We’re calling on Wandsworth Council to make it easier for local communities to turn unused public land into productive, biodiverse and welcoming spaces.
identify council-owned land that could be used for community growing;
make suitable land available to community organisations through simple, free licences;
consider allowing communities to grow on sites awaiting development, on a temporary basis; and
support the wider campaign for a national Right to Grow.
The basic idea is pretty simple: if a patch of public land is sitting unused, why not let local people make something brilliant out of it for their local neighbourhood.
But first, we need to know where those possibilities are. That’s where Plot to Possibility comes in. We’re creating a map to help us spot the spaces around Wandsworth that could become something more.
Spotted an unused space?
Have you noticed an unused or underused space in Wandsworth that could be transformed into a community garden, food-growing area or space for nature?
Let us know! We’re creating an open-source map of potential sites to help us scout out opportunities for nature recovery and community food growing across the borough.
Send us the location and a few details about the site via the following form. Every space could be an opportunity to grow something.
Right to Grow meets Sustainable September
September is Wandsworth Sustainable September, a month celebrating the brilliant sustainability work happening across the borough, from community gardening and growing to repair cafés, nature activities and harvest events.
We’ll be out and about this month talking about Right to Grow, Plot to Possibility and all things community growing. Come and say hello!
Balham St Mary’s Big Green Day Saturday 12 September | 1–4pm (see HERE)
Paradise Cooperative Harvest Festival Sunday 13 September | 1–4pm (see HERE)
Southfields Harvest Festival Saturday 26 September | 12–2pm (see HERE)
Fishponds Garden Harvest Saturday 26 September | 3–5pm (see HERE)
Woodfield Pavilion Day Of Climate Action Saturday 3 October | 11am-2pm (see HERE)
We’re also looking for more local events to join! If you’re organising a community, gardening, food or environmental event and would like us to come along, get in touch at dpateln@gmail.com.
What a day! On 9 May 2026, the United Reformed Church in Rookstone Road buzzed with energy, creativity, and a shared passion for making Tooting a better place. TootingCAN, organized by Transition Town Tooting (TTT) and funded by the Wandsworth Grant Fund, brought together 108 participants from all walks of life to celebrate the skills, resilience, and kindness that make our community thrive.
From the moment you walked in, you could feel that this was more than just an event. It was a testament to what happens when we come together to learn, share, and care for one another. Whether you were trying your hand at British Sign Language (BSL), crafting a comic book, or whipping up date balls in the kitchen, there was something for everyone, and everyone had something to give.
Stitching the Totes
A Celebration of Skills and Community
TTT’s mission is to tackle the climate and ecological emergency through volunteer-led, community-driven action right here in Tooting. TootingCAN is our moment to convene the people with skills and experiences from our locality to do exactly that through sharing, showcasing that our work is nothing without the vibrant and diverse community right here in Tooting. Participants left with new experiences, fresh ideas, and a sense of belonging that’s vital to build a flourishing sustainable future.:
108 participants engaged across 15 activities.
15+ workshops delivered, from worm composting to AI sustainability and Indian dance.
Around 75% of attendees were Wandsworth residents, proving that the best solutions start right where we live.
But the real magic was in the story we all started to weave:
9 out of 10 participants praised the event’s warmth and inclusivity, with many highlighting the friendliness and the diverse, healthy food as standout features.
Activities like the BSL workshop and Creation Station, led by children and supervised by Core Group member Abby, (where attendees crafted badges, mugs, and comic book stories) were particularly beloved, with participants calling them “inspiring” and “connected to family heritage.”
Special mention for Kelly’s cooking class for children; firstly as it enabled children to experience the joy of cooking nutritious meals from scratch, secondly as it introduced them to cooking sustainably through plant based recipes. It is hoped that this will plant the seeds for these children to enjoy cooking and cook meals that are good for the planet – potential huge long term gains if they can be sustained (through more Tooting CANs!)
The event closed with a community meal, performances of the fresh BSL skills and slick Indian dance moves before a collective sing song with the Lido Choir which brought the room to life, proving that joy is a skill we all share.
Lap around a Laptop, take a look inside…
Feedback That Warms the Heart and nourishes our work
This year, we had an engaging and creative way to gather feedback on the walls of the entrance corridors. One attendee, a 70-year-old singer, said:
“I loved the community atmosphere, anyone can sing! I’d love to see more singing in future events.”
Another, a 50-year-old stitching enthusiast, shared:
“I connected sewing to my family heritage and loved the Lido Choir. The whole event felt so welcoming.”
Contributors (our 30+ volunteers) echoed this sentiment. They loved seeing the diversity of skills on display and the buzz of activity, and the collective effort of hosting TootingCAN.
Indian dance, clack! clack!
What’s Next?
Transition Town Toting have run TootingCAN for the last 3 years and the enthusiasm for it grows each time. This year, we received loads of ideas for workshops at future TootingCANs, such as:
More singing and creative workshops (think choral singing, book clubs and dance)
Deeper dives into IT topics like AI and sustainability.
Arts and Crafts from crochet to lino printing, collage to painting & sketching
Food and cooking workshops like fermentation, kimchi and baking
Finally, the practical stuff: gardening, bike maintenance and woodwork.
Most importantly, TootingCAN proved that community resilience isn’t just a buzzword, it’s something we build, day by day, skill by skill, in community. Let’s see how next year’s tootingCAN develops!
Serving lunch
A Huge Thank You
To every participant, volunteer, and contributor, thank you for making TootingCAN a day to remember. Your energy, creativity, and kindness are what make Tooting special. Huge thanks to Amy and the United Reformed Church, our home from home. And to the Wandsworth Grant Fund, thank you for believing in this vision and helping us bring it to life.
