The threat of rain didn’t deter four of us GG regulars today, nor indeed did it Mali, along for her first ever GoodGym deed, raaa! Welcome to GoodGym!!

Despite being a tiny little speck of a park, Barnsbury Square Gardens were really well resourced with somewhere secure for our belongings, a loo, and plenty of the tools we needed. They also had a plentiful supply of compost, which we were there to spread out across the place.

Unlike your common-as-muck compost that’s full of twigs, lumpy bits and indeed sometimes ‘muck,’ this was bark compost. It was fine and smooth and slid effortlessly on and off of the spade. It also smelled lovely, so between that, the roses, the lavender and the rosemary it was a treat to go messing around in the bushes a bit. In an hour, 5 of us emptied 2 bulk bags of it across the roses (the ‘Susan Daniel Rose bed’ to be precise) and then on a mixed bed. Meanwhile all shapes and sizes of dogs romped around the park and their owners engaged in polite dog-owner banter.

As if by magic at a few minutes past our finish time, the rain arrived to scare us off home, and water in what we’d done in the gardens.