Transition Town Tooting

Tag: Nature

  • Moth Night on Friday 13th October – all welcome!

    This Friday 13th October as a part of Pollinator Paths Wandsworth project, all invited to a Moth Recording Walk at Putney Heath. 
    This is a fun mix of citizen science and being outdoors in the city. If you have never seen live moths close up, it’s a great opportunity.
    Poplar Hawk moth in summer
    Timing? Meet 6:30 pm 
    Start Location? Boyd Court, 101 Carslake Road, Putney SW15 3DD
    Activity? We’ll set live moth traps, go for a short evening walk and then return to the traps to see what moths hve been attracted to them. 
    Then, those that wish to can return to the Green Man Pub nearby to continue the discussion.
    Clothing? We’ll be working and walking on the Heath at dusk, so wear appropriate shoes. You could bring a torch.
    Who is this for? Anyone interested, including children of course. Have they seen live moths close up?
    Organisers & info? Contact m.redmond@lsx.org.uk or info@putneycommunitygardens.org
    We’ll be guided by David Howden from London Natural History Society and hosted by Putney Community Garden representatives.
    Moth Night is the annual national celebration of moth recording organised by Atropos and Butterfly Conservation, with local events aimed at raising awareness of moths among the general public.
    Come and enjoy getting close to moths – and many of us are not aware that moths are significant pollinators. Time to change that!
    Let’s learn more and help promote those great pollinators together.
    More info about the the Pollinator Paths Wandsworth project – click here.

  • 30 Days Wild in Wandsworth – get ready to enjoy the local outdoors for the month of June

    30 Days Wild In Wandsworth is aimed at encouraging us all to share enjoying being outdoors in the city during June ’17. 
    Being outdoors is not one size fits all: read a book under a tree, walk to work, make a daisy chain, join in activities like the Park Run or swim at the Lido.

    We’re piggybacking on The Wildlife Trusts’ national ’30 Days Wild’ campaign, a great place to start.
    Go to their site online here to join as an individual or family to receive the 30 Days Wild June Calendar.

    There’s a link here for the beautiful ideas in Random Acts of Wildness. 

    And there’s a free 30 Days Wild app – get it here.

    Two of us are helping frame this month of focus on the outdoors: Chuck from Transition Town Tooting and Rosie from Paradise Co-op.


    We and others will propose things to explore or do, but we’re not running a month of special events. 
    The idea is that the month is self-managed: everyone can share what they enjoy and find valuable, maybe to do with nature, or keeping fit, or gardening, or sports, or contemplation….or all of those and more. Of course there are several weekly events in the Paradise and TTT calendars during June that are perfect for getting outdoors.

    To help share ideas, we’ve set up a facebook group called 30 Days Wild in Wandsworth, and it’s ready for use here, now. 
    Anyone can post ideas, experiences, tips. These can be for all ages, and for all kinds of activities: quiet or loud, active or reflective, social or solo. 
    Do join us on facebook as soon as you like – you don’t have to wait for June.

    So: during June we can all share good ideas and local knowledge that will make this outdoor opportunity come alive in Wandsworth. Please share the crusade and spread it wider with others who may not be online or may miss out.

    It’s very simple: it’s all about enjoying the outdoors. 

  • Two local food growing workshops June 4th & June 10th – everyone welcome!

    All the plants shared out through Pollinator Paths Wandsworth are settling into their new homes – a delightful fact to think about when you consider there are 60 participant plots in the borough!

    June 4th: 
    As part of the PPW project we’re offering a diverse set of free monthly workshops at the 4 project hub gardens. (We’ll share the year’s plan.)

    On Sunday 4th June there’s a good-looking event with several practical themes at Bramford Community Garden near Wandsworth Town.

    For a copy of the details, click here. You’ll see the plant feeding and composting session is repeated as we think this will be particularly popular. Plus there’s Old York Road Unplugged happening in parallel, right at the garden gate. The day is open to all – you do not have to be part of the Pollinator Paths project.
    And everyone can join the Pollinator Paths Wandsworth facebook group – click here!

    June 10th:
    On Saturday June 10th there’s the 1st session in a series of monthly classes that will run from June to November. The series is called Grow Your Own at Home and it’s all about growing fruit and vegetables. Offered by our colleagues Be Enriched and facilitated by Martin, it’s highly recommended.
    There’s a small fee, and all are welcome including beginners.
    For a copy of the details, click here.

  • Pollinator Paths Wandsworth project day: the sun shone on a busy garden scene

    We had a fun, busy and instructive Sunday afternoon meeting the local participants in the Pollinator Paths Wandsworth project, and welcoming visitors who found us because we joined in with the Chelsea Fringe and Wandsworth Arts Fringe.

    Getting the new planter home

    People told us they appreciated being able to have a detailed and friendly conversation about how to look after and enjoy the plants they took home to their balcony, patio or garden: thank you Martin & Jo!

