Pollinator Paradise

On the 1st March 2021 we are launching our brand new competition, Pollinator Paradise, to encourage the planting of pollinator-friendly flowers in and around Tooting.

This could be your front garden, a balcony, window sill, hanging basket or even around the base of the street tree outside your home.
You can enter any place or planter that can be seen safely from the street and which you have permission to plant in.

There are two parts to the competition; an individual competition and a street competition - so team up with your neighbours and try to make as many pollinator-friendly habitats as possible!

For more information, and to sign up, please see our website specifically for the project.

You can also find our social media details on the website so follow to make sure you get any updates and to share your progress and experience.

Funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, via Transition: Bounce Forward  has helped us to run the Pollinator Paradise competition. Thanks to all National Lottery players for making this possible.

Lockdown Love, Episode 1 - FOOD!

Lockdown has been in place here in the UK since the middle of March and had a huge affect on our activities. We had to improvise quick, like everyone, and adapt to a rapidly changing context of how we live, where we live. 

Over the early weeks, our growing core group found our niches and put what energy we each had into developing outward facing projects to help our community, both near and far, using networks nurtured with love for over 10 years. 

Over the next few days, we'll be posting what's live and how you can get involved. We'll be sharing projects about public space and building community with more posts cooking up.

Never know, Transition Town Tooting maybe fertile ground for collaboration with you!

This episode is all about food and offers four projects: Vegetanuary! - an online group focused on celebrating and sharing vegetarian and vegan cooking; Foodival2020 begins! A callout to share food growing stories and a date for the diary as we stretch to imagine our annual food festival in September; Tooting Community Garden has been sharing the wonders of nature in Spring and looks to future projects and our Neighbourhood Seed Swap in direct response to a huge spike in interest in growing your own. Do read on...

Tooting Speaks! The big dilemmas of local food

30 passionate Tooting folk came to The Selkirk (thanks so much Ben and the team!) on Wednesday night to join our 4 fantastic speakers, Kemi Akinola, Robert Biel, Robyn Knight and Sue Sheehan, in wrestling with the big dilemmas of sustainable food systems and what we can do locally. Our title was "Local Food is an Expensive Luxury" and the discussion was hosted by TTT's co-founder Lucy Neal. If you're interested in these gatherings, they're part of our monthly Green Drinks at The Selkirk on the third Wednesday of every month, details HERE.

Local Food is an Expensive Luxury

But what was it that contextualised food as "local"? Our first speaker, Sue Sheehan (Incredible Edible Lambeth) opened the account with the hyper local - food grown by you as being an active form of protest - claiming the land and building personal resilience for healthy, home grown, cheap veg and against the power of advertising and convenience, after all, gardening is the most "therapeutic and defiant act as you can do" according to the ultimate Guerrilla Gardener, Ron Finley, watch THIS and "plant some shit". Switch to our second speaker, Dr Robert Biel, Senior lecturer at University College London and author of Sustainable Food Systems - the role of the city and we learn as recently as 1985, with population at 56 million, the UK produced 95% of its food from within its shores... a poignant and powerful statistic, particularly given the risk of a no deal Brexit and the threat that presents of us not being able to feed ourselves, which you can read more about in a recent article by Jay Rayner HERE.

Read on for LOADS more...

Leo's Garden - a green gem in the heart of Tooting. Plus: valuing our local green spaces in London.

Leo's Garden, the highly-valued and hidden-away balcony garden at South Thames College in Tooting held a celebratory event this week. STC staff and friends marked two years on from its opening (see our 2015 blog report here) and did some autumn planting.

This kind of local oasis is so relevant to a new study published this week by the Mayor of London, the National Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund. It's called Natural capital accounts for public green space in London & is intended to help shape future policy and decision-making. All the info here. In turn the report is relevant to the Tooting Bec & Broadway Neighbourhood Forum's work on developing a local Neighbourhood Plan.  


Back to Leo's Garden:

A sunny November day...

The photo shows, from left to right: 
Peter Mayhew-Smith, Principal of South Thames Colleges (STC) Group,  
Rosemary Scott, (STC Branch UCU member),  
Angie Birtill (STC UCU H&S Convenor),  
Kate Turney (STC UCU Environment Convenor),  
Jamie Stevenson Director of Business Centre STC.

Named in memory of STC Facilities Officer 'Leo' Mumuney Olusanya, the garden is a great example of a green space that's developed because people in the team had the vision and perseverance to create it. 

