News & Events

Ready Steady Grow!

Learn to grow your own vegetables from seed
Sow your own seeds and take them home
For all skill levels and abilities – everyone welcome
Free refreshments!

Led by Master Horticulturalist Dan Ori MCIHort . We’ll be growing seasonal veg such as beans, peas, potatoes, onions, salads, carrots and radishes. Get top tips for successful vegetable growing and bring your problems and questions!

Workshops are on Tuesday 25th and Friday 28th March – you’re welcome to book onto either or both.

Booking links:

https://ReadySteadyGrowTues.eventbrite.co.uk

https://ReadySteadyGrowFri.eventbrite.co.uk

To find the Peverells Community Garden: The Community Garden is adjacent to Raymond Close in Seaford. BN25 3DW. We’re located behind The Cabin in the top left-hand corner of the play park.
By car: via Raymond Close (Off Barn Rise). The Garden is behind the playpark at the top, left-hand corner. You can also access the Garden from Lexden Drive via the alleyway.
By bus: the Garden is a 10 minute walk from the 12A bus route and a 2 minute walk from the 119 bus route.

This event is kindly supported by Lewes District Food Partnership

Free online workshop

Understanding autism & neurodiversity - creating welcoming communities for everyone

Are you a volunteer or staff member at a community project in East Sussex? Would you like to learn more about autism and neurodiversity, and how to make your project more welcoming for neurodivergent people?

Join our free online workshop:
Date: Thursday 20 March
Time: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm (includes a break)

Booking: Register here

Tool sharpening workshop

Our thanks to Good Food East Sussex month for supporting Gardening In Action's Tool Sharpening Workshop in October! As well as learning how to look after our tools, workshop attendees enjoyed some delicious autumn soup and scones from the wonderful Havens Community Cafe!

The workshop is part of the Growing Community Toolkit. We'll be adapting the content to create online guidance for community groups on choosing and looking after tools and this will be published on the Toolkit website soon.

August and September at Gardening in Action

It's been busy as usual over the last month and a half (so much so we didn't get time to do an August update!). Our big news is that The Growing Community Toolkit website is now live! Recovery Partners, a mental health charity, is partnering with us to deliver a series of workshops all around mental health and volunteering. Please visit the website, take a look around and share with friends. Booking is now live for the workshops.

Please visit: https://growingtoolkit.org/

At The Peverells, we've brought in most of our harvest, and had some good crops despite a bit of tomato blight! Together with Roots Rising CIC we celebrated with our harvest festival last Saturday.

We're looking forward to getting to grips with the planters at Seaford Station, now that all the permissions have been granted by the Railway Authorities. We were delighted to receive a donation of paint from the wonderful Brewers of Seaford.

July at Gardening In Action

With summer in full bloom, it’s been a busy month for Gardening In Action! At the Peverells, we’ve been harvesting all sorts of berries and currants, as well as our tomatoes. Our new brassica cage is the envy of all who see it (we love butterflies, and do our best to encourage them in the garden, but we want to keep the Cabbage Whites away!)

In other good news, some of our Cultivate team have moved onto to paid employment. This is what one graduate told us: ‘Dan and his team were very welcoming and created a friendly, supportive environment. I learned a lot about planting techniques and horticulture from Dan. The hands-on experience and working in the garden helped boost my confidence after being out of work for a while.’

We’re delighted to have been awarded a grant from Seaford Town Council to renovate and renew the planters at Seaford Station. As you can imagine, there are a lot of health and safety regulations to keep people safe when working on station platforms – we’ve now got all the necessary permissions in place and will be starting work soon. We’re also looking after the border garden at Falmer station, which is looking great this time of year.

Behind the scenes, we’ve also been working hard on ‘The Growing Community Toolkit’ – an online resource with live events for community groups across our local area. We’ve been working with a web developer to make sure the online resources are easy to access for everyone, and our friends at Recovery Partners have been putting together a valuable programme to help create ‘Mental Health Friendly Communities’. We’ll have more information and will be launching the autumn programme of events soon.

Wishing all our friends and supporters a wonderful summer!

