A few days after Halloween, two GG Islingtooners helped an older local chap to enjoy his front garden by clearing the weeds and to raise the bed so that some new plants could thrive in the spring.

On this fresh Saturday, Steve and I reunited to meet John (not his real name) who had been living in his home for over 20 years.

Today, John mostly wanted to be free to enjoy his front garden but the weeds were taking over the place. He usually looks after his garden himself but has found it more difficult with age and frailty. What a Halloween horror!

Who you gonna call? Go goodgym!

He was really chuffed to hear that people would give up time for him but we said we love it! Bonus points for offering a cuppa, too.

The two square patches were fairly modest but the weeds really had taken over. To the left was fuller grown grass and weeds and to the right were scatterings of small weeds which were a faff to remove without dragging loads of soil with it.

Queens of the sown age

For our listening pleasure was the latest official soundtrack from Bohemian Rhapsody which provided a great boost. I learned that Steve loves to see his local tribute act every year!

Once we'd cleared most of the weeds we went to plant the bulbs. Steve drew interesting mystic signs which were the blueprints for sowing the seeds (well, maybe bulbs)) for two plants. The beds were quite shallow so we packed in extra soil to get closer to the recommended 5cm coverage.

I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with I

While we worked we brainstormed for the upcoming GG (London-based) Christmas Party and came up with loads of whacky Ideas to include iguanodon, Ian Beale, Iceland (the supermarket), Iceland (the country) and Ivana or Ivanka Trump...

We won't give away all the ideas, but watch this space to see what we come up with!

After around 90 minutes of hard graft, John was well happy with his new front garden and is now looking forward to his new flowers and brighter frontage