they see. We also still have the Growing for Wellbeing resource pack for you to download, which is full of activities, suitable for all ages and includes all the aligned National Curriculum links too.