Transition Town Tooting

Author: Transition Town Tooting

  • Edible Open Gardens Day in Community Garden, Saturday 21st Sept

    ‘Edible Open Gardens Day’ celebrates local gardening and food, and is taking place across dozens of London gardens.
    Click here for Sustain’s blog about the event.

    We’re pleased to be taking part, and the Tooting Community Garden will be open for an extra day from 11:00 until 3:00 on Saturday 21st September.
    Please come and visit if you have not been before, or if you have been many times….
    ALL WELCOME – and it’s free.

    Click here to read a copy of the flyer, which includes some of the plant prints that the Challenge volunteers made recently in the garden.

    We’ll be gardening, harvesting and sharing knowledge on local growing and cooking. There’ll be plenty to do for adults, children and families.

    Bring a picnic – that will make the sun come out!
    And we’ll be preparing for the 6th Tooting Foodival – details here – on the following weekend (28 & 29 Sept) – do come and give us a hand.

    Have a look at recent activity in the garden on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tooting-Community-Garden/216577221715360

    For any more information, email: transitiontowntooting@gmail.com
    See you there!

  • Young people volunteering at the Tooting Community Garden, Sunday 8th Sept

    Thanks a lot to the young people who came along to the garden for four and a half hours, in rain and sun (they are taking part in a Challenge Network programme).
    What did we do?
    The young people selected from a set of helpful jobs in the garden:

    > They ground our bread wheat into flour
    They used creative ways to thresh the wheat (to separate the seeds from the heads); and to winnow it (getting rid of the chaff mixed in with the wheat kernels). Then they milled it into flour. (Come to the Tooting Foodival and you can try Tooting Sourdough bread made with this flour by Furzedown’s Naked Loaf)

    Or: gently treading on the heads

    Bashing the seed heads against the wall

    

    Milling the wheat into flour

    

    Blowing the chaff away
    > They saved home-grown sunflower seeds to sow next year
    > They picked a lot of brambles for the Tooting Foodival
    > They cleared up rubbish out in the entrance to the Garden
    > They prepared a plot and then sowed ‘green manure’ seed
    > They made a series of plant prints for us to use as posters:
     
    Pleased with a full-size print of a sweet corn plant
     
    The day – like any day in the Community Garden – was not only about doing tasks. We looked at what’s growing, tried radishes and rocket, chatted together, sheltered under the holm oak for lunch, experienced of being outdoors all day. And the group prepared a bit more for the one-day project they have designed, which takes place on 21st September on Tooting Common – more info to come on their Facebook page here.
     
    Many thanks to the other garden volunteers and families who came along yesterday, and to Adrian for the loan of the flour mill.
    It was a really good day!
     
    PS: in a fortnight, on Saturday 21st Sept from 11:00-3:00, the Community Garden will be open as part of the London-wide Edible Gardens Open Day. More info to come.
    

  • TTT round-up, end of August ’13

    TTT’s latest email round-up of news and plans has just been sent out to our subscriber list. You can read a copy by clicking here Or, email us here to join the distribution list.
    Contents include:
    News on TTT activities coming up:

    • The 6th Tooting Foodival: planning meeting 3rd September
    • ‘The Story of Growing in Tooting’ Art project for the Foodival, 4th September
    • Mariza Figy’s research project
    • Tooting Community Garden ‘Edible Gardens Open Day’, 21st September
    • TTT ‘Carbon Conversations’, tbc October and November

    News from local and partner organisations:

    • ‘Asian Elders Support Scheme’ Open Day Saturday 31st August
    • ‘My Back Pages’ bookshop closure – last day Saturday 7th September
    • Friends of Streatham Cemetery Open Day Sunday 15th September
    • ‘Grow Active’ Seasonal Food Growing Workshops from 18th September

    Local food and gardening are on our minds as we prepare for the 6th annual Tooting Foodival in four weeks’ time. We visited Chelsea Physic Garden this week – which is looking wonderful. Do get there if you can in this good weather, and see if you can spot this clever planting of bread wheat (wish I’d thought of it!):

  • Save The Wheatsheaf from Tesco

    News this week that the Wheatsheaf, a long standing Tooting Bec pub, right opposite the tube may be closed down and turned into a Tesco supermarket has stirred up some  determined action from local Tootingites!  Like others, TTT are keen to be part of campaigning to ensure that this iconic Tooting landmark does not become part of yet another multinational chain that will invariably suck money out of our local economy.  Not least because there are two other Tescos providing that opportunity within a few hundred yards in either direction!

    Jon Irwin has started a campaign on 38 degrees HERE which has garnered more than 8,000 signatures as I write.  Please sign if you haven’t already.  At our meeting on Tuesday evening the group was keen to support looking into how we can make the Wheatsheaf a community pub, maybe with local people buying shares, along the lines of other similar ventures in London. 

