Transition Town Tooting

Category: Community Garden

Community Garden in London SW16 run by Transition Town Tooting. Come down and get your hands dirty!

  • Changes at the Tooting Community Garden

    Tooting’s Green Sanctuary Reinvents Itself

    After over ten years of flourishing as a vibrant oasis in the heart of Tooting, the Tooting Community Garden will go into a period of transformation. For local residents the garden has long offered a place where wilderness and community spirit met. Now, as a new development takes shape, the garden faces its next chapter.

    Development and Change

    The largest portion of the cherished green space will soon make way for a new, though long-planned, project: eight assisted living flats.

    While the reduction in size marks a significant change for the garden – the loss of wild space and refuge for all the animals loving rotting wood and leafy corners (look at our Instagram for the biodiversity we have!)

    Nevertheless, we see it as a new beginning. Planning approval was granted on the condition that the community garden would remain, ensuring its legacy continues in a reimagined guise. We are grateful for the ongoing commitment from Naseem Aboobaker to our gardening cause.

    two young women dig potatoes
    People cooking in community garden

    Looking Forward

    Though the footprint of the garden may shrink, its ambitions for it remain unchanged. We are determined to maintain a dedicated space for growing, learning, and fostering sustainable practices and we are working with the architect to maintain as much of what has become ‘our’ space as possible.

    Over the coming six months, our focus will shift to a horticultural rescue mission: identifying which of our perennials to keep and for which we might be seeking new homes—or perhaps even foster plots—for our surplus plants. With a touch of hope, we imagine a handful of these plants as the first seeds of what will become the Fishponds community garden.

    This oasis began its journey many years ago in summer 2012, emerging from the brambles behind 5, North Drive. Starting out with preparing beds to grow vegetables of the years we added trees and shrubs and fruit bushes. So many of those donated to find a new home as people had to leave their gardens or had to much success with their planting.

    When developers took away the small woodland that bordered our sanctuary, we seized the opportunity—introducing a patch of flax and carving out a potato plot, breathing new life into every inch of the reclaimed ground.

    Not to forget, the herb bed created and tended to by our friend Rose until the very last weeks of her life. The new community garden will hold a space that will be Rose’s bed.

  • Bioblitz at Tooting Community Garden

    Bioblitz at Tooting Community Garden

    Having been inspired by Fishponds Bioblitz we decided to do our own and to start with looking out for our garden animals.

    A BioBlitz is defined as a short, intensive period of time during which a group of people find and identify as many species of plants, animals, fungi and other organisms as possible within a specific georgraphic are.

    We decided to focus on animals this time and spend a gardening session to expore our own area. Maybe a little less scientific but nevertheless fun. We also wanted to see how much diversity we have in our garden and to continue doing these exercises year on year to monitor the development of animal diversity.

    Equipped with containers, brushes and sticks we ventured around the garden, we looked closely at our flowers to look for pollinators, we turned over stones for invertebraes and lifted the rugs from our compost bins to capture some of our many arachnids.

    The writer of this post was most surprised by the diversity of snails and slugs in the garden. Not their best friends when it comes to cultivating kale they thought there is ‘THE slug’ and ‘THE snail’. A leopard slug is surprisingly pretty.

    We found Parakeets eating the greengages (see the video on our Instagram of that), different sizes of crab spiders a jumping spider a red tailed and a white backed bumblebee.

    We learned the difference between a millepedes and centipedes. Did you know that centipedes are carnivorous and actually have fangs to immobilise their prey.

    We collected a variety of types of woodlice of all sizes.

    Some of our hollyhocks have already started to go to seed – and it is fascinating to watch the tiny weevils with their trunk munching on the seeds.

    The kids surprised with their knowledge of bugs and most of all how they handled the bugs and spiders.

    A successful and enjoyable day had in the TCG.

  • The Community Garden bakes a loaf of bread

    That is the plan anyway. How did it come about?

    Many years ago a previous community garden group grew wheat and managed to bake one loaf of bread from it. So why not try it again?

    Inspired by one of our members who was asking for a source of getting wheat for her garden we also got ourselves some seeds. We tend to grow low maintenance crop in the garden as we don’t have the resource to tend to delicate plants. We also found in recent years weather volatility is driving us towards the hardier end of plants that tolerate draught and rain. So the wheat seemed a good idea.

