We were back at Windmill Community Gardens again this week for another session.

The already expansive Gardens have grown again with the adoption of a new, wildly overgrown plot, and our host Lucy gave us a tour to start things off.

There were a few jobs to do in anticipation of their Art in the Garden event this weekend (pop along if you can!) so we quickly split up into a few groups to get as much as we could done in the time we had.

Peter started off clearing some rubbish left over from the shed removal, including a particularly foul-smelling bucket (kudos for your strong stomach, my friend!). Once that was up in the skip, he joined Leah, Nigel and brand-new GoodGymers Khiltee and Dina (Welcome!) in clearing weeds and overgrown foliage from the new children's area. Hazards included ants and other bugs and some particularly prickly bushes with very deep roots.

Rosemarie and Dayna had arguably the toughest task of lugging woodchip from the pile at the entrance right the way down to the bottom of the gardens to cover the pathways that had rotted down or become overgrown. Nigel and Khiltee also grabbed some buckets to cover the floor of the teepee and the old shed foundations.

We ended the session munching on some delicious, freshly-picked fruit!

Shout-out to Peter for the egg-cellent pun!

We were back at the AMC Gardens last night for an evening of tussling with weeds, compost and some rather worse-for-wear wood.

All six of us arrived under our own steam, with a trio running from town, two on bikes and a solo runner! Great work, team!

After a tour for those of us who hadn't been to the Gardens before, we got stuck into shifting compost from the main bins to some tarps as Katie and the team felt the bins had seen better days and needed reconstructing. Nigel, Aj, Peter and Leah got stuck in with spades, pitchforks and wheelbarrows, managing to clear most of the ready compost and some that was still rotting down into separate piles. Their work clearly had an impact on the local wildlife, with the chickens inspecting every barrow-load for tasty treats and a rogue frog scaring the bejeesus out of Leah (stronger language may have been used, but this is a family website). Katie thankfully moved it out to the pond area for a good drink and a splash. Finally, Leah and Peter began the process of dismantling the old bins, ripping out the old liners and some of the wood.

Meanwhile, Bozena and Tom were over in the gardens proper clearing out some of the beds to make space for planting. The proceeds were then donated to the compost piles the rest had been creating.

We finished our evening with some delicious freshly picked apricots and some well-earned water. What a way to spend a lovely balmy evening!