Angie Birtill said at the opening: 
> "We wanted a place where workers could rest and enjoy our own garden right above Tooting Broadway: an area badly lacking in green spaces.

> We know this garden isn’t going to get rid of our stress all by itself, but it will always be a lovely place for people to recuperate when they can find time to do so.

> We know that Leo’s Garden won’t do away with the toxic air we breathe daily in London. However plants in Leo’s garden help restore clean air while offering us a place to rest. The tests that the University and College Union, Greener Jobs Alliance and Furzedown Low Carbon Zone have carried out directly outside this Tooting site show that the levels of Nitrogen Dioxide are over twice the legal limit. We need to continue campaigning on this."

All welcome to the Pollinator Paths Wandsworth Project Celebration, Sat 11th November

We're very pleased to invite everyone who loves urban gardening with insects and other wildlife in mind to our free Pollinator Paths Wandsworth Project Harvest Celebration. This is a celebration sharing ideas, experience, fun, citizen science and community.

Here's the basic info about the project which has been running all year, linking together dozens of local gardeners and four community gardens in the borough and led by the London Sustainability Exchange.

We'll be thanking participants, sharing experience, enjoying workshops and other fun activities, networking and celebrating.


We're also welcoming anyone - gardener, community garden or other group - who might like to join a future project aimed at enhancing London's green spaces and biodiversity.

Project methods will always be accessible, encouraging people to grow pollinator-friendly plants in gardens, planters or balconies.


Plenty for families, friends and neighbours of all ages to do:

• Enjoy the 'Your Local Insects Need Your Love' workshop 
• Marvel at 'Worm Composting For Salads and Herbs Indoors'
• Design and build Plastic Bottle Ladybird Houses to take home
• Play 'Match the Pollinators to their Plants'
• Design and make Insect Badges to wear with pride
• Gasp at the Pollinator Paths project map

Date: Saturday 11th November 2017
Venue: The Penfold Centre, 1 Neville Gill Close, SW18 4TJ. The venue is right in the middle of the borough, on the west side of Southside Shopping Centre facing King George's Park.
Timing: 1:00pm to 4:00pm


Delicious snacks and drinks provided

Download the Harvest Celebration invitation and venue map here 

Free entry: please register online here

For more info: contact us by email here

All welcome!

30 Days Wild in Wandsworth - get ready to enjoy the local outdoors for the month of June

30 Days Wild In Wandsworth is aimed at encouraging us all to share enjoying being outdoors in the city during June '17. 
Being outdoors is not one size fits all: read a book under a tree, walk to work, make a daisy chain, join in activities like the Park Run or swim at the Lido.

We're piggybacking on The Wildlife Trusts' national '30 Days Wild' campaign, a great place to start.
Go to their site online here to join as an individual or family to receive the 30 Days Wild June Calendar.

There's a link here for the beautiful ideas in Random Acts of Wildness. 

And there's a free 30 Days Wild app - get it here.

Two of us are helping frame this month of focus on the outdoors: Chuck from Transition Town Tooting and Rosie from Paradise Co-op.

Sowing the seeds in TTT's ACE goody bags

If you took home one of our TTT goodie bags and are wondering what to do with the packet of seeds in it, here are some simple planting instructions.

Radish 

You can grow these in the ground or in containers or window boxes.

Sow thinly in soil and cover with 1.5cm fine soil. Firm down gently and keep moist.

Seedlings should appear within 2-3 weeks.

Thin out the plants if necessary and keep soil moist. Radishes should be ready to harvest in 4-6 weeks.

Lettuce

You can grow these in the ground, containers or even hanging baskets (good for evading snails!)

Sow thinly in soil and cover with 1.5cm fine soil.

Firm down gently and keep moist.

Seedlings should appear in 7-14 days.

Thin out seedlings if necessary and keep moist and weed-free.
Pick and use when needed

Peas 

Grow these in the ground of a large pot. You will need to support the plants with netting or bamboo canes and string.

Plant seeds 5cm apart and cover with 5cm of fine soil. Firm down gently and keep moist. Seedlings should appear within 10-14 days.

Protect young plants from birds with twigs or netting and remember to support the plants. Keep moist and weed-free. Pick when ready.

Send us some photos of your vegetable-growing successes!

Design Workshops for Pollinator Paths Wandsworth project went well - thanks to all!

Twenty people joined in this partnership project's Design Workshops held on 10 & 11 March: connecting, analysing, sharing, debating.