    We got in touch with the Brockwell Bake Association https://www.brockwell-bake.org.uk/ who offer ‘April Bearded’, a grain last commonly cultivated during the 19th century. Their seed stock of this was grown and harvested by Kent farmer Andrew Lingham at Court Farm, Halling. Heritage wheats are generally more suitable for non-farm and organic farm sowing as they do not require the chemical fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and growth regulator typically used in conventional wheat farming for success with modern wheat lines.

    We prepared an area that we had to clear to give our apple tree a bit more space and sowed our 2m2 of wheat in rows. Watered it twice to allow germination and now wait and see.

    Below are photos from the first 3 weeks of the wheat project. We will provide regular updates on our Community Garden Instagram.

    But do come by on a Saturday 11.00 till 13.00 (and often until much later – because once you are in the garden it’s hard to leave) and join us in sowing and planting for the next season.

    Find out more about the garden here.

  • Mailout 30th August 2021

    This is a copy of the mail tot TTT mailing list of 30th August 2021. Open this mail in your browser

  • Lockdown Love, Episode 1 – FOOD!

    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…


    Vegetanuary! 

    Vegetanuary! was already an online group focused on exploring vegetarian and vegan foods during January each year. It was a no-brainer to re-imagine the group and apply to lockdown to share recipes, support each other and encourage experimentation for people’s wellbeing. Click here to join.

    Over the last 10 weeks, this group has grown from 150 to over 200 people from Tooting and beyond. We have contributors from Colombia, Sweden,  China the USA and more.  The pictures show 3 course meals with locally foraged ingredients. Anyone know what ramsons are? Answers in the comments please! 
    As lockdown eases in the UK this coming Monday, the group, based on Facebook, are sharing recipes for picnics and BBQs. Could be dips or pickles, bread or cakes, flans or tarts, salads or jelly, sweet or savoury. What would you make? 

     

     

     

    Foodival 2020

    The Foodival team are variously working as chefs, delivery drivers and mental health support workers in their spare time under lockdown. We are not yet certain what form the annual sustainable food festival will take, but Saturday 12th September is the date in the diary when we still hope to do something.

    There has been more growing and enjoying outdoor spaces over the last couple of months and we are particularly interested in hearing people’s growing stories.  Please connect with Tooting Foodival via the TTT email or on Instagram @tootingfoodival to share your story!     grow|cook|create|reduce|reuse|recycle

    Tooting Community Garden

    We’ve been gardening behind 5 North Drive for many years now and are hugely grateful to Naseem and Mushkil Aasaan for supporting our growing projects there. Pre-Lockdown, we always opened the space every Sunday, from 11am to 1pm, pretty much without fail. Personally, I loved hearing the stories fo “8 people from 8 different countries of the world” attending the space – a human representation of celebrating diversity found in nature. 

     
    Lockdown has meant the garden is tended by the core group, exercising physical isolation, but shared religiously every week. Here’s last week’s post, written from the heart:
    “Another weekend of spending time in the garden without our community- but lots of things

    to do and precious moments to enjoy.
    The sage is buzzing with bees. I would love to taste that honey. The sunflowers have gone in…waiting for the squashes to share the space with them. Lots of window sill planting… waiting to find a space in the garden.
    The first raspberry is out. If it weren’t so dry…let’s see if they make it.
    And some tidying up jobs… finding a treasure box (of tools???) And a very tidy bottle shed.
    Compost sieved for more potting and we even tested the soil for acidity levels. And … there should be lots of brambles for those pies for later on. 

    Hope to see you soon” 


    The group is looking forward to hosting children groups in the Summer and needs help re-imagining the unsafe play equipment, might you want to join in? Get in touch via transitiontowntooting@gmail.com or the garden facebook group.

    Neighbourhood Seed Swop

     

    Tooting is quite a large area, consisting of neighbourhoods within it – Furzedown, Tooting Bec, Amen Corner… In light of lockdown and a huge surge in people wanting to grow their own, we started a hyper-local seed swop in Furzedown. Well, a seed, plant swop and gardening advise exchange actually, based on WhatsApp, allowing people close by to offer or request seeds or plants. Extraordinary plants have been exchanged, the champion of all being a Bangladeshi bottle gourd! 

