Treely

We wielded secateurs and loppers, and even a saw, to pollard an unruly willow tree. It'll grow back abundantly in the spring thanks to a September haircut.

Madly

We ripped plastic tape off a heap of cardboard boxes and created a weed-suppressing cardboard lasagne, with a side of coconut matting. Might not seem too mad to GoodGymers, particularly once you understand it's power to stop nettles in their tracks, but your average passerby would probably think it was a bit of an odd activity.

Deeply

It was mattocks and spades at the ready again this week, this time deepening the trenches around the Medicine Circle. We started digging the trenches during some of our winter tasks - memories of plenty of mud for very little progress! - so we were pleased to find the soil a bit easier to work at this time of year. Never thought I'd see the day when we had GoodGymers sawing tree roots in a muddy trench, but 'expect the unexpected' is basically the unofficial GoodGym motto, so there we were, and Jocasta cut through those roots like she was born for the job.

As a bonus task we sent Amy and Meysam hunting for buried treasure - forking over a patch of the path to find the bulbs which need salvaging for replanting somewhere more appropriate. We had mixed success on this one, but a handful of bulbs were uncovered. We needed a treasure map really!

You can read a bit more about the evolution of Marston Forest Garden since it was established in October 2019 here.

Thank you Isobel for the tea loaf - we always appreciate tasty snacks!

Well done on reaching your 10th Good Deed Sophie!

Pond reprofiling was the name of the game this evening - the end goal being to create a few new habitats suitable for newts and other amphibians at Boundary Brook Nature Park.

The pond currently has very steep sides, and digging out the edge to create a gentle slope will make it much more newt friendly. Tonight's Wednesday team picked up where the soggy Saturday crew left off, but this time with added mattocks! We cleared vegetation, mattocked the ground to loosen the earth, and started digging out the soil, holding our noses every time anything disturbed the somewhat stinky pond water. The race is on to get the work done by the end of September when the newts will take to the water. In a win-win, the vegetation and soil were piled up to create 2 hibernaculums; another wonderful habitat for the creatures.

Mattocking, digging, wheelbarrowing and running - we got full body workouts tonight!

Boundary Brook Nature Park will be having an open afternoon on Saturday 11th September. So if you're keen to go back, walk the paths we've built, and admire the fruits of your pond digging, that's your chance.

Well done on your 50th Good Deed Louise - get that black Tshirt ordered!

Nice to meet Hannah on tour from GoodGym Bromley.

Altogether now, to the tune of The Teddy Bears' Picnic

If you go down to the woods today
You’re sure of a big surprise
If you go down to the woods today
you’d better take plogging supplies!

For all the trash that ever there was
Is gathered there for certain because
The woods are where the litter bugs go to picnic

Litter pick time for GoodGymers
The GoodGym crew are having a smelly time tonight
Watch them pick up underwear
On a litter pick in the holidays

See them hunt for all the trash
They love to clean it up
They never leave any can behind
Then sharps and bottles are bagged up and dragged out
And loaded on the truck
Cos it’s home time for the GoodGymers.

Tonight's oddest litter finds:
A fan, a trolley, a Play Station, a fire extinguisher. We did pull out a lot of litter, but the woods were in a better state than they have been on our previous visits.

Welcome to GoodGym Will - good to meet you!

Aston's Eyot is a nature reserve tucked away between Meadow Lane and the river. The land belongs (I think I remember rightly) to Christchurch, but there's an active Friends of Aston's Eyot group who manage and monitor it. Our very own Sarah is also a member of Friends of Aston's Eyot. There's all sorts of wildlife resident in the nature reserve - even badgers and deer despite it's proximity to residential/urban areas.

Through the spring an summer months we like to try and get to Aston's Eyot to help out a few times. There's always lots to do!

Tonight the scythes were out again and we got some great Poldark action going, chopping back nettles around a meadow area, and raking enormous heaps of the chopped nettles back (not as bad for the hayfever sniffles this month!). Fresh from our fence detangling at South Ward Allotments we expertly removed and rolled up a long chicken wire fence so that it can be redeployed elsewhere on site. Matty and Meysam bashed some new fence posts in - not the ideal task for someone feeling a bit shabby from a hangover perhaps, but kill or cure....

Turning our attention to other areas of the meadow we threw caution to the wind and let the long-haired people pull out Burdock. Once Bethan got 15 burrs tangled in her hair we realised the error of our ways! Vicky, Sarah and Jocasta took the litter pickers off round some of the favourite picnic areas, finding no pants but making up for it with a burnt bra (approve the feminist principles, less so the littering!), and the rest of the group gloved-up and took to nettle pulling. Hauling out the nettles will hopefully give the smaller flowers room and light to grow and will encourage biodiversity; worth a few tingly stings.

Is it even a GoodGym task if you don't get a bramble scratch or a nettle sting?

Some exciting milestones tonight:

10th Good Deed for Meysam - nicely planned so that it was at the same location as his first GoodGym session.
Holly and Venetia both did their 50th Good Deed. They'll be rocking their black Tshirts soon.
Trev - 100 Good Deeds! Wings on their way.
We preemptively celebrated Ben's 250th Good Deed, which will probably take place before we next see him on a group task. Super Star!
A warm welcome Nick! Glad you could join us.

Group runs are baaaaaack

A few of us celebrated the return of group runs by jogging to the Children's Allotment, tin of flapjacks in hand! Baked goods are always required to celebrate milestones, no matter how disintegrated they get on the journey over! Well done to Lorenzo and Sarah on your 50th and 100th good deeds!!

Tonight we returned to one of our favorite spots The Children's Allotment. We have loved coming here over the past few years and it is fantastic to see the progress of the site, and so exciting that it is nearly ready to open!

Alice set us to work weeding areas of the site, cutting back enthusiastic plants (ivy, brambles), shifting wood chip and painting the shed and new compost toilet structure. We discovered interesting spiders (the Fake Black Widow with its round bottom, the Kardashian of the spider world maybe?!?), accidentally gave woodlice a blue tinge and marveled at the plants in the snazzy new poly-tunnel.

A warm welcome to Jules and Matty joining us for the first time, we hope to see you again! And a huge thank you to Alice for allowing us our repeated visits and being so welcoming and joyous!