    Tooting Community Garden was the fourth of the local gardens to host their event when we share advice and plants. Next steps include a series of seasonal workshops on topics such as composting and making insect habitats. In autumn 2017 there are next spring’s bulbs to plant – and the garden and pollination year will come round again!

    The community garden’s 6th birthday cake

    Conversations with new and old friends, exploring the space and doing new things outdoors were great parts of the day.
    More news when we have it on events that everyone can join alongside the project participants. The PPW project facebook page is here.

    Finishing line of the caterpillar race. We’ll run it again!

  • Pollinator Paths workshops and the Community Garden’s 6th Birthday: Sunday 21st May 12 – 4pm

    On Sunday the Tooting participants in the Pollinator Paths Wandsworth project are collecting their plants to grow on during 2017. 
    Come to the Community Garden at 5 North Road, SW16 1RN between 12:00 midday and 4:00 pm.

    Some of the beautiful plants that project participants can grow on at home

    We’ll advise you on how to plant and look after them, and you can enjoy them all year as well as looking out for the beneficial insects that should be attracted to your balcony, patio or garden. For more info, click here – and everyone can follow progress and join in on facebook.

    We’ve had our first card!

    Plus, on the same afternoon everyone is welcome to the Tooting Community Garden’s 6th Birthday!
    We’ll start celebrating at 3:00 with the caterpillar race (find your food plant!) and
    we’ll cut the birthday cake at 3:30.

    Caterpillar costumes – choose your style
    Food plants our caterpillars race for

    Some caterpillars are very camouflaged, and some are very conspicuous – which kind will you be?

    All welcome on Sunday!

  • Tooting Pollinator Party Sunday 21st May!

    We’d like to welcome everyone to the Tooting Community Garden on Sunday 21st May from 12:00 to 4:00 for our free Pollinator Party!
    Find us at 5 North Drive, SW16 1RN.

    What’s a Pollinator Party?
    It’s a lovely afternoon in the garden. We’re mixing together fun and instructive activities that focus on planting, beneficial insects and sharing our own growing experience of city gardening, Tooting style. 

     
    What’s good for our gardens and insects is also good for us!

    What can you come and do on the 21st?

    • We’ll celebrate the Community Garden’s 6th birthday with games, volcano kettle tea – and a cake. 
    • We’ll offer practical do-it-yourself making opportunities – creating cloches from plastic bottles and inventing wall planters from textile and plywood for strawberries or herbs.
    • We’ll have quizzes and activities about insects and pollination – and Lola Godoy’s geodesic dome to enjoy as a special habitat during the afternoon.
    • We’ll have a rolling workshop to distribute plants to the local people who have already signed up to join in with the Pollinator Paths Wandsworth project. Developed with London Sustainability Exchange, in this project 4 borough community gardens are each involving local gardeners (novices too) who will grow insect-friendly plants throughout 2017 on balconies, patios, at school, in the street and in back gardens. Over 60 local gardeners will share what they see, learn, enjoy and taste.
    • Feel free to relax, bring a picnic (we’re an alcohol-free site) – and of course do some gardening if you like.

     

     

    Timetable:
    We’ll run all the activities throughout the afternoon – and we’ll stop for tea together and blow out the candles on the cake at 3:30 pm.

    We’re very pleased that the day is part of both the Wandsworth Arts Fringe and the Chelsea Fringe: both full of other great events.

    We want this project, and all our community garden sessions, to help inspire new links, share skills and spark growing in lots of diverse settings across the whole borough.

    Lola and her dome will be with us on the 21st!
    Where are the Pollinator Paths project plants coming from?
    Almost all of them have been grown in Tooting by our friends at Share in their lovely garden tucked away in Springfield Hospital. Perennial plants and bulbs have been ordered in. The result is high quality and very low ‘plant miles’, a great sustainability feature of the project.
    Nasturtium & lemon lavender
    Bare-rooted red currants
    Please email us if you have any queries about the Pollinator Party or the ‘PPW’ project.

    Join in the Pollinator Paths Wandsworth facebook page to keep in touch with the project, and read the project description here.
    And finally, here’s the first post (for April) in the series that will continue telling the project story throughout 2017.

    How to carry a planter home

  • Rewilding in Tooting – a new storytelling event to explore environmental thinking with children

    Children from 5 to 8 years old and accompanying adults are welcome to join this new event which explores rewilding and environmental thinking in a fascinating and participative way – right here in Tooting on Saturday 8th April.

    All welcome to come and explore our themes:

    Play – Learn – Dream 

    We’re thrilled that Andres Restrepo and Emily Duizend are running this imaginative free event based in the Tooting Community Garden.
     