The future is bright, and it starts right here in Tooting. Let’s keep sharing, learning, and growing together—because when we do, there’s no limit to what we can achieve.
Want to get involved? Perhaps you have something to offer for next year’s TootingCAN? Transition Town Tooting is always looking for volunteers and new ideas. Get in touch at [TransitionTownTooting@gmail.com] to join the movement!
Close with a sing song
Tooting can!
By Rich Couldrey
Step in to the creation station, stick, squeeze, badge Take a lap around a laptop, who knew AI was… Stitching ties, totes to carry your prize, whirrr, prick, chat, chat Chaat chaat, making chaat, spiced cascade, A taste of tooting in date … balls and pizzas made, squeeze, need and dough The meal begins to assemble ...
But wait, we dive underground, dark, as worms wriggle and squirm outside, Past quests for reflection, to planters repaired and hands in the soil, plants go in... grow, grow!
In community, we relate, a rainbow human family, What did you say? Hands sway and flow, in letters made as we move, my name, your name, hello hello.
Gestures turn to dance, sticks clack clack! As Ragini moves, with such grace and poise, we follow, Kathak, Kathak.
And back, to find a way into a digital world, clickety clack of fingers on keyboards learning to excel, nearly time to relax...
Wooosh! A gleeful child runs and newspaper kites fly out back, time to rise up... up... up... to see a drawn map of us all, BAT BAT.
Enough of all that, Take a breath, in and sing, feel the healing, "hold on, my dear, here comes the dawn" rings, And stop, pause, time to eat and reflect, A leek and potatoes soup to fill the...head… heart and hands, and celebrate... Tooting's rainbow soul, ‘til next time we gather and change the world once more.
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.
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.
On Saturday 5th February the Seed and Vegetable swap group had it’s first live seed swap event.
This event was to enable local gardeners to meet, have a chat with each other, bring seeds to share with others and pick up seeds they would like to grow. They were also able to have a go at making newspaper seed pots. Most people had a go at this, and were able to take these home filled with the seeds of bee friendly wildflowers.
The event was well attended and people enjoyed the opportunity to meet other gardeners. People enjoyed having a cup of tea and biscuit and chatting to other gardeners. Some of the comments that participants made of the day were:
‘an enjoyable afternoon, with a bunch of friendly people happy to share useful tips and knowledge’
‘really enjoyed meeting people yesterday at the seed swap’
‘my best part was meeting so many warm people who are also very knowledgeable and experienced gardeners whom we can learn a lot from’
It was great to see people mingling so easily and having discussions about gardening. People were enthusiastic about having further events, so we may well be holding a summer or harvest party. Watch this space!
To join, please contact us transitiontowntooting@gmail.com with your phone number so that you can be added to the WhatsApp group.
So yesterday’s IPCC’s latest report says human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways. [BBC Report]. The Guardian gives its verdict on the climate crimes of humanity as “guilty as hell”. The report itself is likely to be conservative, having been signed up to by all the world’s governments based on a review of thousands of scientific studies.
As we know politicians are much better at talking than taking any meaningful action to halt the Climate Crisis. As we approach COP 26 in Glasgow at the end of October, it has never been more imperative for the world to find a way to stop burning fossil fuels as soon as possible.
While this seems highly unlikely, here in south London, we can continue to make our own small contribution to reducing the impact of humans on the planet.
Coming up soon we have this year’s Tooting Foodival, our annual sustainable food festival taking place on 4th September 2021. We started this event in 2008 as a small way to combat the industrial homogenised food culture, to bring local and sustainable back into people’s consciousness. To get food miles to NEAR ZERO!
The premise of Foodival revolves around using home grown fruit and vegatables donated by local growers to create tasty dishes for all to sample. The event has been running since 2008 and always includes some new ideas and strands.
This year we are also focussing on some of the great initiatives that have emerged during lockdown that embrace sustainable living developed by local people such as recycling and upcycling, repairing, mending and re-creating.
Fast fashion for example has a huge environmental impact on the planet, leading many to think about buying less, caring more and making the clothes we love last longer. Why not get involved with our clothes upcycling event and maybe brave the catwalk with a repurposed creation?!
See our the Foodival blog and Instagram for more detail on this and other happenings at this year’s Foodival street festival.
Our 2021 Tooting Foodival was again a great success, with Volker and team serving locally grown street-cooked food throughout the day to a constant stream of visitors.
The sustainable theme was more congruent than ever with many relevant stalls selling handmade local produce, a variety of workshops and attractions utilising a larger road space, the music drawing people in, well integrated with interesting speakers on climate topics. The sustainable fashion restyling and catwalk were great new additions.
Thanks as ever to Naseem at Mushkil Aasaan, Brian at BJ Hardware and the residents of Hereward Rd for the use of their spaces and especially to all the volunteers who came to help set up, take down, decorate, serve and recycle.
Could Foodival #14 have been the best yet? Quite possibly!
Here’s a short video to give you a taste of the day!
Tooting Foodival is a community festival celebrating all things locally grown, cooked, re-created and re-imagined. Shining a light on how we can try to live sustainably in a time of global climate change.
Running since 2008, the event showcases all things locally grown, cooked and produced with stalls selling local produce, music, dancers, speakers, competitions, a soap box and much more. Find out more https://tootingfoodival.blogspot.com/
Keep an eye on this page for the date of our 2022 Foodival or follow the social media channels below…
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
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 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.
