Seaford Community Garden

Remember all those 1000-piece fiendish jigsaws we spread on the dining table during the lockdowns, all blue sky and green grass? Well, Seaford Community Garden has its own ceramic puzzle, made by some of the original garden volunteers many years ago. They used their own hand prints to create a large and colourful mosaic which was displayed on the wall of the classroom but sadly, a couple of years ago it was almost destroyed when a storm blew it down. Ann and Veronica, helped by husband Phil and Brian, have accepted the challenge of piecing it together again. Failing that, they would like to recreate a corner of it – ideally the one depicting the hand of one of our longest-serving volunteers, Mike. At least they will all be cosy in the poly tunnel working to a picture that Katie found of it, scaled up and printed. Ann said: ‘It will be a labour of love but we’ll do it.’

Back outside in our beautiful garden at the Crouch, this late in the year there is still colour. At the beginning of November autumn was in full glory, with even the leaves swept up and put in the compost bin in a mass of glossy oranges and browns. Passion fruits on an arbour were glowing amber and the remaining apples promised mellow fruitfulness. The colours of delicately white-tipped bright yellow bidens were redolent of spring rather than autumn and contrasted zestfully with the rich purple of Salvia ‘Amistad’. Another star of the Mediterranean area was an abutilon, it’s bell flower a muted crimson. Roses were still flowering in abundance in pinks, creams and yellows – come on someone, please identify their varieties for us…

Of course all this beauty takes work, and new volunteer Neill was set to work hoeing a veg bed while another newbie, Amy, was being shown around, her tour taking in all the separate and labelled garden areas, from Dry to Shady and lots more in between, Maggie’s sales table, the children’s garden, the shed, the bug hotel and the wildlife pond for starters.

While the garden is open each Wednesday morning, it does welcome other groups by private arrangement from time to time, such as Charlie Bears nursery, and we are delighted that the lifting of restrictions allows them to come back and learn about gardening, and the joys of sowing and planting.

The garden is run entirely by volunteers, led by a committee. Allison has just stepped down from her role as chair after 3½ years and Phil has taken over. ‘Will he be making changes?’ we asked. ‘No,’ he said, ‘continuity is my watchword and we’ve got a very good system here.’ On the agenda for winter is repainting the classroom, so a big vote of thanks to Brewers who have supplied the paint along with varnish for the floor. ‘We’re in a position to do it when the weather’s good now that we have everything at our disposal,’ he said. And when it’s not there’s always that ceramic jigsaw to work on…

We are opening on Saturday 4th December from 11.30am until 2.30pm as part of Seaford Magic. Make sure you add it to your diary!

Merry Christmas from the garden team

Photos from top: Ann contemplates the job to come; New volunteer Neill doing good work with a hoe; Passion fruits like Christmas lightbulbs in the arbour; Colourful bidens; Salvia Amistad marries well with the flint wall; Name that rose, please!

01323 897873 or 07752 553939