LIFE is coming up roses for Wayne Draper who has started a gardening business in Tredegar.

The idea has been fertilised by a UK Steel Enterprise Kick Start grant of over £700.

The grant enabled Mr Draper to get kitted out with all the essentials.

"I was able to get a chain saw, hedge cutter, strimmer and other tools with the money," he said. "I wouldn't have been able to get the business going otherwise."

He already has clients scattered around north Gwent and one as far afield as Pembrokeshire.

AD Gardening, as the business is known, offers a full landscaping service, as well as garden maintenance.

Mark Hislop, of UK Steel Enterprise, said: "People want their gardens to be stylish these days and often don't have the time to do it themselves.

"It will also be a valuable service for older people who can't tend their gardens as much as they would like to."

The Kick Start grant has been running for three years in north Gwent and has helped launch a number of small enterprises.

It's administered by the business services department of Blaenau Gwent council.

Spokeswoman Louise Monaghan said: "Kick Start is one of the few forms of grant available in the area to help small businesses get off the ground. It's very popular and is playing an important part in generating the new enterprises which underpin the local economy."

UK Steel Enterprise was started in 1975 by the British Steel Corporation and is now a Corus subsidiary.