Everyone has been affected one way or another by the Coronavirus but what has been so heartening is how the Henfield community has pulled together to make life better for people in different ways.
We were really delighted when Paul and Pauline McBride of Sussex Prairie Gardens approached us with their idea to ‘grow’ a bit of positivity in the local community through the power of gardening; “Paul and I have lots of flower and vegetable seeds, kindly given to us by the local Sussex Plant Heritage Group, which we would like to distribute to BN5 Magazine readers for free!”
“Growing things from scratch is easy to do and really rewarding, especially when you can eat the results! It’s a small thing but we all need some small things to encourage and inspire us in these difficult times...”
If you’ve never grown flowers or vegetables from seed before, then all you need are the seeds, a patch of soil or a container filled with compost in a sunny position (a grow bag or a large plastic pot will do), access to water and patience! You may want to start off growing your seedlings indoors on window sills in recycled containers such as yoghurt pots or egg boxes and then transfer them outside once the threat of frost has passed. You can obtain compost or grow bags from local suppliers Rushfields, Swains or Olus (Sussex Prairies use their organic soil improver, produced in Henfield from the brown-lidded bin waste). Go to heritage-products.co.uk to purchase.
If your seed-growing is a success, we’d love to see the results and will print your photos in an autumn edition of BN5 Magazine. Happy growing!
Sarah Butler