    We hope you‘re intrigued and want to join us on the first weekend of the Easter holidays. Adults welcome if accompanying children, and together we’ll be look at nature, use our senses and imaginations, focus on what’s special about our surroundings, appreciate Tooting as a place – all from angles that may be new to us.
    When? Saturday 8th April, from 11:00 to 1:00. And it’s free
    Where? Tooting Community Garden, 5 North Drive SW16 1RN
    For who? Children aged 5 to 8 years old
    Details? Children need to be accompanied by an adult
    Flyer? Click here for a copy of the flyer
    How to book? Contact Andres by email to book and for more details

    We want to inspire children and adults to 

    explore how the outdoors can be experienced right here in the city
    All welcome on Saturday 8th April – please book in and we’ll see you there!

  • Pollinator Paths Wandsworth – Design Workshops Friday 10th & Saturday 11th March

    Are you looking forward to gardening for wildlife in 2017?
    We recently announced the exciting new Pollinator Paths Wandsworth project, and we’ve been posting updates on Facebook and tweeting.

    The next step is to run the two free Design Workshops this week  One this Friday, one on Saturday. This is where the discussion will take place about what insects the project will aim to benefit, and therefore what plants to recommend to encourage them. And more about plant habitats and microclimates.


    The workshops are not identical – there will be a flow over the two days, and they will also work as stand-alone events. All welcome!

    Once ‘beneficiary bugs’ (actually, probably moths and a bee species) and forage plants are agreed, then the later process of enlisting local people to grow them on and observe can start. Plant distribution will be May 21st in the Tooting Community Garden (and at other local gardens on other weekends). We hope that lots of novice and expert gardeners will to be involved over the summer! 


    Here’s the flyer including info with the Design Workshops at the top:

    Tooting Workshop timings and location:
    2:00 – 5:00 pm on Friday 10th March at Mushkil Aasaan, 222 Upper Tooting Road SW17 7EW

    Wandsworth Workshop timings and location:
    2:00 – 5:00 on Saturday 11th March at Penfold Centre, Neville Gill Close, Wandsworth SW18 4TJ

    And the poster for the whole project:

    We look forward to seeing you at the design workshops – let us know if you are coming by signing up here.  

    All welcome!

  • 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

  • ‘Bringing Nature Closer to Home’: Wildlife Gardening Forum November 2015

    ‘Bringing Nature Closer to Home’ is the tagline of the Wildlife Gardening Forum, which held its tenth anniversary meeting yesterday at the Natural History Museum in London.

    Several of us from Tooting and TTT attended – along with 80 other gardeners, enterprises, government agencies, charities and community groups. It’s always a stimulating day (available to all; the Forum has 800+ members now).
    Anyone can use the Forum’s rich resources at www.wlgf.org/
    Forum meetings are held twice a year and give us a valuable chance to hear practical ideas from across the UK, learn about brand new research and discuss key topics with experts and practitioners – in sessions or over coffee.

    I’ve found there has always been learning to bring home to Tooting from these Forum meetings. 

    Plus practical things to do – here is a citizen science survey that will let us contribute to earthworm research (ie ‘soil ecosytem services’).




    Some highlights of the day:
    ‘Gardening is very personal’

    • Gardening is very personal. We do it for many reasons, and age demographics and our perceptions of child safety mean that the importance of having nature right on our doorstep is more significant than ever (Chris Baines, author, broadcaster and gardener )

    Why do people garden?

    • To offer scope for: making a place we like, creative decisions, relaxation, socialising, children’s play, growing food, spirituality, hobbies, storage, showing status
    • And front gardens and back gardens are viewed very differently by their owners. (both Lee Dixon, PhD research)

    How has our recognition of the value of gardens to wildlife (and vice versa) developed?

    • At horticulture college in 1966-69 I spent three years being taught to kill everything that moved (Chris Baines)
    • In the old days gardeners arranged plants entirely for the benefit of people. We used to ask how to get rid of it? Now we ask how can we invite wildlife in?
    • We may not understand all about garden biodiversity. But if we build wildlife-friendly gardens, then wildlife will find it’. (both James Alexander-Sinclair, garden designer and RHS judge)

    How can communities get involved?

    • Gardeners and groups in rural settings or cities are already involved: for example feeding birds and growing pollinator-friendly plants, and observing nature in and around their gardens.
    • Buglife outlined Urban Buzz. It’s a national project for 8 cities which will be launched next week, aiming to get 800 pollinator plant hotspots buzzing over the next few years, with thousands of people joining in as guides, volunteers and participants.
    • We heard about Plants for Bugs – new Royal Horticultural Society research on whether native or non-native plants (typically mixed in our gardens) are more beneficial for insects. Info here.

      Development at the Natural History Museum
      WLGF co-ordinator Steve Head offered a passionate plea to the Natural History Museum to reconsider aspects of their recent proposal to resolve how to get ever-growing numbers of visitors into the museum.
      Steve suggested that the proposed new route that would obliterate the Museum’s twenty-year-old Wildlife Garden could be improved, and that this oasis of inner-London biodiversity could be preserved. (Background details to NHM proposal online here).


      We’ll share the full report of the day when available. 
      The next Forum meeting is in 6 months – all are welcome.