The third weekend in our practical, sociable and free Growing Tooting workshops went well in Balham, Tooting and Wandsworth. 
A fourth ‘waiting list’ group starts on the 24th April in Wandsworth. 
Please scroll down this blog to see our earlier posts.

At this stage of our classes, participants have seeds sown or seedlings coming through in their own planting pots and trays at home: here’s some spinach on the right. We discussed together just how to get to this stage successfully!

We also looked at dividing clumps of perennial plants such as mint as in this photo. 
Each smaller clump can be planted out to multiply your crops. 
Hands-on superhuman strength sometimes needed if the old clump is dry…

We have a Third Growing Tooting Handout – all welcome to click here for a copy.

One group of participants has a new allotment, so the timing is great to share what they are doing and trying out.
A key message in the classes is to learn from each other, that’s certainly more fun.

You’ll remember we are encouraging participants to be partly garden-detectives and partly growing-scientists…there’s no need to shy away from some helpful technical tips when learning about growing good local food. One ‘technical’ but practical topic in the third handout is ‘crop rotation’ – swapping around what you grow where, year by year.

In our Tooting Community Garden plot, we do ‘rotate’ what is planted in the beds every year exactly as in the handout. We keep a sketch map of what we are growing, so we can remember what’s planted, and to help plan for next year.

Come and visit us sometime at the Community Garden: all welcome to pop in and chat about growing or help out. We’re open every Sunday from 11:00-1:00 at 5 North Drive, SW16 1RN. 
Latest info on Facebook: Tooting Community Garden.
Good Gardening!  – Charles