Children’s Gardening Week, butterflies and beautiful salads
24 May – 1 June 2025
www.childrensgardeningweek.co.uk
www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/nomowmay
by Marianne Lindfield – Climate Action Engagement Officer, SGL
Children’s Gardening Week arrives as May gives way to June, when the garden has found its stride and everything is stretching into summer. It often falls during half term, which makes it the perfect time to step outside and share the garden with the children in our lives. For those taking part in No Mow May, this is when the garden starts to look wilder, the grasses taller, and flowers that were once called weeds begin to feel like gifts. Buttercups, oxeye daisies and self-heal creep through the lawn, and the air starts to hum with insect life again.
It is a moment for noticing. Children are naturally tuned into the small things we often overlook. A curled leaf can hold a hidden insect, and a dandelion seedhead might spark a whole conversation. Being in the garden together does not need to be structured. A slow walk, time spent watching one flower, or simply lying on the grass and listening can lead to all sorts of shared discoveries.
One year, I raised caterpillars with my children. We watched them feed and grow in a netted enclosure, and we made sure the right plants were growing in the garden before we let them go. That small project opened up much more than I expected. The children began asking questions not just about butterflies, but about the plants they needed and how they linked with the others in the garden. It helped them understand that everything is connected, that what we grow, what we leave, and what we choose to remove all have consequences. Read more
Press release – PLANT TO PLATE FESTIVAL – brought to you by Sussex Green Living
Animal Friends: On Monday this week, I attended a wonderful open-air theatre performance in a hornbeam circle in a private woodland.
The tree circle to create the ‘stage’ had been planted many years previously and the play wasn’t unique only in its setting- it had been crafted by the young children who performed it. They designed and produced the whole play, including recording the soundtrack. 
We are all aware of the urgent need to protect our nature which has been depleting at a rapid rate. If you want to make some changes at home to protect nature, boosting the biodiversity in your garden or outdoor space is a great place to start.
We all want a world where our climate is stable, nature thrives, and where all people have health, happiness, and prosperity – it’s our human right, right?
When thinking about living an environmentally sustainable life, the first thing most people think about is the 3Rs: ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. As part of Sussex Green Living’s education outreach programme, we initiated a School Challenge looking at how you can reduce waste by repairing.
Education has always formed a big part of the Sussex Green Living mission. In fact, it is where Carrie Cort started out, as a network of families learning about nature, the environment and ways that everyone can live a more sustainable life.
Building Your Dreams
NCS (National Citizens Service) Eastbourne is a volunteer youth group. They are currently running a social action project to raise awareness for 
