Saturday 16 – Friday 22 March 2013

Harvest Brighton & Hove is taking part in the first ever Big Dig Week, which is happening up and down the country, as community growing projects prepare for spring with the help of volunteers.

Big Dig Week Brighton & Hove is a week-long programme of events which sees over 30 gardens open their gates to new volunteers to celebrate the start of the growing season.  Special activities are planned across the city including a session on building vertical salad gardens in Portslade, wild flower sowing in Stanmer Park and learning about growing fruit in the city centre.

It’s a chance for city residents to discover some of our edible urban spaces, as well as taste produce grown in the city and learn new gardening skills. There over 100 community gardens in Brighton & Hove who rely on volunteers to keep going. Thousands of volunteer hours are spent growing food in the city each month and this is your chance to get involved.

Jo Glazebrook, Big Dig Co-ordinator says:

“This is a great chance for people to explore and support these growing spaces and spend a day outdoors in an inspiring setting. Community gardening is the perfect antedote to the long allotment waiting lists and it’s a great way for people to learn how to grow food and escape city living. Big Dig Week is jam packed with activities in every corner of the city and we’re really excited to see how many seeds we can plant, to help make Brighton & Hove the most edible place in the UK.”

In the West Hill area: On Saturday 16 March between 12pm and 4pm head over to Dyke Road Community Vegetable Garden where there will be a seedling swap and sale, seedling planting and fun family garden activities. You can also find out about the community compost scheme here, and at its partner site at St Luke’s Church. For more information about what is going  on during the Big Dig Week in the city visit the Harvest Demonstration Garden in Preston Park on Saturday between 12pm and 4pm where you can also pick up general gardening and growing advice.

For the full Big Dig Week programme including a map of gardens taking part, visit www.harvest-bh.org.uk/events There is also a map where you can enter your post code to show the gardens nearest you http://www.bigdig.org.uk/brightonandhove

For more information contact Jo on 07720 738854 or email Jo@bhfood.org.uk