With Richmond Head GGardener Anita away for the weekend, Sunday morning’s 3 Pigeons task had a different feel to it - and the cooler weather definitely made a change from recent weeks.

The flowerbed was looking marvellous with our new bug hotel continuing to attract admirers and not just from the insect community. But this time out focus was not on the plot itself, but on a patch of Himalayan Balsam which had sprouted up not far away, posing a real risk of contaminating the 3 Pigeons site and wreaking havoc with the planting scheme and all the hard work that has gone into it so far.

Himalayan Balsam is an invasive species which grows very tall in the summer months and takes light and nutrients away from other plant life. Richmond GoodGymers regularly help out with local conservation groups to “bash” large sections of it growing by the river to improve the habitat for other flora and fauna alike.

We had to be careful in removing the plants in this patch as they had already flowered. To avoid sending seeds everywhere we decapitated the stems inside plastic bags (dispersal can be triggered by uprooting the plant - clever Mother Nature!) and then pulled up the remainder.

We managed to clear the vast majority of the area in the time allocated, and headed off to enjoy the rest of our Sunday, some already making their way to a second mission of the day!