We did just what we needed to do. We were a mixed group of experts, the interested and novices navigating explanations, challenges, concentration, humour and insights:

We analysed the diverse settings that local gardeners are using - from back gardens to paved patios to balconies.

We explored the potential benefits to pollinators
"Would the planting make a difference to individual targeted species or should we focus on a broad group of pollinators?"

We shared our own knowledge and experience about the pollinating plants to select for the different settings - and we found new resources too.

We met new colleagues and connected across the borough  "I never knew there were so many other people locally who are interested in the same things as me..."




We looked forward at the shape of the project, and some new opportunities - for example "shall we include making the planting containers using re-purposed materials?"

We finished the second workshop feeling optimistic together about the project, with plenty of homework from the 2 afternoons and much to plan.

Thanks to all including the visiting experts, plus Lizzy and Hannah from London Sustainability Forum for facilitating.




The next formal event is the distribution of plants in May at the hub gardens - accompanied by creative and fun activities as part of the Wandsworth Fringe.
Before then we will be reaching out to find gardeners who want to take part. Please email us anytime if you would like to join in.

All welcome to join the Pollinator Paths Wandsworth Facebook page for info and updates.
Or email Charles at TTT to get involved.

Pollinator Paths Wandsworth - a new project for 2017 linking gardeners across the borough to experiment with planting that benefits insects

This is a new and imaginative project that is being launched now and will run throughout 2017.

Pollinator Paths Wandsworth is all about encouraging local gardeners to establish small patches as wildlife havens. Several community gardens are involved, so there will be plenty of support. It's going to be a good project to strengthen growing links across the borough.

We'll encourage many gardeners to grow selected varieties of plants which in turn are good forage for insects.
Spinach moth image by Roy Leverton, Butterfly Conservation.


We're mixing growing with citizen science: we'll research the 'microclimates' of London plots, balconies and windowboxes both for growing and for insects, we'll share the results and we'll take part in a fascinating and fun practical experiment together.

Individuals, families, schools can get involved - anyone with a plot even if it's small - and beginners are welcome as we'll share all the how-tos.

Why benefit insects? Maybe it sounds backwards to plant for the benefit of insects, but suitable habitat and forage are both reducing across London. Click here for the flyer.

TTT 2016 Gardening Celebration tonight!

Tonight is the TTT 2016 Gardening Celebration - plus we're looking forward to exciting things in 2017. The event is at The Selkirk near Tooting Broadway from 7:00 pm.

To celebrate the celebration:
here are five current growing, gardening and sustainability events and ideas to follow up even if you can't make it tonight:

1 TTT attended the bi-annual Wildlife Gardening Forum last week at the Natural History Museum. This is always an amazing and cross-cutting event with around 100 participants - private gardeners, schools, local authorities, biodiversity and growing charities, researchers, enterprises.

The theme this time was learning from European experience in Germany, Belgium, Austria the Netherlands, Ireland (oh, and Scotland).
Why learn from Europe? Click on the photo...




We learned a German word - schwammstadt  - meaning 'sponge city'. A sponge city is redesigned to be responsive and adaptive to climate change impact and allow for more natural rainfall retention, reducing runoff. (See the event on December 8th in para 4 below).
Anyone can attend the Forum; it's a great day when you can meet experts and work out what ideas you can use yourself. And all the presentations appear for free on the WLGF website in due course.

2 TTT joined Capital Growth's 'Roots to Growth' workshop.
We looked at the experience and potential of farming as an enterprise within London.

There's tons of good info on the Capital Growth site - all these reports are free downloads.


While the pleasure and impact of growing together is not only about saving money and managing our budgets, what do you think is the annual value of the crops grown by 2000 London gardens linked to Capital Growth? Include crops for sharing, not only veg which are sold, so you can include Tooting Community Garden's pumpkins in the calculation. Have a guess - the answer is at the end of this blog.
We could take up the challenge of recording our crops - see the Harvest-ometer from Sustain.  
This kind of data is very valuable in order to be able to make our case for more growing in London!
TTT's friend Mark at Vertical Veg has documented the equivalent value of what he grows - click here to read about it.

Foodival Top Tooting Cook entries - wow!

Feast your eyes on these amazing photos of the #Foodival2016 Top Tooting Cook entries!  All grown principally from donated home grown produce. More details on recipes and prize winners will follow ... but I thought you'd like to see this hot off the press!

