Growing your own food is a very rewarding experience. There’s nothing like planting a seed, watching it grow and then eating the results. It’s fresh as can be, and healthy – so why not give it a try? Whether you have an allotment, garden or just a balcony or windowsill there is still plenty you can do! Or find out more about how we are finding more land for growing food...

Check out our growing tips and advice:

• Download the 'Get Growing Starter Pack' (pdf, 773Kb)
• Monthly growing tips
• How to make a 'cut-and-come-again' salad box
• Growing in a small space (pdf, 338Kb)
• Caring for tomato plants (pdf, 74Kb)
• Links and advice on composting and wormeries

• Training and volunteering opportunities
• Materials and equipment
• Seeds and seedlings
• Local garden centres
• Other local organisations that can help you get growing
• National websites with lots of growing advice
• Recommended books

Training and volunteering

Harvest is running training courses on a variety of topics where you can learn more about growing. You can also learn lots by volunteering at a local community food project. There are many great projects around the city that have volunteer work days where you can learn about growing and share the rewards.

Materials and equipment

If you are looking for materials such as containers, compost bins, water butts, or even raised beds, you can check out these local resources:

• GreenCycle Sussex (formerly 'Freecycle Brighton/Hove')
• Gumtree Brighton garden supply listings
• Friday Ad listings
• Brighton & Hove Wood Recycling Project supply recycled planks which can be used to make raised beds and more
• Harrod Horticultural supply a range of equipment and materials to help get your plot going
• KPS Composting supply high-quality organic compost which we use at our vegetable garden in Preston Park
• Magpie Recycling are selling their green boxes for use as growing containers, only £2.50 each. Contact Sibel, George or Jock on 01273 677577 for more details.
• Discounted compost bins and more are available from: www.brighton-hove.getcomposting.com
• D&V Fuels is a good source of containers of all sizes that can easily be converted into water butts.

Recommended seed and seedling suppliers

• Kings Seeds
• The Organic Gardening Catalogue
• Real Seeds
• Tamar Organics
• Thompson and Morgan
• Urban Allotments are offering Harvest contacts 10% off their range of seedlings and containers with code 'HBH10'
• VegetableSeeds.net is offering a 10% discount to Harvest contacts, just use the code 'AD842' when making a purchase.

Local garden centres

• Gill’s Home & Garden, 97 Western Road, Hove BN3 1FA, 01273 772 602
• Homebase, 182 Old Shoreham Road, Hove BN3 7EX, 01273 747 549
• B&Q Lewes Road, Pavillion Retail Park, Brighton, 01273 679 926
• Wyevale Brighton Garden Centre, Warren Road, Brighton BN2 9XX, 01273 607 888
• Rushfields Plant Centre, Henfield Road, Poynings, Brighton BN45 7AY, 01273 857 445
• South Downs Nurseries, Brighton Rd, Hassocks, West Sussex BN6, 01273 845 232

Local places to find growing hints and tips:

• Brighton & Hove Allotment Federation
  for advice on working your plot
• Brighton & Hove Organic Gardening Group (BHOGG)
  for useful guides, 'how-to's and seasonal advice from the 'garden gnome'.
• Brighton Permaculture Trust
  for courses and events such as fruit-tree pruning, grafting and more
• Garden Fresco - a pair of gardeners near Lewes offer handy how-to guides on growing lots of edible goodies
• The Garden House Brighton
  for events and training courses on growing your own and more, plus the 'lost the plot' blog
• Get Growing founder Hedvig offers training and support for people looking to grow their own
• The Argus gardening bloggers
  for stories from local allotment holders including top tips and recipes
• Green Up Your Act Education workshops by Phil Hunton
• GrowEatGift.com for urban growing ideas from Emily Dubberley
• Seedbombs by Josie at Seedfreedom.net
• Sussex Wildlife Trust
• has useful resources on plants to bring pollinating bees to your garden
• Ten Years Younger blog includes gardening tips from local grower Nicole Anderson
• Weald Allotment's official blog and another blog from one of their allotment holders
• 'The Windowbox Allotment'
  everything you need to know to get growing in a small space

And a few national websites with resources on how to grow your own:

• Allotment.org.uk
• BBC Gardening website and their Dig In grow your own campaign
• Garden Organic's One Pot Pledge
• Garden Fresco
• The National Trust
• Royal Horticultural Society
• Seed to Plate for a free plot designing tool and more...
• Allotment Life and Advice a sweet site offering allotment tips and advice all told through the perspective of Alice Scarecrow.

Recommended books:

• The Herb and Vegetable Expert and The Fruit Expert, D G Hessayon
• Grow Your Own Vegetables, Joy Larkcom
• Allotment Gardening: An Organic Guide for Beginners, Susan Berger
• Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, ed. Pauline Pears
• Organic Gardening, Geoff Hamilton
• The No Work Garden, Bob Flowerdew
• Organic Gardening: The Natural No-Dig Way, Charles Dowding
• The Edible Container Garden, Michael Guerra
• Patio Produce, Paul Peacock
• The Eco-Guide to Sussex, Katie Ramsay (with contributions from Harvest Brighton & Hove)