On a drizzly grey Friday afternoon a group of keen community gardeners gathered to help brighten up a wooded corner of Latchmere Park. GoodGym had been invited to help Friends of Latchmere Recreation Ground (FOLAR) to plant some native hedges and help create a natural screen at the far end of the park.

We were quickly issued our tools and set to work digging trenches along the perimeter of the woodland. We spread out along the fenceline and each member of FOLAR was buddied up with a GoodGym Runner. As the chatter grew, so did the piles of soil! We made excellent progress and before long we had trenches ready and waiting for planting.

With a clear plan of planting we were each issued a type of hedge to plant with the only rule being “never put a Dog Rose next to a Hazel”.

We each took it in turn to plant our respective saplings along the trench dog rose, hawthorn, crab apple and hazel! Our gardening education is definitely blooming!

With time to spare we helped to prepare another row of trenches ready to be filled by tomorrow’s volunteers. As the rain started to draw in we were presented with tea and and our first mince pies of the year to finish the task!

A great afternoon with a great local community group! Thank you for having us!

Message from FOLAR: “Thanks so much to Nicky, Laura and Rob for all the digging and planting you did today. What a team! The stars of the show. I don’t know how we could have got the job done without you!”