Seedy Sunday, on Sunday 5th, is the big event in the gardening calendar in Brighton (and Hove Actually). Last year over 1000- perhaps 2000 people- came to enjoy Seed swapping, meeting old friends, waking up from Christmas, thinking about Spring at the unlikely setting of Hove Town Hall.

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The Hove Town Hall looks an unromantic, brutal venue for a warm social event. There are large airy impersonal spaces inside, but somehow on Seedy Sunday the building resonates with the buzz of gardening and environmental organisations and the hubbub of so many people enjoying themselves. It’s a good news story of friendship and solidarity, so don’t expect press articles except on www.seedysunday.org .

There are many organisations, allotment holders, organic gardeners , window box cultivators and wanna be diggers, coming to swap seeds, news , family stories, chat over coffee, listen to talks by national experts or singing in the seed swap with Brighton’s own Acappella singers .

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The big question, one that all gardeners think about, is what will the weather be like? Its always cold in early February, a good thing to kill of so many bugs, but will it snow. Will we all be trapped for days in Hove Town Hall, will the coffee and food last, will the Council papers have to be shredded in a brazier to keep warm.

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Come rain or snow it will happen, Seedy Sunday is for gardeners not for the weak willed, sunny day people, who pretend to cultivate. It’s traditional but also very alternative. This year it might be an even more of alternative adventure ...coming in the snow to a warm welcome.

There will be central heating, hot drinks, hot food and the body warmth of hundreds and thousands!

Even more reason to hug a long lost friend or someone else …it is Seedy Sunday.

If it snows will anyone come? Will buses run?

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Well of course there are the 50 volunteers, their friends and relatives, the 50 stall holders and their friends and families, the singers and their friends and families, and the campaigning organisations with their petitions and supporters. That’s probably 500, enough to have a good party for sure.

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It is rare for buses not to run, main roads are usually gritted and cleared quickly; let’s see if the Council can cope on a Sunday. Hove Town hall is on the flat and walkable from many areas. I am already enjoying the crunch of the snow on my boots now and the anticipation of a warm welcome.

Meridian TV are also due to come but let’s see if they are snowed under by everything.

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One celebrity botanist / chef said on twitter that he was coming down to Seedy Sunday in Brighton to enjoy the day. May be we should tell him that it’s in Hove Actually.

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