Madhan was a surprise volunteer this morning, joining Kash and Sevan at Hobbayne Community Gardens after signing up late. This was the first time they'd seen in daylight the area that they cleared for Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trail (HANGOT) back in January.

Welcoming HANGOT

HANGOT are coming up for 10 years old and have adopted public green spaces along the Grand Union Canal. They plant fruit trees which will mature and allow the public to forage the fruit that grows. Their leader, Mirjam, explained that they have many contacts, including park rangers, who let them know about pockets of land that they can move on to. As part of their work, they also cut back grass and brambles, encouraging wild flowers to grow in the orchards which increases biodiversity in these green spaces.

The start of today's session was all about welcoming the HANGOT volunteers to their new nursery. As part of this, June from the William Hobbayne Charity gave GoodGym a big shout out for our efforts to prepare the nursery 🙌, which made Madhan and Sevan feel like they'd earned a slice of cake. Yes, as with all good celebrations, there was cake and apparently a master baker in the HANGOT group! 😋

ℹ️ Fun Fact 1: Fruit trees are grafted together. The bottom half is strong root stock and the top half is chosen to provide plentiful fruit. When planting them, the graft needs to be above the soil, otherwise the top part will also take root

Tree-nsportation

Soon, the group of around 12 volunteers moved on to the task. Nine trees were loaded from the nursery onto wheelbarrows and pushed along the canal tow path. The group stopped by Elthorne Park for a discussion on how to divide the trees and other equipment, blocking the towpath for a good 5 minutes (see photo). Eventually, half of the group went to Elthorne Park, near our beloved container and the others further along the towpath to Osterley Lock.

Kash and Madhan had transported a weighty post driver along to the further site, Osterley Lock. Sevan was in charge of one of the wheelbarrows heading to Elthorne Park. With 4 trees onboard, he had to reverse his way up a steep slope onto Trumpers Way. It turned out that reversing a wheelbarrow in a narrow space was just as difficult as with a car. There's a gap in the market for wheelbarrow reversing cameras if anyone has dreams of being on Dragon's Den.

Round Roots in Square Holes

ℹ️ Fun Fact 2: Elthorne Park used to be a refuse site

Madhan and Sevan were tasked with hole digging and planting, while Kash was wheelbarrowing mulch. Strangely, square holes for circular root systems is the way to go as this apparently gives trees a better chance of survival or is a gardening myth 🤷. Digging was challenging as there were plenty of stones in the way. Sevan and his digging partner pulled bricks, bags and a rubble sack containing a 40cm wide boulder out of one hole that they dug! Madhan was finding it equally difficult at Osterley Lock with plenty of bricks there too.

The Fruits of Our Labour

Over the course of 90 minutes, all 9 trees were planted and mulched, with apple, pear, cherry and quince trees finding new homes. It'll take a bit longer to get any edible fruits, so for now, a visit to the supermarket is still on the cards.

The GoodGymers also saw some of the mature trees that HANGOT had planted up to 7 years ago. Something for our saplings to look up to. Hopefully they will be as big and strong one day 🌳