Transition Town Tooting

Author: Transition Town Tooting

  • Pedalista Workshop – This Tuesday!

    Could you be a leader in making, could you become a Prime Pedalista? 

    Hello Pedalistas*

    Tour De Tooting is fast approaching.  Pedalistas of Tooting will be looking to get making and decorating throughout June in preparation for the Parade of Wheels on the 3rd July.

    This Tuesday, Tour De Tooting are hosting a workshop of making and decorating to prepare you to share techniques with friends, family, community groups , school pupils and more.

    Could you be a leader in making, could you become a Prime Pedalista?

    *A Pedalista is anyone who is excited by the idea of celebrating the freedom and liberation of the wheels in their lives.

    Tuesday 7th June
    6:30 – 8:30
    Work and Play Scrapstore, Hazelhurst Estate, 13 Blackshaw Road, London SW17 0DA

  • Growing Tooting – the sixth weekend of our local grow-your-own food workshop series

    Last weekend we enjoyed the sixth crop of fortnightly ‘triple-header’ Growing Tooting workshops – one each in Balham, Tooting and Wandsworth. (Plus there’s the fourth series: an extra Wandsworth group running on the intervening weekends).
    As ever, thanks to Martin for the energy and co-ordination!

    What did we do this week?
    As a comprehensive gardening topic we looked in detail at Permaculture – a growing approach that aims to integrate natural systems with social and individual needs for food, clean water, energy… (click here or here for two in-depth web resources).

    To make that practical, in one group Donna presented her own garden as a case study.

    She filmed a video of the back garden, plus photos of the front, for us to get an idea of the spaces and how the garden fits into her life.

    Donna’s team of advisers – an unusual opportunity!

    ‘Observing’ before diving in is as useful in gardening as it is in swimming. Thank you Donna!

    How is the potato progressing?

    Secondly about observing – in our classes we encourage participants to be ‘grower scientist – investigators’ alongside enjoying being outside and putting good food on the table.
    Here’s an example from someone who likes to measure and celebrate her plants’ progress! Why not try it – you learn a lot.

    We have our latest Growing Tooting Handout 6 available – click here to download. The handout includes interrelated features of good common-sense gardening (and of permaculture):

    • Attracting wildlife to control pests
    • Mulch
    • Compost
    • Mycorrhizal soil fungi
    • No-dig gardening 

    To illustrate combing several of these elements, the second Wandsworth group planted up a square foot raised bed which had been prepared with a no-dig approach. First we removed the weeds then covered with a couple of inches of leaf mould from one of the housing estate’s leaf pens, then covered that with sieved soil to achieve a fine tilth for sowing seeds.

    You can see the separate layers

    We planted spinach, nasturtium, basil, plus marigold and tomato seedlings under bottle cloches (we’re experimenting with companion planting for the latter two).

    Finally: two more illustrations of this week’s topics:

    Attracting beneficial insects.
    It’s useful to provide habitats for predators such as ladybirds (the larvae eat loads of greenfly).
    This is a roll of corrugated card inside a plastic bottle with its base cut off.

     
    No-dig and mulch gardening.
    One guru for this approach was Ruth Stout. We’ll share some excerpts from her 1970s book, which is worth looking out for.

    A practical no-dig resource online is SPUDS (Society for the Prevention of Unnecessary Disturbance of the Soil).

    It really works.

    Happy Gardening – Charles

  • Tour de Tooting Coming Your Way

    There is a real buzz of excitement in the air, a sense of something big about to happen in the streets of Tooting as the launch date nears and the Grand Parade of Wheels takes shape. From now until 3rd July we will be holding ‘Reinvent Your Wheels!’ workshops and cycle-themed events to celebrate the people-powered wheels in our lives. 

    The first workshop is at Bruce Hall, All Saints Parish Church (corner of Brudenell and Franciscan Roads) this coming Saturday 4th June 11.30-4.30pm. There will be lots to learn, make and enjoy: making, storytelling and wheel decorating. Light refreshments provided. Come for the whole time or part. Everyone is welcome, it’s free to take part and it is open to all ages. 

    Why don’t you come along?  Bring your wheels to decorate and see how you too can be part of this Grand Parade of wheels in Tooting. On the day itself, Sunday July 3rd, we will leave Franciscan School together at 2pm. Take a look at what’s happening and how you can get involved. 

    Lucy Neal, one of the Event organisers, says: “Transition Town Tooting has been working with Transport for London and Wandsworth Council for half a year to work out a route for our Grand Parade of Wheels so that our community can celebrate together. We are SO excited that we are now a month away from the big day. But there is lots to do to make the Parade gorgeously colourful and inventive. We need everyone to get involved reinventing their wheels and joining this people-powered Parade.”

    Pick up a leaflet from your local cycle shop to find out more and see our poster below for further details.

