Seeds of Change: How Local Growers Are Transforming Hastings
Warrior Square is bursting with daffodils, the sun is finally rising just after 6.30am, and – whisper it if you like, but I’m more than ready to shout it – after such a long, grey winter, Spring seems to have finally sprung!
And with it, our thoughts turn to seedlings, flowers and all the possibilities in our own back gardens. That’s where Town Grown comes in.
Town Grown is a food growing network working across Hastings, St Leonards and the surrounding areas. Established in 2022 as an offshoot of Transition Town Hastings, Town Grown was created to champion food growing as a response to rising food costs, environmental concerns and a growing public interest in local food production.
The purpose of Town Grown is to build a network of local people involved in growing food, from allotment holders and window-box gardeners to community groups and small-scale professional producers.
The initiative has been needs-led through consultation with local people. Through conversations and feedback with people, the group has identified where and how people are growing food and the types of support that interests them.This feedback has informed Town Grown’s programme of workshops, seed swaps, talks and farm visits and laid the foundation for its two key projects: Our Town is an Orchard and Edible Open Gardens.
OUR TOWN IS AN ORCHARD
Launched on 21 September 2022, Our Town is an Orchard invited people to plant fruit trees in their own gardens and community spaces and to register them on a shared online map.
The idea was simple: rather than seeking a single large site for a community orchard, often difficult to secure and maintain, the campaign encouraged individuals to plant trees wherever they were able, creating a “virtual orchard” across the town.
The campaign ran from the Autumn 2022 to the Spring 2023. During the campaign more than 150 new fruit trees were planted and mapped. To put this into perspective, that number of trees would equate to approximately 1.5 acres of orchard if planted on a single site. With modest additional funding from the Transition Network, Town Grown provided guidance on choosing suitable trees, free pruning workshops and donated Sussex heritage apple varieties to selected community sites.
Our Town is an Orchard helped embed the idea of fruit trees as long-term food infrastructure within the community. Trees continue to be added to the map, extending the project’s legacy beyond its initial campaign window.
EDIBLE OPEN GARDENS
Edible Open Gardens (EOG) is their second major project and takes place in June each year. It was developed in response to strong community interest in visiting local food-growing sites and learning directly from experienced growers.
Local food-growing gardens and small farms open their gates to the public for a weekend, allowing visitors to see different approaches to growing food in action. The guiding principle is that practical learning is most powerful when people can observe real gardens, speak with growers and experience productive spaces first-hand.
In 2025, Edible Open Gardens featured twenty-six gardens, welcoming nearly 900 visitors. The event has proven to be both educational and unifying. Visitors report gaining inspiration, practical ideas and renewed enthusiasm for growing food, while gardeners value the opportunity to share knowledge and connect with others. Planning is underway to run Edible Open Gardens again this June.
TALKS
Thanks to support from the Lund Trust and the High Weald National Landscape Partnership, Town Grown is kicking off the new growing season with a mini-series of talks at Hastings Contemporary, leading up to the weekend of open gardens in June.
Their two sold-out sessions held in early March focused on soil health and no-dig approaches to vegetable growing. A further event on Sunday 29 March, Edible abundance: ten best berries for your garden ecosystem, will explore the best berries to grow in your garden. ickets are still available.
Local berry grower and permaculture teacher Anna Locke (Permacultureanna) will explore the role of berry crops in sustainable food systems; resilient powerhouses of nutrition and garden ecology.
She will be sharing her experience of growing berries, the crucial role they play in her permaculture orchard’ ecosystem, as well as creative ways to use and preserve them.
You will learn how to grow and propagate various berry varieties, low maintenance perennials perfect for your garden or allotment.
For more info about Town Grown, Our Town is an Orchard and Open Edible Gardens visit towngrown.co.uk Due to limited capacity booking is essential, tickets: £5 per person and available online through ticket tailor
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply