Dear Garden Friends,
🐝As the spring warmth awakens the garden and new life emerges, we’re buzzin’ to share our quarterly update for our Living Vital Community Garden. Let’s dive into a recap of progress & the exciting plans and projects in store for the season ahead!
🌷 SPRING VITALS
Seasonal Tips
Growing 🌱
- Continue sewing seeds indoors
- Start sowing hardy vegetables outdoors (peas, radishes, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, salads)
- Plant summer bulbs and tubers for summer blooms
Protecting 🏡
- Watch for late frosts and protect tender new growth
- Begin pest management for common spring pests (consider cruelty free options such as companion planting, homemade neem spray, and creating physical barriers)
- Check irrigation systems as weather warms
Nature Connection 🦋
- Observe returning migratory birds
- Watch for first butterfly sightings
- Listen for the dawn chorus intensifying 🕊️
Foraging 🌿
- Collect nutritious spring greens:
- Wild garlic (check out 26 wild garlic recipes)
- Dandelion leaves (did you know you can use all parts of the Dandelion? Roots, flowers, and leaves all have medicinal properties! Recipes here).
- Nettles (you can do so much with nettles and they are extremely medicinal! Check out this vegan nettle cheesecake recipe!)
- Please always ensure proper identification and triple check.
🌱 IN THE GARDEN
Winter Highlights
- Christmas gathering and festive fun
- Celebrated community engagement with community planning session
- Worked on the second raised bed for enhanced accessibility
- Built steps down to new cooking area
- Prepared for “fruit cage” redesign project: moved fruit trees and bushes
Spring Plans
- Continue planting schedule:
- Early crops: peas, spinach, radishes
- Prepare beds for summer vegetables
- Woodwork projects:
- Complete new raised bed for enhanced accessibility
- Build 7 new seed tables
- Continue cooking sessions with Voices in Exile community
- Develop local business partnerships for team building experiences (contact us to learn more!)
- Host community led educational workshops: Poetry, Fermenting, Photography, and Singing.
📚 WHAT WE’RE DIGGIN’
Recipe of the Month: Wild Garlic Pesto. This vibrant, seasonal pesto celebrates the abundance of wild garlic. Perfect tossed with pasta, spread on toast, or dolloped onto any meal!!
Book Recommendation: The Garden Jungle by Dave Goulson – an enlightening exploration of the incredible diversity of wildlife that can be found in your garden, and how to encourage these vital creatures to thrive.
Podcast We Love: Check out the Roots and All Podcast here, sharing UK based gardening and nature tips!
🌍 GROW THE MOVEMENT
Join Us!
- Attend our weekly and fortnightly community garden sessions
- Follow @living_vital on Instagram and Living Vital on Facebook for upcoming dates
Spread the Word
- Share our social media
- Tell friends and family
- Get in touch with us if you have a contact / company who might be interested in partnering with us!
Stay Connected
Connect with Living Vital:
- 🗓️ Upcoming Events
- 🌐 Website
- 📧 Sign up for our newsletter
Key dates
We have now coordinated our Voices in Exile sessions, so make a note if you’d like to join us! 🤗
✨️Monday 28th April
✨️Thursday 15th May
✨️Thursday 5th June
We have also scheduled 4 Happy Hangouts – this means we stay a bit later after lunch for workshops led by our community. If you’d be interested in sharing your craft or offering at one of these sessions, please get in touch!
✨️Sat 15th March
✨️Sat 5th April
✨️Sat 17th May
✨️Sat 7th June
See our pinned instagram post for a full list of session dates.
💚 SUPPORT US
Your donation helps us create inclusive, thriving green spaces where diverse communities in Brighton can grow, learn, and connect with nature.
🌱 Click here to make a donation. Choose either a one-off or monthly donation to support our ongoing projects. Every contribution, no matter the size, helps us:
- Keep our garden sessions free and accessible
- Provide tools and materials for community members
- Maintain our inclusive garden spaces
- Support diverse communities in connecting with nature
- Run educational workshops and cooking sessions
Living Vital is a registered charity (1192957). Gift Aid can be added to your donation to make it go 25% further at no extra cost to you.
🙏 Gratitude
Thank you to our supporters! We are deeply grateful to all our funders and supporters who make our work possible.
🌱 New on our Blog: “Spring Renewal: Connecting with Nature’s Awakening”
Discover simple ways to deepen your connection with nature this season, from creating pollinator-friendly spaces to growing herbs on your balcony. Read more for practical tips to enhance your wellbeing through spring’s renewal.
🌱 Seeds for Thought
As life emerges all around us this spring, we invite you to notice: What is awakening within you? What seeds of inspiration, creativity, or change are pushing through the surface of your awareness, reaching toward the light?
Wishing you a vibrant and joyful spring,
The Living Vital Team 🌷🌱