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.

Tooting Community Garden: The 6 rotational beds this May/June

Tooting Community Garden 

Have a read of our plans for the 6 rotational beds this May/June. Join in and have a go at propagating some basil, or making some homemade fertiliser for your own plants or to bring to the garden when we re-open. 

PLANT OF THE MONTH: The Roveja Bean 

A very ancient variety of peas originating in the Middle east, today cultivated in only in a few Appenine regions in Italy. Thanks also to its relatively problem-free cultivation this variety has been rediscovered in recent years and grows well in the UK. 

The plants are semi-dwarf - you can let them sprawl, but we'd suggest supporting them with pea sticks or low netting for the best crop. They are absolutely beautiful, with bi-coloured pink-purple flowers fading to pale pink/white as they age. They're allowed to mature and dried, then used for delicious winter soups and stews.

We sourced this seed from the Real Seeds company in Wales and look forward to harvesting the beans and also saving the seeds for next year! We sowed them indoors and planted them out in April. 

GROWING OPPORTUNITIES THIS MAY/JUNE 

• Companions to bring to our plants 
• Swiss Chard for our runner beans 
• Nasturtiums for our runner beans 
• Coriander for our potatoes 
• Sunflowers for our squash 
• Palm kale for our oak leaf lettuce 
• Nigella for our garlic and onions 
• Rocket for our garlic and onions 
• Summer savoy for our garlic and onions 
• Basil for our tomato plants 

New spaces created this June 

• Parsnips seeds once the broad beans are harvested 
• Cucamelons seedlings once the Japanese onions are harvested 
• Squash plants once the green manure has been dug in and 3 weeks have past 
• Carrots and turnip seeds once the garlic is harvested 
• Tomato seedlings once the garlic and onions are harvested 

GUIDES TO HELP US ALONG THE WAY 

Green manure 

Benefits and how and when to dig over https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/green-manures 

How to propagate basil 

Basil from a cutting

Basil from a cutting: https://zerowastechef.com/2017/08/15/how-to-grow-basil-from-cuttings/ 

Basil from a seed: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/herbs/basil 

Basil by dividing a mature plant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAvzV-hNxdI 


Homemade fertilisers for our tomato and squash plants 
Comfrey, nettles, weeds and manure https://www.permaculture.co.uk/readers-solutions/how-make-organic-liquid-fertiliser 

Nettle tea: https://www.soils-permaculture-lebanon.com/our-blog-articles-diy/nettle-tea-brew-your-own-liquid-natural-fertilizer 

WATERING
At the garden we have only as much water as the sky gives us. To limit our water use we are watering only: 
Seeds that haven’t yet germinated; and 
Seedlings less than 3 weeks old 

We are using leaf mulch and cover crops on our over plants to reduce evaporation and increase water retention.

Sharing Seeds 2020

Sharing Seeds is a new project for TTT, funded by the Wandsworth Grant Fund, launched in March and operating, guerrilla style during the lockdown. We aim to smarten up our streetscape by focussing on the fantastic trees of Tooting, using creative activities and planting around tree bases. 

Now, more than ever, outdoor time is scarce, and with community gardens like ours forced to close during lockdown, there are fewer places that those who don’t have their own green space at home can connect with nature in their local area. 
Many Tooting street-tree bases currently bare but we intend to change that.  You can take part by planting in them, helping improve the soil and encouraging pollinators.

Planting street tree bases means you, the public, get to form a relationship with a particular tree, get involved in improving how your local streets look, sound and smell, and get to enjoy the experience of growing and seeing new plants develop through the year.

For more details on how to get involved head over to the Sharing Seeds blog pages or follow Sharing Seeds on Instagram.

🔁Seed and Plant Swap 2020🔁

Tooting Community Garden's 
🔁Seed and Plant Swap 2020🔁
Sunday 1 March 2020
Supporting Tooting's Diverse Seeds
Take a look at the photos to see what we did on the day

We created a growing structure and it has a wind sock!

We folded newspaper to make compostable pots

We used our homemade potting compost!

People selected an edible seed to grow from the Seed Swap table

We sifted our homemade compost. The fine soil can be used for potting and the larger compost for mulch.

Between the 50 participants there were a lot of seeds and plants!

Thanks to Work and Play Scrap Store for the yarn and fabrics used to weave our dream catcher growing structure

The structure will be a great support for our cucamelon plants later in the year

We liked this seed swapper's choice of packaging. 

Seed and Plant Swap at TCG

Heads up & a date for the diary, for an early spring celebration in the Tooting Community Garden. On March 1st, we will be running a Seed and Plant Swap. Bring any spare plants or seeds you would like to swap or donate to others. It is fine to turn up with absolutely nothing and see what interesting plants or seeds you can pick up! 

It's also a great opportunity to think about growing something for Tooting Foodival in September.

We will include house plants, vegetable and fruit plants and seeds, rooted cuttings, divisions and bulbs.  It's all going to be very informal, family friendly and of course will be a FREE EVENT. 
 
