I arrived first, just as task owner Mike was pulling up in his truck. Soon we were joined by Miranda and then Andrew (who brought doughnuts!). We looked in horror at the overgrown flowerbed we would be digging up!

Advancing from the first mission with Newcastle Parks, where most of us didn’t know the difference between a shovel and a spade, Mike taught us the difference between different type of spades. A garden spade is for general digging; a border spade is traditionally good for flower beds but also lighter and easy to move; and a trenching spade, which is good for digging out roots by getting under them. He also showed us how to use a mattock, which sort of looks like a big pickaxe and is used for digging and chopping the soil.

We needed to employ the special functions of all types of spades as we set to work digging up part of a large overgrown flowerbed! We pulled out sticky weeds, dug up huge embedded weeds and used the mattocks to dig up and turn the soil. Mike challenged us to how long we could use the mattock for without stopping…. Andrew lasted 4 minutes before needing a rest.

Some of the original friends of the park came over and seemed impressed with our handy work. They offered to make us a coffee, but Mike had come prepared with his own tea, coffee and biscuits. We took this opportunity to stop for a hot drink and tucked into the doughnuts.

A passer-by and his young son seemed interested in what we were doing. Mike asked him if he wanted to get involved but he didn’t speak much English. Miranda spoke to him in Spanish, which seriously impressed the rest of us! He explained that he was a refugee from El Salvador living in Byker. He seemed to like the park and was happy to see us working on it. He then picked up a mattock and helped us finish digging the flower bed managing to finally dig out a huge tree root Andrew had been loosening.

Once it was all dug and turned we sprinkled several packets of wild flower and annual seeds then raked the ground to stop the birds from eating them. Mike watered the seeds with a watering can (not knowing how much it would rain later). We need to check back in 6 weeks to two months and see how they are doing!

There is a mission at Harbottle park tomorrow for anyone who wants to get involved with Newcastle Parks (we were promised its easier work than today) and we are coming back to St Lawrence and Harbottle parks in June.