A dry but blustery evening saw 10 GoodGymers head to the GET OUT garden in Harley Grove this evening to assist the brilliant Frankie with some serious digging work.

But first the fitness

A small group gathered by the little wall at the end of the street to run through tonight’s workout. As luck would have it, the wall was dry and so we were able to add tricep dips, split squats and a couple of variations of the seated leg lower too.

We spent a little time on some upper body stretches this week, agreeing that a short step-by-step flexibility routine, tackling tight traps and the hardworking rotator cuff group is an excellent use of five minutes at the start of the week.

Making our way up to the GET OUT gate, we joined several new arrivals to head in and see what needed to be done tonight.

About GET OUT

The GET OUT garden is a community garden and food forest project in Bow. A previously un-used area of around half an acre has been transformed into a ‘productive food forest that reflects the principles of permaculture, and acts as a hub for education and connecting to nature'.

Tonight's task

Frankie was superbly well prepared, taping off the area, laying out tools, and even creating twine hooks for our lights.

The team wasted no time in making a start, first rooting out the tough alkatel weed, then removing soil, and then turning the remaining soil. Barrows were filled and shuttled over to the compost area.

All the stages of this task proved to be a thoroughly good workout.

The time went quickly and productively, and it was something of a surprise when we realised it was just a few minutes before 8.

Following a quick spade-cleaning tutorial from Frankie (mud = rust) we dropped the last of the tools at the shed; gathered head torches (thanks Emma), and posed (patiently) for that final pic.

It was a great evening: lovely to be back with the knowledgeable and fun Frankie; good to be outside, working hard, being productive and enjoying one another’s company. And an added bonus, tonight we celebrated our John’s 1000th deed (tonight’s was 1009).

Next week, we return to the Yurt Café in Limehouse to see Larry!

Until then.