Author: Transition Town Tooting

All went well in the second weekend of our free workshops devoted to growing our own good local food – one class each in Balham, Tooting and Wandsworth. (Details of the Growing Tooting programme here).

What did we do last weekend? 

We compared everyone’s window-sill grown pea plants, 2 weeks after sowing.

Different conditions (amount of light and watering; depth of planting) produced different growth.

Overall there were crops to be eaten (or planted out) even without having a garden!

Plus: We looked at the components that make up healthy soil

We discussed what ‘food’ plants need to feed their leaves, roots and flowers

We looked at the herbs we like, what conditions they need…and shared recipes

We now have Handout Number Two – everyone is welcome to click here for a copy

A group also visited two participants’ breezy allotment – their very first opportunity to garden outdoors.
As a team, we tried to be observant detectives as well as scientist-gardeners: exploring what is already growing there (celery, blackcurrants, strawberries); proposing what to do first (make a plan, prepare beds, maybe cover future beds with weed-suppressing mulch or sheeting and dig later on); and shared visions of the harvest.

Thanks to all for your enthusiasm and sharing ideas and questions, however new to gardening you are.

This Sunday April 10th all local gardeners are invited to drop in at the Tooting Community Garden to say hello, have a cup of tea made with the volcano kettle, and share some seeds if you have spare.
We’ll be open from 11:00 to 1:00, at 5 North Drive SW16 1RN, tucked behind the big house.

On March 18th & 20th we started Growing Tooting by launching our new free series of 8 classes on learning to grow your own local city food by participating and sharing with others in your neighbourhood. 
That’s 8 classes in each of 3 locations in Balham, Tooting and Wandsworth. Many thanks to Martin for the tireless co-ordination!

Yes it’s ambitious to be offering 24 classes between now and the end of June. We’re thrilled that all the classes are now full. 
In fact, there’s a big waiting list and we may offer a fourth series tucked into this busy calendar…we’ll be in touch with those on the list.

Hands-on right from the start

In that first class we started with the basics:
What knowledge do participants have? 
What kind of space are you using for gardening? 
What do you want to grow?

What are annuals & what are perennials, and so what?

Re-purposed DIY planter

Martin prepared a handout for Session One, and everyone is welcome to a copy – please click here

Even though the classes are full, we’d like to share what we’re doing…and we encourage anyone to get in touch with us and find a local place to garden.
We want to help make local growing spaces much more visible, and get a useful network going for our area’s urban gardeners.

Encouraging new community growing spaces is the other objective of Growing Tooting. Our purpose has been to help 6 new sites start growing. Some of these are the locations of the growing classes described above, and the others are new initiatives where there’s great potential for getting growing together.
The six growing spaces are diverse in scale, purpose, style and in community setting. They are situated at a church, an enterprise, a primary school, a refugee charity and at two council estates:

1. St Mark’s United Reformed Church, Balham 
2. Route to Juice, Tooting
3. Ravenstone School, Balham
4. CARAS (Community Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), Tooting
5. Wendelsworth Garden Fruit Project, Wandsworth
6. Avening Terrace Garden, Wandsworth 

We’ll report much more from each site, and we’ll share the learning from the combined gardening class and garden-creation activities of Growing Tooting: it’s all about building local participation to grow and enjoy good local food. Many thanks again to the Wandsworth Big Society Fund for giving the project financial support. Much appreciated!
– Charles

This free fortnightly programme runs in three different locations in Tooting, Balham and Wandsworth – and at different times of the week (see the schedule below).

In each series of eight fortnightly workshops between March and June we’ll be covering the basics of growing food at home, including wildlife-friendly gardening – even if you don’t have your own garden.

Everyone’s welcome, and no previous gardening experience is necessary.

  
Workshop series venues and start dates:
There are three locations; the full series of 8 workshops will run in each.
If you would like a copy of the flyer with all the venues listed, please click here to download.

Balham: We’ll run on Friday mornings at 11:00am, fortnightly from Friday 18 March. Venue: St Mark’s United Reformed Church, 53 Rowfant Road, SW17 7AP
Tooting: We’ll run on Friday afternoons at 2:00pm, fortnightly from Friday 18 March. Venue: Rechere’s Education, Health and Wellbeing Centre at Route to Juice, 163-165 Tooting High Street, SW17 0SY
Wandsworth: We’ll run at 2:00pm on Sunday afternoons from 20 March. Venue: Penfold Centre, Neville Gill Close, SW18 4JT

Please attend whichever series suits you in terms of timing & location.
We encourage you do join in the whole series for the maximum social and learning benefit – it’s not intended to be separate drop-in events.

Schedule and duration:
We have a calendar of all the 8 sessions at each location – click here to read or download a copy.
Sessions will last 90 minutes.

Workshop series style:
Interactive, practical and participative. We’ll also look at books and web links, and visit other gardens. We’ll build on participants’ knowledge and interests.

To ask any questions, and to book: contact Martin:

• on 07980 095152
• by e-mail at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com 
• by twitter (@tttooting) 
• on Facebook Transition Town Tooting 

Workshop series content:

• We’ll cover seasonal planning, preparation, sowing, growing and harvesting – always with an eye on what works well right here
• We’ll explore: What varieties are good to grow locally? How to manage compost, soil fertility and watering? What about wildlife gardening, and sustainability? How can we make or build what we need for our own setting? Which tools are most useful?
• We’ll show you that in the city you can grow successfully on balconies, in windowboxes, in containers on paved yards, on walls – and in back gardens
• We’ll introduce you to local community gardens
• We won’t forget about recipes, cooking and enjoying eating what we grow
• We’ll finish the series with a celebration!

What to bring:
All you have to bring is enthusiasm and readiness to learn! We’ll provide all the tools you’ll need.

Why join in?
As well as learning and sharing a lot about growing, you’ll meet new people, spend time outdoors and get some exercise – and grow healthy food. What’s not to like?

The wider Growing Tooting project:
The purpose of this whole Growing Tooting project is to encourage local people to grow good local food by sharing and teaching the basic skills of growing and gardening.
Plus, the project is helping to create a number of new community gardens across the borough. We’ll share more about that later on.
Our vision is that these growing spaces with be able to network to share experience, equipment and enjoyment….and help make Wandsworth a growing-friendly place to live. TTT is very grateful to the Wandsworth Big Society Fund for support.

If you have any questions, and to book your place on one of the series of workshops: contact Martin on 07980 095152 (or use one of the other methods above).