Thank you to Charles for these stunning shots.  There'll be some from the Soup Disco photo booth soon too!

#Foodival2016 starts tomorrow! Join in, donate produce and celebrate local grow-&-cook-your-own

The Tooting #Foodival2016 starts Saturday 10th from 1300-1700

This is the ninth year we've run the Tooting Foodival, and every year we call out to local gardeners for home-grown donations.

Every year we're amazed at the range and quality of what gets grown locally by beginners and experts in backyards or pots, on balconies or allotments.
Maybe you took part in our Growing Tooting classes in spring 2016?
Maybe you have been growing your own all your life.

Here's our 'I Grew This' poster of locally-grown donations at the 2015 Foodival.


To contribute your locally-grown donations, please select something you've grown which you'd like to share and bring it along to Mushkil Aasaan, 222 Upper Tooting Road SW17 7EW between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Saturday 10th Sept. There are lots of other activities at the venue on Saturday.

• After 4:00 pm on Saturday 10th, local cooks taking part in the Top Tooting Cook event will be able to choose produce from what's on offer. There will be the potential for wonderful dishes - maybe with surprising ingredients that the cooks had not anticipated using before seeing the selection. Top Tooting Cook will be judged on Sunday afternoon at Mushkil Aasaan.
• Then we'll store remaining vegetables overnight for use in the Soup Disco cook-up with music and dancing on Sunday evening in Tooting Market.
• Any surplus will be donated to the Battersea Canteen supper clubs being run by the London Cooking Project and Tooting's own Be Enriched. The clubs aim to reduce food waste and feed those in need.  And to CARAS, who run clubs and support services for refugees and asylum seekers in south west London.

A huge Jerusalem Artichoke!

And small ones - but with big leaves!

Whatever you decide to bring along, donating is all about celebrating local food and wanting to share that enthusiasm with others.
It's about sharing Tooting's flavour, diversity and interest! 

Tooting Community Garden Summer Picnic 7th Aug

All welcome to join us for an informal and free family picnic on Sunday 7th August from 1- 3 pm at the Community Garden at 5 North Drive SW16 1RN.

At 2pm we'll unveil the oak sculpture that many hands have been carving with Fio's support since June '15

Come over from 11am if you would also like to do some gardening!

The picnic is going to be a simple and enjoyable family get-together, and a time to chat and enjoy the garden. Please bring whatever you wish to eat, plus some to share.

We'll provide tea-making with the volcano kettle - and there's mint, lemon balm and more to sample.
It would be very helpful if you could bring a mug for tea.

We'll prepare a bed of hot charcoal. Try our special long-handled popcorn maker...!

At 2pm we'll unveil the oak sculpture 











No alcohol please, out of respect for Mushkil Aasaan the social charity who lends us the garden land. Thanks for your consideration.

And no need to RSVP: just come along.

We'll post any late picnic notices on the Tooting Community Garden facebook pages.

See you on Sunday!

Update on Border Control - Gold Medal garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace.

On the 30th June CARAS Youth Club members travelled to the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show to help with the build of the Border Control Concept Garden. It was a fascinating visit - to see the TTT blog post, click here.
Now the garden is finished and open to the public. The Youth Club paid a second visit this week to see it.

In the past week there has been a lot of interest in Border Control. Although we don't claim any responsibility we are thrilled...
The garden won an RHS Gold Medal, and also won the Award for the best of the ten Concept Gardens. 
We're proud because taking a very small part in the garden has helped us spread the word about the reality of refugees' experiences and helped us be confident that our Rooting in Tooting project with CARAS is valuable. The visit has given fascinating experiences for Youth Club members as a group about encountering new aspects of Britain, and created and opportunity for them to explore and communicate their own responses.

The Evening Standard covered Border Control again yesterday, including an interview with one of the CARAS Youth Club members - you can read the article here

Finally, there are a few free tickets available for the Hampton Court Show, for tomorrow (Sunday) - the last day.  
These tickets have to be collected in Tooting today, Saturday 9th July, before 4pm.
This is a very last minute-offer so excuse the rush - if you would like to have a ticket or two, email as soon as you can to TTT at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com and we will explain how to collect.
Go and visit Border Control in person!

Rooting in Tooting project: CARAS Youth Club members explore 'Border Control' show garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace flower show

For over a year TTT has been facilitating Rooting in Tooting project activities with diverse groups of all ages via the Tooting charity CARAS (Community Action for Refugees and Asylum-Seekers).

