Join Forest Gardeners on 21st June 2026 at Hollingdean Park Orchard
Every 3rd Sunday of the month, from 10am to 12pm
Come along and help us grow food!
Our friendly Growing Hollingdean volunteers will meet you at The Shed (click here) on the corner of Lynchet Close at 10am, where you’ll be able to borrow gloves and equipment. Everyone is welcome, no experience needed! We look forward to seeing you, rain or shine.
What we did Forest Gardening on 17th May 2026
We started May’s session by puzzling over our alliums (onion family) that are growing happily along the hedge-line in the park and came to the conclusion that we do know our onions! Or in this case ‘garlic scapes’ which are the unopened flower buds of the garlic.
It had been an unusually dry spell, so as well as our usual weeding we needed to water some of our younger fruit trees and bushes including the two new Cherry Plum trees (numbers 331 & 332) in the play area outside the Family Hub. In time, they’ll give much needed shade as well as lots of delicious fruit. And though it always feels hard to do, we removed the tiny fruit from a young pear tree which was transplanted last year. This will encourage the tree to grow strong roots which should help it thrive in years to come.
Identifying hazardous plants is something we’re getting better at. There is Hemlock, a poisonous plant in the Food Forest and we remove it and dispose of it safely when possible. It can be easily confused with Cow Parsley but Hemlock gives off a rank, mousey smell and the saying ‘bald and blotchy is bad’ can help distinguish between the two as mature Hemlock has purple splotches along its hairless stem. Cow Parsley on the other hand is without the purple markings and has tiny hairs along its stem. It also smells quite pleasant. We plan to put up signage to help with identifying hazardous plants so that we can all learn how to use this beautiful space safely.
Many thanks to all new and longstanding volunteers for another enjoyable and productive session in the sunshine. Our next Forest Garden session is Sunday 21st June 10 am-12pm, meeting at the colourful shed on Lynchet Close. What better way to mark Midsummer’s Day!
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Growing Hollingdean 