Sunday,1 March 2020 1pm - 2.30pm 
Tooting Community Garden 5 North Drive, SW16 1RN (opposite the common) 

Foodival features ...

A Grower 2018

This year's Tooting Foodival includes some new features alongside some familar favourites. We start this coming Friday evening with donations of fruit and vegetables from local growers. Can you spare anything from your allotment, window box or garden? These donations are used by our chefs to cook up a great sustainable feast in the Hereward Rd on Saturday 14th.

Here's where to find the Foodival

The Top Tooting Cook Competition is an annual keenly fought tussle between local cooks to rustle up the best home made locally sourced dish. Follow the link to find out how to enter.

This year we have several special guests including May Webber from Butterfly Conservation and Ocean Plastic Warrior Mermaid Jasmine Seales. Don't miss the chance to catch a selfie in a sea shell!

Of course we have a good array of sustainable and foodie stalls plus a long rosta of dance and music action via Dermot's Meltdown.
In a late change to the running order we expect to hear Dermot himself opening the show with his eclectic trug of homegrown songs and lovingly plucked instrumental covers!

So we look forward to seeing you this Saturday for what should be a great event. Friday evening for the much needed produce donations at Mushkil Aasaan 222 Upper Tooting Rd, SW17 7EW.

A full schedule of events will be posted shortly.

Time to be growing for the Foodival!

There are over two growing months until the Tooting Foodival.

That's plenty of time to grow local vegetables from scratch to donate or cook for the Foodival community festival on September 14th.

What can you grow well in your garden, containers or window box in a couple of months?
Who can you get involved? There's a school summer holiday soon, and could the children be in charge? The RHS has a guide to getting children interested in gardening, here.

The varieties below will all grow fast.
Click on the vegetables in the list for more information from gardening websites.
Are some of these new to you? Try them out:

Coriander

Cress
Lettuce

Mizuna

Mustard greens

Radish

Rocket

White turnips

Kohl Rabi  and Beetroot
are worth a try too.

Click here to download a copy of these suggestions with the links to the gardening websites.

What else could be grown quickly? Please share your ideas with us all: Tooting Foodival and Tooting Community Garden are on Instagram, and the garden is on Facebook too.

Happy growing and see you at the Foodival. 
It will be great to see your produce and we'll add you to our 'I Grew This!' poster, 2019 edition

Foodival Poster 2018

TTT is running its 11th sustainable food festival - the Tooting Foodival - this September!  This year's Foodival poster celebrates the core elements of growing, cooking and eating!  If you are a connoisseur of any of these activities we urge you to get involved in this year's festival either as a grower donating some home grown produce, a cook helping to produce tasty locally sourced meals for the masses, entering the Top Tooting Cook Competition, or as a taster of these wonderful dishes on the day.  Perhaps you could be all three?!!

 
If you interested in finding out more about Tooting Foodival 2018 EMAIL US or check out the links below:

Download poster here
Latest Press Release here
Stalls Application Form here
Foodival Website here

Ready Steady GROW! for the 10th Tooting Foodival

The Tooting Foodival celebrates local growing, cooking and eating together. It's based on what people locally grow and donate - so we can all admire Tooting's skills and productivity. Plus we can offer super ingredients to the Top Tooting Cook contest and the chefs' delicious demonstrations. More info here.

Sowing radishes

Radishes harvested just 4 weeks later

There's still time to grow from scratch so you can donate to the Foodival on Saturday Sept 16th. It's about sharing the love rather than growing big quantities. We're  delighted by the diversity of what's donated
every year!


Starting now, what can you sow, grow and harvest for the Foodival?

If you can get sowing by the end of July, you could harvest these by mid-September:

• Rocket
• Coriander
• mixed cutting Lettuces
• Mustard Greens
• Cima di Rapa (that's turnip tops)
•  And more - do share your suggestions.

Rocket

White turnips

'Stay With Love': Gardens of Refuge Project update

We're reporting back every six weeks on the Gardens of Refuge Project. That's our local project running throughout 2017 with refugees and asylum-seekers living in and nearby Tooting, alongside our project partners CARAS and The Grange.

Our previous summary at the end of May can be read here.
In June and July we've worked with the CARAS Saturday Youth Club. 

Elly Brown, MD at CARAS says:

"We've already witnessed the

transformations that take place

when people from far and wide

can use their skills and knowledge

to create something shared."

What have we been doing together?

'Stay with Love' Making instant pallet benches:

In one mighty 4-hour session, a loose and changing group from the CARAS Youth Club co-designed, shared ideas, problem solved and brought in new team members to make four of these pallet benches.

Hats off to that dedicated group whose pride meant they insisted on eating their communal lunch sitting on the new benches.

Part of the production line was to write messages of welcome and invitation on the seat backs. 

These are in many languages.

These young people have come to the UK in search of a welcome, safety and to put down new roots. It's poignant that they felt comfortable to contribute their own personal invitations so directly to all-comers.