Yesterday we accompanied a group from the CARAS Youth Club to explore the build of the Border Control show garden at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show which opens on 5 July.

Not 'herbaceous borders'.... the garden is aiming to illustrate the physical and emotional challenges and successes faced by refugees: goals, barriers, borders, setbacks, surprises, hopes and fears.

The show garden is the creation of 2 designers Tom Massey and John Ward, and supported by the UN Refugee Agency. Thanks to you all for the hospitality and discussions!

The young people met Mark Tran from The Guardian, and here is a link so you can read his article published today, titled Hampton Court Palace flower show to highlight plight of refugees.

'Bringing Nature Closer to Home': Wildlife Gardening Forum November 2015

'Bringing Nature Closer to Home' is the tagline of the Wildlife Gardening Forum, which held its tenth anniversary meeting yesterday at the Natural History Museum in London.

Several of us from Tooting and TTT attended - along with 80 other gardeners, enterprises, government agencies, charities and community groups. It's always a stimulating day (available to all; the Forum has 800+ members now).
Anyone can use the Forum's rich resources at www.wlgf.org/
Forum meetings are held twice a year and give us a valuable chance to hear practical ideas from across the UK, learn about brand new research and discuss key topics with experts and practitioners - in sessions or over coffee.

I've found there has always been learning to bring home to Tooting from these Forum meetings. 

Plus practical things to do - here is a citizen science survey that will let us contribute to earthworm research (ie 'soil ecosytem services').

Leo's Garden: an oasis tucked above Tooting

Tooting has a new and delightful asset!

 

A new garden balcony for all the staff at the Tooting campus of South Thames College opened today in memory of Mumney Olusanya (or Leo, as he was better known). Leo was Facilities Manager at the Tooting campus, and died on the 31st October 2013. Leo’s Garden is a University and College Union initiative and was opened by Angie Birtill of the Trade Union Studies Centre.

Angie raising a fizzy apple juice as a toast to Leo's memory

Spring bulbs were planted later today in memory of Leo, adding to the planting done over spring and summer this year - all funded by the volunteers themselves. As well as a memorial to Leo, the garden is consciously about health and safety - creating an attractive place for any college staff to boost their wellbeing during a busy day. 

So what is outdoor learning?

For the past 2 1/2 years, TTT has been running outdoor learning classes with pupils from Gatton, a local primary school in the community garden. From weekly sessions with Reception and Year 1 classes, to 7-week projects with the Year 6 students, the classes encompass a huge range of cross-curriculum learning, developing new skills and vocabulary and allowing the children to fully interact with nature in the safe and beautiful environment of our garden.

But I still get asked regularly, what exactly is outdoor learning? So, here's a brief example of my class today, on a beautiful autumn morning with a lively Year 1 group...

After warm greetings and not-at-all-exaggerated reports on how much they had grown over the summer holidays, the children discussed the different seasons, today's weather and how the sunshine made them feel: happy, bright and a bit sweaty! We then looked at some of the plants we had been growing - a cherry tomato that I picked just before they arrived and a beetroot. They were very excited to discover that beetroot acts as a natural dye and took great delight in getting a red thumb. We also went to look at the green and yellow pumpkin that was growing in the vegetable beds.

Then we played an energetic game of seek and find, bringing back different numbers and colours of grasses, leaves, pinecones, sticks and acorns. The children learned that the squirrels love to eat acorns and hide them away so that they can eat them later in the winter; we found lots of buried acorns in the garden - sorry squirrels!

And then, while half the group help collect objects for the Big Draw, the other half used trowels (remembering the safety instructions I taught them last year) to dig up the old pea plants in their little veg bed. The plants went on the compost heap to be recycled in the garden. We all put our hands into the freshly dug soil to feel how it was drier on the top and damper underneath but was also loose like crumble mix. And the numerous worms that were unearthed during the process were all gently and kindly transported to the bush where rumour has it they were having a big worm party...

Finally, after making big shapes, small shapes and star shapes, the children exploded with an impressive "Acorns!" for their "word jump". Exit one group of happy, rosy-cheeked, energised children.
Sharon

 

Young people’s garden project leads to Rooting in Tooting

If you’ve walked past the Derinton Community Centre in Tooting recently, you may have noticed vibrant yellow planters bursting with colourful flowers, where rubbish used to reside, and young people sitting on bright benches doing their homework.

