Seedy Sunday Speakers – talks not to be missed!

Venue: BHASVIC, 205 Dyke Rd, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 6EG.  £3 entry, kids free!  10:30am-4pm

Seedy Sunday has a fantastic line up of speakers this year!

Opening the speaker programme is Raphaella Fearns cofounder of Plotty.  Plotty is where technology and seed saving meet to create a living, digital, accessible and distributed seed bank. Raphaella will talk about how Plotty came to be, how seed banks fail and the need for a distributed back up, and the rise of the urban gardener.

Next on the agenda is Joshua Tutt, a Seedy Sunday favourite! This year he is talking about how to create a sensory garden.  One that stimulates all the senses – taste, touch, sound, sight and smell – making gardening and the joy of plants accessible and beneficial to everyone. Not to be missed!

Local Gardeners’ Question Time features again, with a panel of local experts ready to take your questions.  This year’s panel features our very own Ruth Urbanowicz, who runs the Phoenix urban gardening courses; Chris Smith from Pennard Plants and Saskia Wesnigk, Seedy Sunday seed swap table organiser and BHOGG member.  Chaired by the wonderful Alan Phillips, who also runs our community allotment.

Paddy van Zwanenberg is a social scientist working on issues of innovation and sustainability.  Paddy will be talking about Bioleft, an initiative that is using ideas from the open-source movement to develop new ways of conserving, distributing and breeding seeds in order to support more sustainable and diverse forms of agriculture.

The closing speaker is Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at University of Sussex and founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.  ‘The Garden Jungle or Gardening to Save the Planet’ is the best-selling author’s latest book. He is one of the most influential people in conservation in the UK.   Dave will be discussing why insects are in decline, how we should tackle this crisis and how we can turn our gardens into oases for life.

Each talk is 45 mins plus time for Q&A at the end. First talk starts at 11am.   There will be a hearing loop available for all talks.   For more details about Seedy Sunday visit their website.