    On Tuesday evening next week, there will be a meeting at the Wheatsheaf to discuss the pub’s future at 7.30 p.m.  TTT and many other interested parties will be in attendance.  Please come along and add your voice to the campaign to Save The Wheatsheaf!  DT

  • Managing our water use so the Garden flourishes

    This Sunday July 21st, from 1130-1200, come along to help us plan our water use in the Community Garden.
    Maybe this weather will continue, or maybe not: in any case there are some practical short term and long term choices to be made linked with water use. What is doing well and what is not? Can we construct some water catchment and storage – or just install a tap? What different plants could we grow? How will we look after them?

















    For interest:

    • In June there was only a quarter of the normal rainfall locally
    • It has not rained in the garden for 15 days – in July there has been just one mm of rain (July’s average is 40 mm for the month)
    • sweet corn needs 20 litres of water per square metre 2x a week
    • our runner beans need half that

    Do come along – and /or join in with ‘normal’ gardening between 11 & 1.
    The forecast…is for cloud!
    We’re at 5 North Drive, south of Tooting Common, and the entrance is in the fence to the left of the large brick house. All welcome!

  • In the heat at the Community Garden yesterday

    It’s been dry – and now very hot – and both have had an impact in the garden – some plants have speeded up and gone quickly to seed, some have slowed down…
    There was lots to explore and to harvest: we cleared the broad beans and the garlic; we chatted; we looked at insect predators and prey; we tended the potatoes and sweet corn; we made plans for the Tooting wheat with Juan and Anta from Naked Loaf in Furzedown (come to the Tooting Foodival 28 & 29 September and see we what we do together!).
    I’ll let the photos tell the story of the day:
    

    Sorting broad beans
    Raspberries

    Larva of seven-spot ladybird hunting down aphids
    Garlic can dry all week
    Looking at insects
    Wheat is getting tall

    

    ‘The bread is going to be great!’

    

    All welcome to join in at the Garden: every Sunday

    from 11am to 1pm at 5 North Drive behind the large brick house.

    Or email us for info at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

    

    No need for a bag to carry beans

  • Stories Told in the Garden

    Yesterday’s Story Telling at the Community Garden with Emily Duizend (Story Island) was a really successful event, raising £240 for Macmillan Cancer Support.  The garden bedecked in bunting provided a tranquil setting for a crowd spanning the ages to relax, eat cakes and enjoy music from guitar and sitar, and stories from Emily and Vanessa.

    Many of those visiting were new to the garden, so there were many questions about the space and how it is used.

    We look forward to more chances to stage events in the garden.  Local youngsters’ learning opportunities continue in this special green space with the Gatton School visits on Tuesdays while the regular Sunday gardening sessions continue between 11 and 1.  Mail TTT if you would like to find out more.  Everyone is welcome to get involved.

    Thanks to Emily for organising this event.

  • Community Garden vegetable patch today

     






    Do come and have a closer look on Sunday 30th June for Emily’s outdoor storytelling and music session from 2:30-4:15 (see post below).
    There’s a good forecast!
    You’ll also see there is more to enjoy here….come along from 11:00 to 1:00 on the 30th if you would like to join in with the gardening.
    All welcome!

  • Storytelling and music in the Community Garden Sunday 30th June – and more

    During the afternoon of Sunday 30th June, lay down your trowels and spades and come to the Tooting Community Garden for a couple of hours of outdoor storytelling, music and cakes with Emily Duizend and friends. (Emily also took part in the Garden Open Day on June 9th).  All welcome, and we’ll be collecting for Macmillan Cancer Support.  We’ll start at 2:30 and finish by 4:15 – all the details are in the Events Calendar to the right on this blog.

    Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility, 26th June
    In a totally different setting, compared to the Garden, TTT is taking part in a workshop in Camden about Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility on 26th June from 12:30-4:00. 
    The event is aimed at people involved with current policy and practice linking jobs, organisations, training and sustainability – and it’s free and open to all. For details, please click here.

    For us at TTT, this topic relates to our projects with the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone and South Thames College. 
    Click here to have a look at our recent student-led video: ‘Better Choices for a Better Tomorrow’. 


    A special prize for anyone who comes to both days!

  • Community Garden Open Day, Sun June 9th

    The TTT Community Garden was open to the public as part of the Open Garden Squares weekend last Sunday.  Regular garden volunteer, Jenny Teasdale, reports.


    It was a time of excitement and reflection when we opened the garden to celebrate our second birthday, linking up with Open Garden Squares weekend and the Chelsea Fringe.  All the volunteers had been busy bees preparing for the big day and what a big day it turned out to be with nearly 100 visitors, young and old, enjoying the garden with us. People came out of curiosity and community, exploring the range of spaces we have created over the last two years, including the vegetable beds tended by volunteers and local school children, the new herb garden, the secret garden, the willow house and the play area. It was great to see young children taking such delight in throwing themselves into the tall grass, before settling down to hear a story from Emily in the secret garden or printing plants with Chuck under the holm oak.

    I know I speak for all our volunteers when I say that we came out of the day with a strong feeling of community and a desire to open up the garden more often for special events. We are already planning another story session, a composting workshop and some harvest days, and will be creating a new wildlife and wild flower space in the coming months.

    Everyone is welcome to come along to the garden on any Sunday this summer between 11 and 1 whether you are interested in getting involved or just curious to see this fantastic space.