Event: watering for community gardens and public spaces

Our thanks to everyone who came along to our June workshops on watering! Dan talked through the watering needs of different types of plants, and gave some insider tips from the horticultural industry. We also looked water collection and storage, and some of the issues to be aware of.

If you missed the workshops don't worry! All of the information from the workshops will be coming soon via the Growing Communities Toolkit - an online resource for community groups and individuals.

Our thanks to the Sussex Community Development Association, Co-op Community Fund and Ouse Valley Climate Action Fund for their support.

Event: Encouraging wildlife in community gardens

GIA was delighted to host a biodiversity workshop last month at the Peverells Community Garden – all about encouraging wildlife in community gardens and public spaces. Despite the rain, volunteers from a number of community groups took a tour around the garden, discussed how to include plants for wildlife into community spaces, and looked at how to make areas attractive to both wildlife and people. We had lots of lively and interesting discussions and a cup of tea to keep us warm.

If you missed the event – don’t worry! We’ve been out and about talking to community groups to find out what their key questions and ideas are about how community spaces can be make more wildlife-friendly. We’ll be including all of this and more on the new Growing Community Toolkit website – coming soon!

Thank you to everyone who came along – and we look forward to seeing you again!

Thank you to Making It Happen for supporting this project.

Town Council grant means easier access for the Peverells Community Garden

GIA (Gardening In Action) was delighted to be invited to the Seaford Town Forum in April to celebrate a host of local good causes – and to share news of how Seaford Town Council’s community grant has helped improve access to the Peverells Community Garden for wheelchair users and those with mobility issues.

Last year, Gardening In Action was thrilled to be awarded a community grant from Seaford Town Council for wheelchair matting, which was installed this spring by volunteers. The eco-friendly matting will allow people who use wheelchairs to enjoy the garden, as well as providing a level, safer surface for anyone who has difficulty balancing or walking.

To round off an inspiring evening, the Mayor’s awards were presented – including one for Dan Ori, GIA Director – for Community Charity Champion!

GIA would like to congratulate all the award and grant winners and thank Seaford Town Council for their support.

Online Workshop: Choosing Structures for Community Groups

GIA was delighted to host a lively and informative workshop last month in partnership with 3VA, Greenhavens Network and Havens Community Hub. The workshop introduced the different legal structures available to community groups, and explained where people can go for more help and advice. You can watch a recording of the workshop here.

We were pleased to receive this testimonial: “I recently attended a Gardening in Action webinar which, in short space of time, completely demystified the tricky subject of governance for community groups. It was so helpful to be taken step by step through the pros and cons of different structures and models and then at the end to have a chance to pick the brains of the expert panel. I also very much appreciated the opportunity to send in follow queries – as its often after the event when you think of the key question!”

The workshop is part of our new 'Growing Communities Toolkit', supported by Making It Happen. More information and resources coming soon!

A fruity weekend for GIA!

Dan Ori, GIA Director, spent a busy weekend - all about fruit! On Saturday, Dan was with the Friends of Bishopstone Station, to give a talk about soft fruit. Comments included: 'a fabulous, informative talk'.

Sunday saw GIA teaming up with Trees for Seaford, Peacehaven Community Orchard and Ouse Valley Climate Action Fund to deliver a full day's workshop on winter fruit tree pruning. Members from a range of community groups were there, from Seaford, Newhaven, Peacehaven and Ferring, with refreshments generously provided by the Co-op.

We were even blessed with the weather, with rain and fog during the morning indoor session giving way to spring sunshine in the afternoon.

A full list of Dan's talks and workshops can be found here.

14th January 2024: Trees for Seaford Tool Sharpening Workshop

Dan Ori (GIA Director) delivered a Tool Sharpening and Tool Care workshop for Trees for Seaford. The workshop covered how to clean, sharpen, maintain and disinfect secateurs, loppers, and other gardening tools. Keeping tools clean and sharp is important for lots of reasons. It keeps plants and trees healthy; people are less likely to injure themselves and it keeps plants and trees healthy and helps prevent pests and diseases. Feedback from the workshop included: "Thankyou to the organisers and to Dan for a brilliant workshop and delicious food. I learnt such a lot and now have a new years resolution to keep my tools in a better condition."

The workshop was funded by The Ouse Valley Climate Action Fund.