Roehampton Garden Society

Author Archives: RXY


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Time for the RGS Summer Show 2023

Once again our Summer Show will be held on Site 2. Please have a look at the schedule and make an effort to enter the show, everyone will have something to enter, be it flowers, fruits, vegetables or even cup-cakes.

DONATIONS OF PLANTS OR PRODUCE FOR OUR POPULAR STALL WOULD BE VERY WELCOME.

Schedule & entry form summer show 2023[3831]Download

From Carol Martinez, Show Chair:

🍎 Fingers crossed for good weather. This is an opportunity for everyone gather together, see the entries and have a great time catching up with our allotment neighbours. There will be savoury snacks and Buck’s Fizz available, as well as other refreshments.


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A workshop on Herbs and Edible Flowers – Saturday 20th May

Spice up your salads! This workshop will cover everything you need to know about growing your own tasty herbs and edible flowers to add flavour and vibrancy to meals. Filling our outdoor spaces with herbs and edible flowers adds welcome scent and colour for us and benefits our urban wildlife too.

Led by an RHS qualified horticultural tutor, the workshop provides lots of learning about how to grow herbs and edible flowers, plenty of information to take away and an opportunity to practice sowing seeds and taking cuttings.

Taking place in a lovely walled kitchen garden, this practical one-day workshop includes lots of planting ideas and some simple propagation techniques for you to try, so that you can take away a pot of your own herb cuttings. The cost is £38.

This course is at: Ecolocal, The Lodge, Honeywood walk, Carshalton SM5 3NX. Within the grounds of Carshalton Ecology Centre, by the ponds.

Find out more and book online HERE


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Volunteers needed for Medfield Street

Have you noticed how the memorial fountain in Roehampton village has been looking lovely of late? The original drinking troughs and basins have been put to new use.
A group of local people and businesses have made trough gardens out of the old water basins. Ongoing maintenance is done by volunteers Vicky Pigott and Val Jones (details below), with water provided by Hungerford Motors, the garage opposite – but they need more help to keep the plants thriving and would love Roehampton Garden Society members – close neighbours – to be involved.
About an hour a month is enough. Interested to join this go-ahead group?
Please contact: Vicky Pigott, chair SW15 Women’s Network at vicky.marie.pigott@gmail.com or Val Jones, Putney (and Roehampton) Society – jones.val@gmail.com if you can help.

They promise becoming a Fountain Friend will be a pleasure, not a chore! Read more about their project here.

Fountain Volunteers


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The Peregrine Falcon

October 2022
This Tuesday at 12.45 hrs. I saw a peregrine falcon over the allotments. It was soaring beautifully on a thermal. Recognisable by pointed wing tips and what I can best describe as a straight tail.

A solitary large crow was desperately flapping trying to reach it, with the obvious intention of mobbing it. The peregrine obliged and dropped down to the same level of the crow, who courageously tried a clumsy pecking and foot up attack on it. The peregrine then demonstrated how it’s done, turning in a blink of an eye and, in milliseconds, knocking feathers off said brave crow. It (crow) wisely then dropped a couple of hundred feet, but still followed the peregrine, escorting it off the premises of Dover House Road air space. 

The peregrine may have been one of the pair that nested atop Charing Cross Hospital this last couple of years..

with thanks to Bill Young Site 3

Here’s a website dedicated to the peregrines nesting on Charing Cross Hospital


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Centenary AGM Roundup


Changeover time for the committee at the AGM and prizegiving.
An evening made more enjoyable by Jackie Savage’s engaging talk on the History of the Roehampton Garden Society.


Special congratulations to Helen Finch and Jackie Savage who received a Wandsworth Civic Award pin for their work in keeping the allotments open through the Covid pandemic.

With many lovely pictures of the evening and extracts from the Chair’s annual report, Read the full AGM Bulletin from Carol Martinez here.


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Putney Community Gardens Nominated for Award

Congratulations to our friends the Putney Community Gardeners, who have been nominated for a Wandsworth Civic Award. They Say

“We’ve been nominated for a Wandsworth Council Civic Award! Whoop Whoop! Many thanks to everyone who put us forward for this! It’s thanks to all the wonderful neighbors, local residents and regular volunteers, gardeners and growers who keep on loving and caring for the gardens!  We’ll be visited by a team of film makers on the afternoon of Monday the 24th of October to make a short film about PCG to screen at the award ceremony.”

Connect with them at https://www.facebook.com/PutneyCommunityGardens/


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Welcoming Winter Fair – 12th November

Putney Community Gardens are delighted to invite you to its very first “Welcoming Winter Fair“, on Saturday November 12th, 4pm to 6pm at Boyd Court, with a lantern procession around the gardens from 6:15pm to 7pm.

  • Enjoy nice tea, coffee and cakes
  • Get affordable early Christmas presents from a selection of homemade products made by some PCG residents 
  • Learn about what PCG has achieved this year and what projects we are planning for 2023.
  • Participate in The Lantern Walk around the neighborhood
  • … and more
  • Kid’s activities – Raffle – Conviviality- Fun 

Could you help with the fair?

We are looking for a FEW VOLUNTEERS TO HELP ON THE DAY AND AT THE LANTERN WORKSHOP THE DAY BEFORE THE EVENT. Please get in touch with Marjorie at info@putneycommunitygardens.org for more details and mention ‘Winter Fair’ in the subject.
If you’re interested in MAKING HANDMADE PRODUCTS TO SELL AT THE FAIR please also contact Marjorie as above. We are welcoming products made from your gardens or foraging such as jams, products from creative crafts and hobbies such as knitted goodies, wooden decorations, etc… As long as you made those products yourself and are willing to sell them at a reasonable price.


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An invitation from St. Margaret’s Church

We are holding our Harvest Festival next Sunday 9th October.  Our Service is at 10am followed by a BBQ lunch and we would like to extend an invitation to everyone at Roehampton Garden Society to join us.

We are holding a plant sale on the day, our parishioners are bringing plants to sell or to donate, and we wondered if any of your members have any vegetables that they would like to sell or give to us to display at our Harvest Service?

It would be nice to have a plant sale and a vegetable sale outside church or in, depending on the weather. All proceeds on the day are going to Glass Door Homeless Charity and we are collecting food etc for our Local Food Bank. Please read the wish list for the food bank opposite:

Members who wish to contribute plants, vegetables, fruit or other goods to this sale – please use the collection boxes in the Potting Shed on Site 3 and in the Tea Hut (behind the store) on site 2. Your produce or donations will be taken to St. Margarets.


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Barelaas – a taste of Nepal

Karma picking the barelaas on Plot 68
A delicacy in a stir fry

Barelaas or are a Nepalese delicacy – useful in a stir fry – and growing very well on plot 68!

Barelaa (Balsam Apple) – बरेला
Barelaa is a late summer vegetable measuring between 1 to 2 inches long, slightly curved at one end with soft and delicate texture. The pale green juicy fruit looks somewhat like a pointed gourd (parwar or parvar).  The vegetable is picked and cooked when it is young and tender.  The mature overripe ones have numerous black rough seeds, which should be removed before cooking.  Since this vegetable is very delicate, it cooks quickly.

with thanks to the Taste of Nepal blogspot… website here