Earlier this month, we hosted a free, hands-on workshop introducing South Asian tropical vegetables and herbs, showing participants how to grow them in gardens, allotments, balconies or containers. The session was led by Hina Joshi, Rishi Shah and Niru Patel – experienced growers with a passion for Permaculture. Rishi is a gardener at Capel Manor College, and Niru trained there as a professional gardener. We were excited to bring their expertise to Tooting, where residents had expressed a real interest in learning from them.

The workshop aimed to inspire the community to connect with nature through food growing. We explored how to grow bottle gourd (dudhi), fenugreek, mooli, bitter gourd, chickpeas, okra and coriander. Over three packed hours, we covered seed selection, growing tips, harvesting, saw examples of growers across London and sampled delicious recipes. Feedback was fantastic – everyone left with plants, seeds and a sowing guide.