    If you’d like to get involved in Furzedown or to find out how to set up a seed/plant/advice exchange in your area, get in touch transitiontowntooting@gmail.com


  • 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.

  • Seed and Plant Swap 2020

    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

    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) 

  • TTT Makes the Guardian in Rob Hopkins Article

    TTT Makes the Guardian in Rob Hopkins Article

    TTT is pleased to be included in today’s Guardian newspaper article featuring Rob Hopkins’ new book What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create The Future We Want 

    The paper version of today’s Guardian

    Well done to media mogul Mal for getting some photos sent over in the nick of time featuring the Community Garden, Tooting Twirl and Foodival. The article also references our regular Restart repair cafes.

    The online version HERE has a great photo from last month’s Foodival courtesy I think of Franco Ruarte. Other TTT pics are featured in the paper version above. Thanks to Simon Maggs, Jenny Teasdale, Bryony Williams and David Thorne for these!

    Rob is running an event at Batersea Arts Centre with help from TTT’s Lucy Neal entitled Pop-Up Tomorrow (click thru for tickets) which invites you to “step into an imagined future to collectively vision, playfully build and then physically inhabit a 3D vision of a Zero Carbon Britain in 2030”.

    Meanwhile don’t forget tonight’s talk with Resina and Belinda on Ecobricking at Tooting Green Drinks. All welcome to the Selkirk Pub SW17 0ES for 7.30pm

  • Growing Community across London – Part 1…

    130 people joined us for 2 events during London National Park City Festival Week!

    Our 2 linked workshops, called Growing Community in the Heart of Wandsworth, invited people to come and get their hands dirty learning how to make vertical planters, potting on, creating leaf pressings and loads more. They also created a lasting echo in both locations, read on to find out more…

    The first event was at Ravenstone Primary School on Monday 22nd July. What struck me most about this day was that we had way more young people than adults and all the young people wanted to get active.

    The cloth planters were made using a staple gun, here’s Kate and Chuck in action. 
    These four friends knew exactly what they were doing making cloth planters 
    These guys loved moving muck and making a wee home for their plants.
    A big element of our day was to give a workshop on making vertical planters. Why? To show what can be made with largely waste materials – pallets, any cloth, cardboard tubes from carpet shops and homemade compost. Paul Wilson gave a fantastic session on the pallet planters, encouraging people young and old to get involved.

    Paul in action taking through the endless possibilities of a pallet

    All planted up and ready to go!
    Grandpa/son tackle the drill

    The day also inspired a diverse range of volunteers who not only helped deliver the event, but also had time to catch up, share experiences and enjoy the day. HUGE thank you to Miranda, Tara, Paul and Paul, Sarah, Mary, Peter, Claire and Claire and Veronica.

    Big up the Volunteer Team!

    We were planting for community, for ourselves and for nature. At Ravenstone, the vertical planters for community will be used in a brand new Wild Place for Nature. This project, led by parent volunteers and quite literally digging up the asphalt down to the subsoil to build up new planting areas and provide much needed connection to nature for the 400 children at the school, not to mention parents, teachers and staff.

    Everyone got to take a plant home and, of course, all the planting was good for nature.

    Feedback, child-style… do we really hate plants??

    Both events for part of a London wide National Park City Festival with events happening over 9 days and the announcement by Mayor Sadiq Khan of London being the world’s first National Park City. Many more Cities across the World have their eyes on London and are exploring what National Park City status means for them. For us, its about advocacy for green and blue spaces in celebration for all that they give us. Its also about feeling part of a much bigger ecological and social system across London whenever we come and garden at home, at Ravenstone or at Tooting Community Garden. Its a fantastic response to the Climate Crisis, embracing imagination, communities and wonder in making London healthier, greener and wilder.

    Blog 2 will be all about the linked workshop at Tooting Community Garden, keep those eyes peeled!

    Follow London National Park City Foundation HERE
    And their website HERE
    Check out the National Park City Festival Website HERE