are plotholders at the Dover House Road allotments, as well as having an amazing biodome within their school grounds. Both offer wonderful opportunities for their pupils to learn about the environment, where our food comes from and the work that goes into putting food on our tables. The children are keen gardeners but would love a little help from members to get themselves going......so please read more and see if you can help. Read more in Members' News

Max Reeves has finally published his quirky book of photographs of London Scarecrows, most of which are on allotments. Any members who let Max know about scarecrows might like to know that he is still collecting sightings! Contact him through the RGS. You can find out more from entropy press

Our Roehampton are busy developing a new community garden 'Shared Roots'. They are looking to hire an enthusiastic person with community gardening experience who will be able to deliver mindful volunteering sessions and gardening workshops from November 2026-April 2027. Find out more here - or for an informal discussion please email garden co-ordinator Preya, preya.chauhan@ourroehampton.org.

The Roehampton Garden Society Autumn Show was held on Saturday 12 September inside St Margaret’s church. After the very hot summer, we wondered if we there would be any crops left to show but we needn’t have worried as lots of plot holders had plenty of things to enter - did someone say cherry tomatoes? We had lots of new people visiting the show thanks to some great publicity on a local website. Click here for the full report.

It was lovely to see so many of you at our Autumn Show. A busy afternoon as we all admired the exhibits and treated ourselves and our guests to tea. Our thanks to all who worked the show cafe and all who baked the excellent cakes. In spite of a tricky growing season there was much to see - and, of course, tomatoes nearly took over! Congratulations to Show chair, Carol Martinez, and her hard working team. Click on the slide show below....

Download the Entry form and Schedule of classes. Try your hand at entering your produce and come and enjoy the show.

The French word for this vegetable is aubergine. When European settlers originally brought the aubergine to the United States, they brought a white version and these egg-shaped, pale vegetables inspired the name “eggplant” because they looked like goose eggs.

Site 3 looked lovely on a balmy summer evening hosting a very enjoyable drinks party for us all. The 'nibbles' were spectacular and the company diverting - so many others we hadn't met before. Our grateful thanks to Kate and Richard for their hard work and congratulations on a very successful event.

Who knew …. A farm on top of Wimbledon Quarter shopping centre?? Amazingly there is! Informative and interesting tours take place each month during the growing season where you can see container grown fruit and vegetables and the rooms used to produce oyster mushrooms. You can also admire, from afar, the farm rooftop beehives, moved further away from people for swarming season. (Purchase the honey in the Old Fire Station cafe on Queens Road.) They produced 298 jars last year!

Tea and bunting It was the year of the cactus. The strikingly tall pot plant dominated the tables for the summer show. In spite of some very mixed weather in the weeks just before the show there were still some good crops to display. The cakes for tea were as good as ever- and enjoyed in the outside sunshine. Thanks to David and Mariangela Renshaw for running an entertaining auction (above). A lovely relaxed event.

On a beautiful sunny morning members of the RGS gathered at St Margaret’s church to remember Jeannette Sweetland, a plotholder on Site 3, who died a few weeks ago. Jeanette was known for her gardening expertise, interest in art and the natural world and beautifully kept allotment plot. She is much missed by her allotment friends and neighbours. We joined her friends and colleagues from St Margaret’s to share reminiscences of Jeanette’s many kindnesses and planted a lovely ros

Art-K art studios in Putney came to the allotments on 12 April and gave a most enjoyable Art Taster Session using watercolours to 12 RGS members. Many thanks to Sue for organising the event and to Steven, the teacher from Art-K. “Thank you for arranging this afternoon’s art session. I really enjoyed it and found it ever so relaxing. Stephen was lovely and it was well organised” Amanda Flint. Art K offer adult and children’s classes at their premises in Lacy Road. Photographs

Spring is here – we all love to notice signs of renewal of the season – but when exactly is the start of spring? There are three different measures we can use: Meteorological Fixed every year to ensure statistics are consistent throughout time. Spring in the northern hemisphere starts on 1 March and autumn on 1 September. Dates have been decided using temperature data. Astronomical Follows the equinox and can vary slightly each year. Spring falls between 19-23 March and autum

The Autumn Show was held on Saturday 30 August at St Margaret’s, inside the church. After the very hot summer, we began to wonder if there were any crops left to show but we needn’t have worried as lots of plot holders had plenty of things to enter - don’t mention tomatoes - and many visitors came to see the show. It's always nice to see new people. Our judge, Mark, a colleague from Earlsfield allotments, was very complimentary about the standard of entries, and the teas and

More than 90 people visited Site 2 as part of the NGS Open Gardens Scheme and enjoyed the RGS Summer show on the same day. Read the full report from Carol Martinez below...

Site 3 open to the public for the National Garden Scheme

AGM 2023 Held in St. Margaret’s church, the AGM was an enjoyable event with informal seating and delicious food and drink. Thanks are due to all those involved. Cups were presented by Fleur Anderson, our MP and RGS President. Awards included a ‘best plot’ cup for both sites and certificates of excellence for two new plot holders. Read the full ‘Award of Cups –AGM report‘ by Carol Martinez here.

RGS members at the House of Commons When Fleur Anderson heard this year would be the RGS’s centenary year, she invited us to have an event at the House of Commons Jubilee Room as part of our centenary celebrations. Due to number restrictions, members who have made a contribution to the running of RGS activities were invited. It was a very special evening to remember in such an auspicious place. Fleur is very committed to preserving and supporting allotments and environmental

RGS Centenary Banner A lovely, bright celebration from Jenny Cobb. Made with upcycled materials, too. Many, many thanks!

The RGS Centenary Exhibition is in Putney Library from 28th May to 12th June 2022 Part of Wandsworth Heritage week, the exhibition looks at the roots of the RGS, set in local history of its times together the development of allotments and changing horticulture. Lots to see and to read. There are also some lovely paintings of our allotments to see, and Andrew Wilson’s photos of wildlife on our allotments. You are warmly invited to visit. Please do sign the visitor’s book.

One Monday afternoon in December, when a small group of Granard school children were visiting the Site 2 allotments, Barry was kind enough to introduce them to his chickens. As you can see they were able to hold them and Barry gave the school a dozen fresh eggs which were cooked the following morning. After they had visited the chickens Barry gave a few of the children a ride in a wheelbarrow, ably helped by one of their teachers, Natalya, who is also a plot holder.