About us

About Us

Gardening In Action (GIA) is a not-for-profit community interest company (CIC), set up as an association in March 2020, then evolving into a CIC in 2022. We support community gardens and volunteering in green spaces across Sussex.

What We Do

• Cultivate Programme – a horticultural into-work scheme for job seekers.

• The Growing Community Toolkit – we share practical, expert advice for community groups and volunteers through workshops and online resources

• Community spaces – we run the Seaford Community Orchard, the Seaford Station Planters and the Falmer Station Borders, as well as supporting many other community groups and projects.

• Tool Library – launching in 2025, this will let local community groups borrow gardening tools for free.

About Dan Ori

Gardening In Action is led by Dan Ori, MCIHort. Plants and gardening have been Dan’s passion and calling for over 30 years, with his first paid gardening work for family and neighbours at the age of 15. Dan has worked as a tree surgeon, soft landscaper, hard landscaper with design, a general gardener in all types of domestic gardens and in commercial settings, estate gardener, head gardener, plant specialist, horticultural manager, garden centre duty manager, regional horticultural trouble-shooter, garden & DIY centre manager, retail plant buyer, trade only plant seller, nurseryman, online plant sales administrator, neuro-diverse and dementia gardening instructor, gardening class instructor, association chairman and chief horticultural expert.

Dan has worked as an arborist, ranger and forester looking after thousands of trees in the streets, parks and woodlands of East Sussex.

Gardens Dan has worked at include Bolney Manor and Estate, Sheffield Park, Walstead Place and Deans Place Hotel. Commercially, his experience includes Wyevale Garden Centres, Stone Cross Nurseries and Millbrook Garden Centre. Dan is qualified in Horticulture, Arboriculture and Forestry, and is currently part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Master of Horticulture programme. Dan is a certified instructor for the Square Foot Gardening Foundation. 

Dan is a writer, fact-checker and reviewer for numerous online and print publications, including Horticulture Magazine.

You can hear Dan sharing his expertise on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@OriginalGardening alternatively you can book a workshop or talk from Dan: Talks & Workshops 

Our Supporters

Our huge thanks to our supporters and funders, who make our work possible!