  • Growing together, Learning together, Working together: three years of Outdoor Learning in Gatton Primary School’s own words

    Early in May we held a delightful celebration of three years’ shared experience of the outdoor learning project between Gatton Primary School and Tooting Community Garden. 
    You can look at that blog report by clicking here. 

    The sun shone on us all and lit the mosaic made at the school with every pupil involved. 
    Among the natural images the tiles spell out the three phrases that are the title of this post.

    What is outdoor learning? ‘OL’ covers many activities (not only gardening) and settings. OL offers opportunities for surprising and diverse impact on participants –not fixed or one-size–fits–all.

    Have a look at this earlier TTT post on outdoor learning with younger children from Gatton School.
    Also, click on OUTDOOR LEARNING in the Quick LInks at the top of this web page for stories from 3 years of the project.

    We want to share Gatton School pupils’ own words about their experience of the project. Young people from Year Six (10 & 11 years old) made confident and touching short speeches at the celebration, and you can read the texts here. 


     All the statements are fascinating, and I’ll quote just parts of what 4 different pupils said:

    • “For over three years now our school has worked as a team to create these projects which you see before you. Team work is necessary in our lives and Gatton School has used this advantage to work as a team and benefit the environment”
    • “We can cultivate land together and learn more social skills when we are engrossed in doing gardening together as either a family or as a community”
    • “Taking part in such activities even improves our Design & Technology skills and encourages children to do something that benefits them as well as having fun doing so. D&T inspires children’s creativity and pushes them to think about important ways to support Mother Nature” 
    •  “Nature plays an important part in every religion and it is everyone’s responsibility to take care of it. We strongly believe that this community garden has brought us together and closer than ever before”


    I asked Rifat Batool, Head of Gatton School, to share some of her vision for establishing and continuing the project. She said:

    “Outdoor and engaging learning is a strong aspect of our work at Gatton School. The various projects carried out in the community garden over the past 3 years have allowed pupils to see first-hand how much we can do together as part of a strong partnership committed to learning. 

    We continually challenge our thinking and way of learning to drive for more innovative ideas to enhance learning even further. This allows pupils to see that so much is possible when using creativity, imagination and sense of purpose. 

    This partnership and celebration represents the coming together of people from different backgrounds and interests  and is an amazing representation of teamwork, collaboration and mutual respect”.

    TTT feels honoured to be part of three years of positive experiment, and grateful for the commitment shown by the children, Gatton School staff, Mushkil Aasaan the owners of the garden site and our own team, rain or shine.

     
    Thank you all, and we’re looking forward to the next three years!
    – Charles

  • Come along to our Annual Celebratory Extravaganza, Fri. 10 June

    Come to our Annual Celebratory Extravaganza!

    Fri. 10 June, 6.30pm
    Rechere’s Health & Wellbeing Centre, 163-165 Tooting High Street
    (followed by 9.00pm drinks at the Trafalgar Arms for those who want to continue celebrating!)

    Please R.S.V.P. by getting a free ticket on Eventbrite

    Everyone is welcome!

    If you’re on our mailing list, like or follow our Facebook or Twitter accounts, have been to any of our events, or are just interested to find out what we do in Tooting – come along.
    ACE is an opportunity for us to come together to celebrate achievements locally and to thank everyone who has supported us over the last year.

    It’s a place to meet other local people who share our goals:

    Making Change in How We Live, Where We Live, In Light of Climate Change.

    And a chance to find out about our projects and get involved.

    What to expect

    • TTT sustenance – a.k.a tea, cake, samosas, Turkish bread & hummus
    • Test your knowledge of Tooting with our quiz
    • A celebration of what was achieved last year
    • Discover more about TTT’s projects
    • Share an idea you might have to improve our neighbourhood
    • A look ahead and an invite to get involved
    • Conversations with friends new and old

    See you there…
    Don’t forget to get a free ticket on Eventbrite
    so we know how many cakes to bake!

  • Growing Tooting: the fifth weekend of our enjoyable local grow-your-own classes

    Gardeners in Balham, Tooting and Wandsworth are seeing results in the soil, in trying out new skills and having some fun together.
    As our fortnightly free Growing Tooting classes continue, have a look below at what we’ve been doing, and do get in touch to share ideas or with any queries.

    Very proud gardeners! 

    Basil seedlings transplanted into the ground at Melanie’s allotment.

     

     
    More proud gardeners, indoors this time:

    Veronica, Diana and Morena sowing seeds, transplanting lettuce seedlings (Sainsbury’s, 60p), dividing Moroccan mint to take home in pots.

     
    Back outdoors, gardeners of all ages at Ravenstone School are getting their school raised beds going

    Growing Tooting Handout 5 This is now available for participants and for TTT friends who read this blog and who would like to catch up on the details. 
    Themes are Pests, Companion Planting, Square Foot Gardening. 
    Please click here to download and keep a copy of Handout 5.

