In the garden
In 2007, photographer Sophie Verhagen met a group of Hackney elders through a gardening project managed by Anchor Trust.
The people she photographed found great solace and comfort in their gardens, but struggled to maintain them in old age. Her intimate portraits are a reminder of the love, reward and frustration gardens can create.
![Three images of people standing in their gardens, display on lightboxes](/media/gqpc1kin/homegallery_highres_250221_5836.jpg?width=1500&upscale=false)
Stories to look out for
![An adult in a green shirt and black trousers leaning over to point at plants in a garden](/media/1czndgvm/hg-gk-01-sophie-vergahen.jpg?width=1500&upscale=false)
Stafford J
'I got this flat in 1991. It's really quiet here, I know everyone and they all look after me...This is the first time I've had a garden. I was growing potatoes, cabbages, tomatoes, okra, red peas for a couple of years.'
![A person sat on a chair in a garden](/media/iehfufaa/hg-gk-06-sophie-v.jpg?width=1500&upscale=false)
Beryl M
'I met my husband here in 1958...When he was alive the garden was lovely because he looked after it and he would put seeds down if there was a patch and we had one side with flowers and the other with vegetables. But now I’m not able to do that.'
![A person using crutches, standing in a garden](/media/i2pnbrrq/hg-gk-02-sophie-v.jpg?width=1500&upscale=false)
Myrtle H.
'There was a man that came and turned the soil over in the garden and my sister looked after the garden because she loves gardens and I'm afraid of worms! I look after the pots.'