Those young people, who attend the CARAS youth club on the site, worked with a team from Transition Town Tooting to build the planters and the benches and paint them over a number of weeks. They sowed seeds early on in the project and also chose plants that now grow there, during a visit to Share Community Garden

The project came about after the youth club made a visit to Tooting Community Garden.  This led to the idea of the teenagers creating an urban garden on-site over eight weekly Saturday sessions.

"Before this, I didn't know how to plant and grow plants, but I learned how, and I enjoyed making the planter too", said Waseem, one of the young people who transformed the space.

CARAS (previously Klevis Kola) is a community based organisation working with refugees and asylum seekers.  The gardening project was developed with the young people, encouraging teamwork and communication, developing and practicing new skills and meeting new people in the wider community.

Jenny Teasdale, who coordinated Transition Town Tooting’s involvement said,

“Working with these young people over the last couple of months has been wonderful. Together, we imagined the possibilities of an urban garden, creating a mood board of ideas, and then we made some of those ideas a reality.

Everyone planted seeds in the first few weeks and the kids tended them throughout, watching sunflowers, beans and salad leaves growing, ready to be planted out in the final weeks. With wooden materials from the community garden, the kids cut, assembled and painted planters and benches – making design decisions on the fly and developing new skills along the way. As a group, we decided what plants to grow and where to site what we built.

I know I wasn’t the only person sad to see the project come to an end, having enjoyed every second of the process. At the same time, we are all really happy to see the transformation in just two short months.”

CARAS Youth Coordinator, Molly Abraham spoke about the project,

"The gardening project with TTT has been a fantastic opportunity for young people who attend CARAS to gain skills, share knowledge and create something we are all extremely proud of.  It's been amazing to watch the group grow in confidence as they became proficient with drills, saws and secateurs, and to relax into sharing stories of growing in their home countries.  Working with the wonderful team from TTT has been a real pleasure for all of us and we are excited to be able to develop the work, and the friendships, over the coming year."

"We painted the pallet planter and the yellow planter, and I sowed flowers and beans. They're still growing", said Hafso, shown here painting.

Spurred on by the development of the space and the enthusiasm of the youth group, we are delighted to announce that CARAS and Transition Town Tooting are now working in partnership with the RHS over the next year, running monthly sessions with the youth club and adults at CARAS.

The new project is called Rooting in Tooting, and is part of the RHS’s Greening Grey Britain scheme. We’ll be developing more flourishing, attractive growing ideas that will transform the site.  This practical, experiential project is just one of the ways CARAS is helping newly-arrived people to integrate into the vibrant community of Tooting.

The Great Greenhouse Build - we need your help!

Our current outdoor learning project with Gatton School is to build a greenhouse in the community garden made from recycled plastic bottles (see picture below - this is what we hope the finished greenhouse will look like). The year 6 pupils come to the garden for an hour a week to work on this and despite lots of hard work on their behalf, it is slow going. After the Easter holidays, we have just two more lessons (ie two hours!) to finish the project. 

Clearly this is going to be impossible - currently we have completed two side walls of the greenhouse (below), but we still have the back wall, the front wall with a door, two roof panels and two gable ends to make, and then we have to fit all the pieces together! Plus we have many more plastic bottles to cut.

So we really need some volunteers to rally round and help out. At the first community session during the Seed Swap we had some great helpers and managed to build a wall of the greenhouse.

Here's how you can help:

Because two more hours with 12x 10-year-olds isn't going to be enough to finish the build, Sharon will be hosting some working parties in the garden in the Easter school holidays. Please come and help - we REALLY NEED YOU! There are tasks for all abilities so don't feel you need any particular skills to make a contribution. If you have a hammer or a cordless screwdriver and can bring them along, even better.

The drop-in sessions will be from 12pm-4.30pm on:

Good Friday April 3

Thursday April 9

Friday April 10

The Community Garden is at 5 North Drive, SW16 1RN.
We're tucked in behind the big red-brick house at that address, with entrance through the black fence to the left of the building. We'll have a sign on the road.

Bring your friends, bring your family (there's even a playground for little kids to occupy themselves). And if you know anyone else who might be interested in helping out, please spread the word. The more the merrier. It really is good fun and hugely satisfying.

If you would like to come along, or have any questions, please drop us a line at TootingCommunityGarden@gmail.com or the Tooting Community Garden Facebook page so we know how many people to expect.

Hope to see you at the garden!