    Square Foot Gardening is useful for the home gardener because it helps you focus on making best use of space, putting plants together that make sense, and creating an interesting mini-landscape.

    What’s in the square foot bed below?
    Tallest plants top RH corner (= north side).
    Gail’s donated tomato and borage (top RHS squares).
    Maxine’s lemon balm and 2 strawberries (top LHS).
    Seeds elsewhere – bell peppers (top), English marigold (centre), radish, dwarf nasturtiums, basil (bottom L to R)

    Square foot bed planted with veg, herbs and flowers for pollination.

    Here’s a small bed full of different herbs, spotted at Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses


    Some more from weekend 5 on the scientific and growing judgements and choices we make when we are gardening:

    Selecting seeds:
    Bean bed in Balham: last year’s white flowered  beans (which weren’t very productive) and conventional scarlet-flowered beans to plant; sweet peas for extra decoration and pollination.

    Trimming when transplanting to keep plants healthy:
    Trimming off excess leaves on lemon balm and strawberries donated by volunteer, Maxine, who dug them up that morning; we put them in the square foot bed.

    Adding nutrition to a plant in a pot:
    Giving the Brown Turkey fig a top dressing of John Innes No 3 and planting with dwarf nasturtiums to give ground cover and colour.

    And for some insights into high-end gardening, it’s Chelsea Flower Show this week, with lots of media coverage.
    Good growing, everyone!

  • Come to the Hubs & Spokes Cafe – Thu. 19 May, 6.30pm @ Rechere’s

    Want to find out more about Tour de Tooting?

    Come along to our second Hubs and Spokes café on Thu. 19 May, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at Rechere’s Wellbeing Centre, 163-165 Tooting High Street in anticipation of  the Tour de Tooting, Sun. 03 July.

    What will be doing in this Hubs and Spokes Cafe?

    The gathering on Thu. 19 May from 6.30pm to 8.30pm will fill in the gaps of what remains to be invented. Do we need more rides? More people? More materials? What part might you like to play?

    Pedal by pedal, we will look at compatibility between the Tour’s four components:

    • Creating and making:  Decorate your wheels, bring your machines if you like!
    • Roads and Rides:  Catching up on our route and sites – we need people to marshall / steward / site manage. Would you like to ?
    • Connecting and Communication:  Telling people in Tooting what’s happening
    • Resourcing:  Join our team! Time, sweet time – do you have any you might like to give? Whether it be for something specific or getting involved in the co-ordination. We need Principal Pedalistas! Social Media advocates, Volunteer Stewards, Leaflet distributors and poster putter-upperers, Site Managers for on the day and help with Volunteer Co-ordination! Roll up! Roll up!

    We’re wheely looking forward to seeing you, please do spread the word and bring folks who you think might be interested.

    In the meantime, have fun trying to Draw A Bike From Memory!
    http://www.booooooom.com/2016/05/09/bicycles-built-based-on-peoples-attempts-to-draw-them-from-memory/

    What happened at the last Hubs and Spokes Cafe? 

    Those who came along to the first Hubs and Spokes café enjoyed Cake! Tea! and a short movie on the bici-machinista-cycle-powered marvels of Guatemala and the collective energy of creating this emerging event! 

    Lots has happened since:

    • We’ve been developing Route, Traffic and Event Management plans
    • Leaflet and Poster design are underway
    • A logo, thanks to everyone, with help from Sue Rentoul!
    • We’ve engaged with Wandsworth Cycle Campaign and Wheels for Wellbeing, a fantastic charity that removes barriers to cycling
    • Organising workshops with children at Franciscan School, our Départ point     
    • Continuing plans for a wheel-themed film night in Tooting Market
    • Co-ordinating a bike-themed Tooting Restart Party on June 21st Tuesday

    We look forward to seeing you. Come join in the fun! #tourdetooting

  • Growing Tooting: the fourth weekend of our flourishing grow-your-own classes

    The fourth weekend in our fortnightly series of workshops on growing your own local food was fun and successful. We’re half way through the run of 8 workshops at each of the sites.
    The Balham-Tooting-Wandsworth structure is stimulating as there are differences and common ground in the settings and interests – plus there’s healthy cross-pollination between locations and local partners. 

    Have a look at the Fourth Growing Tooting Handout by clicking here – all welcome to download and use to help your own garden choices. Collect the set! (And any feedback welcomed, of course).

    Do you know your Rooster from your Vivaldi?
    One theme in the Handout is building awareness of varieties of vegetables and fruit. What’s the benefit of there being so many?

