Hollingdean Park Forest Garden
Forest Gardeners look after Hollingdean Park Community Orchard, Edible Hedge and Forest Garden. We meet every 3rd Sunday of every month, rain or shine! We help the plants by weeding, mulching with woodchip, water in new plants, pruning dead branches, and keeping an eye out for any damage or disease. Learn how to care for trees and woodland plants, learn how to harvest their crops. Join us for a friendly few hours in a peaceful part of Hollingdean, all welcome.
What is a Forest Garden?
Like a forest the plants grow in layers: tall and short trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants (vegetables, herbs, salads, flowers), fungi, roots and climbers. Forest Garden plants are all useful for food, medicines, fibre, shelter, pollination and wildlife. They also make great spaces for us to relax, garden, socialise and enjoy all year round. Each layer helps build a strong, resilient ecosystem for plants, humans and animals.
The most common seven plant layers are as follows:
- Upper canopy (sweet chestnut, cherry, pear, apple, Victoria plum).
- Lower canopy or sub-canopy (hazel, crab apple, fig, medlar and dwarfing trees).
- Shrubs, and understorey bushes (blackcurrant, gooseberry, raspberry).
- Herbaceous perennials and annuals (mint, chives, fennel, rhubarb).
- Ground cover (strawberries, clover, ramsons).
- Roots and rhizosphere (Welsh onion, ground nut, garlic and chives, Jerusalem artichoke, fungi and mycorrhiza).
- Vines and climbers (kiwi, grape, passion fruit, runner beans).
See what the Permaculture Association say here.
Get Growing in Hollingdean, at the Forest Garden
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 (on the corner of Brentwood Road and 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.
Hollingdean Park’s Forest Garden training day, July 2025
Thank you to B&H Food Partnership, EU Cultivate cultivate-project.eu and Permaculture Tutor Stephan Gehrels for a fantastic day at Hollingdean Community Orchard and Forest Garden. We learnt a lot about how to take care of the the perennial herbs, salads, alliums, fruit bushes and trees planted in the park and orchard this year. And also how to restore and maintain the mature trees and bushes that have been in the orchard for some years. There were plenty of chances to try out scything, pruning, watering and weeding- something for everyone! As well as enjoy a lovely lunch together. See more here.
Hollingdean Park Community Orchard, March 2025
We are really lucky to have been supported by Brighton & Hove Food Partnership and Brighton Permaculture Trust and to have been funded by Cultivate EU- a programme to promote food growing in many cities across Europe. In February an edible hedgerow, including fruit trees was planted between the Family Hub and the playpark. In March 2025 Hollingdean Community Orchard was planted with new layers of plants so that it has become a Food Forest Gardeners. See our blog here.
Join us to weed, water, mulch and enjoy the gardening. We are so we are excited to see what happens and to share it with everyone. It is wonderful to see the young plants grow. We can taste them when they are ready for picking. Remember it is best not to pick new plants too much they need to have leaves to feed them especially in the first years when they are getting roots established.
Golden rules of foraging
The golden rules of foraging are: some for yourself, some for the wildlife and leave some for others, too. This year the new plants are busy getting their roots down to really bed in. As the garden becomes mature, so it will become more and more fruitful in coming years.
Get Growing in Hollingdean with Growing Hollingdean
In March 2025 the Forest Garden was started with Growing Hollingdean Volunteers planting here. Supported by Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, Brighton Permaculture Trust and with funding from Cultivate EU a programme to promote food growing in many cities across Europe in 2025.
It’s free fitness, a chance to make new friends, and we always have a good laugh along the way. Learn about growing food, permaculture and relax in the piece and quite. If you’d like to join us and become a Forest Gardener, just drop by or get in touch with us here.
See our blog for the latest gardening update, August 2025 Forest Gardener
Last month’s Get Growing at the Forest Garden was a scorcher… continue reading here.
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