All welcome at The Tooting Twirl! This Sunday 16th July, 12noon - 4pm

4 days to go to Tooting's Pop-Up Village Green comes to life at the Bus Turning Circle, Longmead Road.

We'd love for everyone in Tooting to come along to the Tooting Twirl on Sunday to celebrate all the cultures of our town, make a grey space green and have a good dose of fun by opening a highway to games, music and food!

What's happening when?

12noon - 1pm: Come join in building the Village Green - hang some bunting, place some benches... give the Bus Turning Circle a beating heart!
1pm - 2pm: Twirling Street Games and a sharing picnic
2pm: Parade around the Bus Turning Circle in your Twirly best!
3pm - 4pm: Meet, mingle and relax on the pop-up village green

Do you do social media?

Please do tweet, Facebook and share on the day #TootingTwirl

We'll also be joined by the Tooting Bec and Broadway Neighbourhood Plan...

What is it about Tooting that you love? What might you want to change? What do you think we don't have that we need? What stories or places from the past do you cherish? The Tooting Twirl is the perfect place to collectively imagine what good change might look like for our town.

Would you like to take part? It'll take all of us to make the town green... 

Bring a colourful potted plant for the Giant Twirly Flowerbed or plant up a wheelbarrow to turn this grey space green...



Make something Twirly to wear in the 'What's your Twirl?' parade...


Bring a skipping rope or a street game you'd be happy to share...







Decorate your wheels to cycle in the 'What's your Twirl?' parade...





Bring a sharing picnic and a blanket...

All images: Rachel Miller

Jeni, Lucy and Rich - Co-Twirlers from TTT!

Gardens of Refuge project: updating you on 4 fascinating strands at the end of May

We're sharing our monthly update about Gardens of Refuge.
Gardens of Refuge is our 2017 partnership project with CARAS and The Grange to provide therapeutic and positive experiences for people of refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds who live in South-West London.
There are four interrelated project strands to share:
> Carpentry project with the Youth Club  
> Family Activity Days
> Vertical gardening with the Youth Club  
> A 4-day trip to The Grange in Norfolk 

1. Carpentry project with the Youth Club 
We've developed a relationship with a nearby primary school who need planters for their own outdoor space.

Led by Dermot, last weekend we began a series of 3 sessions to build and decorate these planters. The young people took on the design brief and modified the build based on other planters we have made together. In this case we're making beds that are low enough for young children to use, and also tough enough to stand up to inevitable playground clambering.

The session ran to twice its expected length because there was so much energy!
Later on we have access to laser-cutting equipment or 3D printing to make plaques to fix to the beds.



2. Family Activity Days
This half term we have helped facilitate the fourth Family Day of 2017 - partly social, partly to do an interesting activity, partly to join together for a meal (allowing for Ramadan).

Two local food growing workshops June 4th & June 10th - everyone welcome!

All the plants shared out through Pollinator Paths Wandsworth are settling into their new homes - a delightful fact to think about when you consider there are 60 participant plots in the borough!

June 4th: 
As part of the PPW project we're offering a diverse set of free monthly workshops at the 4 project hub gardens. (We'll share the year's plan.)

On Sunday 4th June there's a good-looking event with several practical themes at Bramford Community Garden near Wandsworth Town.

For a copy of the details, click here. You'll see the plant feeding and composting session is repeated as we think this will be particularly popular. Plus there's Old York Road Unplugged happening in parallel, right at the garden gate. The day is open to all - you do not have to be part of the Pollinator Paths project.
And everyone can join the Pollinator Paths Wandsworth facebook group - click here!

June 10th:
On Saturday June 10th there's the 1st session in a series of monthly classes that will run from June to November. The series is called Grow Your Own at Home and it's all about growing fruit and vegetables. Offered by our colleagues Be Enriched and facilitated by Martin, it's highly recommended.
There's a small fee, and all are welcome including beginners.
For a copy of the details, click here.

Pollinator Paths Wandsworth project day: the sun shone on a busy garden scene

We had a fun, busy and instructive Sunday afternoon meeting the local participants in the Pollinator Paths Wandsworth project, and welcoming visitors who found us because we joined in with the Chelsea Fringe and Wandsworth Arts Fringe.

Getting the new planter home

People told us they appreciated being able to have a detailed and friendly conversation about how to look after and enjoy the plants they took home to their balcony, patio or garden: thank you Martin & Jo!

Tooting Community Garden was the fourth of the local gardens to host their event when we share advice and plants. Next steps include a series of seasonal workshops on topics such as composting and making insect habitats. In autumn 2017 there are next spring's bulbs to plant - and the garden and pollination year will come round again!

The community garden's 6th birthday cake

Conversations with new and old friends, exploring the space and doing new things outdoors were great parts of the day.
More news when we have it on events that everyone can join alongside the project participants. The PPW project facebook page is here.

Finishing line of the caterpillar race. We'll run it again!