    So, here is a ‘Brown Turkey’ variety fig being planted at the Balham class site, St Mark’s URC

     
     
    TTT recently won a prize draw from The Conservation Foundation (see last item below). Our reward was a diverse bundle of 3 varieties of potatoes: ‘Sherine’, ‘Rooster’ and ‘Vivaldi‘. Each has different characteristics and cropping times…the result of plant breeding over the past 400 years. Thank you! – we have some to give away.
    Plus there’s ‘Centurion‘ onions and ‘Red Sun’ shallots which we’ve planted.

    More news from the classes: Here’s Donna from Balham’s mighty mangetout, with lots of pods set already. You get a sense of gardener’s pride from the tape measure draped alongside. Donna has now planted this out in the polytunnel at Doddington and Rollo Community Roof Garden, with lots of supporting sticks. To complete the synergy, the seeds came from Tamworth Farm Allotment Society….see below for their plant sale next weekend.

    Another theme in the fourth Growing Tooting Handout is watching the weather…and after a May weekend of hotter-than-Ibiza weather, staying aware of frost is probably going to be replaced by hoping for heavy rain (preferably at night). We’ll cover more in the future about growing successfully with low or unpredictable rainfall.

    Two interesting notices looking ahead:
    1 On 14 & 15 May, Tamworth Farm Allotment Society plant sale runs on their site opposite Figge’s Marsh.  A great way to buy plants cheaply and get tips from the gardeners who grew them!

    2 Tools for Change (click on link for details): through this project from The Conservation Foundation, from 9 May to 9 June anyone can donate spare, unloved or broken garden tools at any Wyevale Garden Centre (there’s one in Morden). You’ll receive a 10% discount on new hand tool purchases. There is give and gain in the project: the tools are then repaired at Tools Shed workshops in prisons including HMP Wandsworth, and donated to community groups and schools. Local groups who wish to receive garden tools in spring 2017 can get in touch here.

    In Tooting Community Garden we’ve received tools from this innovative scheme.      
    We’re proud that our outdoor learning project with Gatton School has benefited. See these young gardeners with some dramatic cultivators!

    Tools for Change reduces waste, helps community groups build participation and save their limited cash and has a positive social impact. 
     

    • Celebrating Community Outdoor Learning with Wandsworth’s Mayor

      This afternoon a formal celebration of three years of Community Outdoor Learning with Gatton School took place at the Tooting Community Garden, attended as guest of honour by the Mayor of Wandsworth, Councillor Nicola Nardelli, plus site owner Naseem Aboobaker of Mushkil Aasaan and Rifat Batool, Head at Gatton School. 
      The celebration was joined by many of the children, staff and volunteers who have contributed to the development of the garden and the Outdoor Learning programme.

      The Mosaic and Vertical Garden

      The Mayor officially opened the vertical garden made by Year 6 children in recent weeks as well as unveiling the mosaic curated by artist Kirsteen Ritchie and made with the help of many of the children at school.  
      Naseem expressed her thankfulness for the community connections made in the garden and a group of the children read out their own tributes and reflections on the garden projects.  
      Rifat spoke about the educational value of the outdoor projects over the past three years.

      A community collaboration


      Mayor Nicola Nardelli & Naseem Aboobaker

      The Mayor with Gatton School Year 6 children

      We’re very grateful to all who took part on a lovely day to celebrate this project.
      More to follow …

    • Growing Tooting: our third weekend of free local food-growing classes went very well

      The third weekend in our practical, sociable and free Growing Tooting workshops went well in Balham, Tooting and Wandsworth. 
      A fourth ‘waiting list’ group starts on the 24th April in Wandsworth. 
      Please scroll down this blog to see our earlier posts.

      At this stage of our classes, participants have seeds sown or seedlings coming through in their own planting pots and trays at home: here’s some spinach on the right. We discussed together just how to get to this stage successfully!



      We also looked at dividing clumps of perennial plants such as mint as in this photo. 
      Each smaller clump can be planted out to multiply your crops. 
      Hands-on superhuman strength sometimes needed if the old clump is dry…

      We have a Third Growing Tooting Handout – all welcome to click here for a copy.

      One group of participants has a new allotment, so the timing is great to share what they are doing and trying out.
      A key message in the classes is to learn from each other, that’s certainly more fun.

      You’ll remember we are encouraging participants to be partly garden-detectives and partly growing-scientists…there’s no need to shy away from some helpful technical tips when learning about growing good local food. One ‘technical’ but practical topic in the third handout is ‘crop rotation’ – swapping around what you grow where, year by year.

      In our Tooting Community Garden plot, we do ‘rotate’ what is planted in the beds every year exactly as in the handout. We keep a sketch map of what we are growing, so we can remember what’s planted, and to help plan for next year.


      Come and visit us sometime at the Community Garden: all welcome to pop in and chat about growing or help out. We’re open every Sunday from 11:00-1:00 at 5 North Drive, SW16 1RN. 
      Latest info on Facebook: Tooting Community Garden.
      Good Gardening!  – Charles