edible hedge hollingdean park – Growing Hollingdean

Join us in the Forest Garden this Sunday, 19 October 2025

16th Oct 2025

Join us in the Forest Garden Hollingdean Park this Sunday, 19 October 2025 — *Gardening at the Edible Hedge in Hollingdean Park, September 2025*

Hollingdean Park Volunteer Gardening, 10am-12noon, Rain or Shine!

Volunteers meet at the Growing Hollingdean Shed (on the corner of Brentwood Road and Lynchet Close) at 10am on 19th October 2025. We have gloves and equipment you can borrow. Bring your smile and enthusiasm, all are welcome.

Volunteer gardeners at the Edible Hedge, 21st September 2025

Our latest Get Growing gardening morning kept us entertained in the sunshine as we puzzled over various plants in the edible beds in Hollingdean Park. We worked along the Edible Hedge on the fence line near the Forest Garden doing a mixture of ‘chop and drop’ (that’s uprooting non-flowering annual weeds then leaving them on the soil surface to mulch) and plain old weeding out things like bind weed. It was satisfying to clear around our precious edibles and rediscover a few things that had got a bit lost. As it was Apple Day we had to have delicious home-made Apple Cake at break time. Thanks Kate!

Can you name these unwanted plants in the photos?

A. Common ragwort’s (*Jacobaea vulgaris*)

Let us know if you can identify weed D.

What is a forest garden?

See our new Forest Garden page here…

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Join us in the Forest Garden Hollingdean Park on Sunday, 17 August 2025, 10am -12 pm

13th Aug 2025

Forest Garden Training Day, July 2025 at Hollingdean Community and Forest Garden — Learning to prune

New regular gardening mornings in Hollingdean, 3rd Sunday of the month

Join in with gardening the beautiful green space in Hollingdean Community Orchard and Forest Garden, at the back of Hollingdean Park. Learn more about the food growing in the garden and park for everyone to forage. If we look after our green spaces then they will look after us! Everyone is welcome. We look forward to meeting you.

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.

Everyone learnt a lot at Hollingdean Park’s Forest Garden training day, July 2025

Get Growing in Hollingdean volunteers at Hollingdean Park Community Orchard and Forest Garden

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.

Climate changes effect us all

We also observed how the hot dry weather has affected how new plants have grown. And made plans for capturing essential water and providing shelter for wildlife (and the volunteers!) in all seasons – whether hot and dry, or cold and wet. Climate changes mean that we can expect some more extreme weather conditions in coming years so it is good to understand how to support new plants and trees to grow into a thriving, resilient Food Forest Garden for Hollingdean.

You can find out more about Edible Forest Gardens here https://cat.org.uk/info-resources/free-information-service/growing-and-eating/forest-garden/. Maybe you would like to try growing one of your own? Join us each month and learn more together! Everyone welcome, find out more here.

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#volunteerGardening #ForestGarden

Lets Get Growing at Hollingdean Park on Sunday 9th March 2025 10 am-4pm

3rd Mar 2025

Join us again on Sunday 9th March 2025 between 10-4 for more planting, smiles and plenty of hot drinks and a free lunch at the Family Hub. Sign up for each event via the ‘Register Now’ button; You must register separately for each event day where we are learning how to make a Forest Garden.

This time we will be building a Big Bug Hotel and also making and planting up more Forest Garden beds at Hollingdean Park Community Orchard. Plenty of fun for everyone! Any other questions please email rob@bhfood.org.uk or call 01273 234 810 quoting the ‘Get Growing in Hollingdean Park’ events.

What we did on 9th February 2025 in Hollingdean Park

Our Growing Hollingdean volunteers joined Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, Brighton Permaculture Trust and Hollingdean Family Hub to plant a new edible hedge in Hollingdean Park. We had a fantastic group of 25 volunteers, including children, who planted fruit trees, climbers, fruit bushes, herbs and perennial vegetables as well as edible flowers. It will be exciting to see what comes up and flourishes this year! We also made some sturdy permanent edges and mulched the whole bed with bark to help the plants get a good start- and make sure it is all safe from the mowers.

Lots of hands make light work of moving the two tons of compost onto the new beds. It kept us all warm on a cold day!

Cardboard is laid down first to help suppress grass and weeds and then the compost is tipped on top. Stakes are added either side of the new fruit trees. Everyone helps decide where smaller plants can go and then get them planted. Woodchip goes on top to protect everything and provide a good mulch. Finally logs are fixed firmly in place with short stakes. A good job done.

Thank you to all the Growing Hollingdean volunteers, Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, The Family Hub and Brighton Permaculture Trust who have all made this possible