I met Ms M on a scorching summer Saturday after volunteering at nearby Hilly Fields Parkrun. She was so lovely and welcoming, and showed me to the garden out back for today’s mission. She had been a keen gardener until a fall last year reduced her to the lighter stuff and tending the potted plants, and was a little embarrassed about how the garden had become overgrown. No need to fret, we GoodGymmers live for this sort of thing!

Ms M is a keen watcher of the Chelsea Flower Show, and mentioned that the last time she had tended the garden she had given it a Chelsea chop, which I initially thought was a metaphor linked to a severe haircut. Which it sort of is. But she was describing how the flower show will hack back certain perennials, safe in the knowledge that they will spring back and bloom again next year.

As a steady stream of cool drinks and home-made lemonade kept me going, I was able to make steady progress targeting the more aggressive spreaders such as brambles, bindweed and a huge shrub / vine of jasmine, which I also regularly wrangle with at home in my own garden. I was also stalked by a robin that followed me around the garden, feasting on the insects I was uncovering in my wake. I'm calling him Robin Williams.

There’s plenty more to be done, but this Chelsea chop at least thinned out a lot of the volume. Four large bags to be exact, which I framed as a psychological victory in a longer campaign.

Ms M was incredibly grateful, and if this mission appears again on the GG site, I urge you to help her out, because she’s lovely!