"...it is quicker, easier, more seductive" - Yoda

GoodGymers congregated on HANGOT's secret, non-descript base along the Grand Union Canal this morning, to find out what today's task was. They were handed freshly sharpened tools of torture - plant torture, that is - and led onto the canal.

Ahead of the coming destruction, the GoodGymers along with members of HANGOT had an enjoyable walk westward along the sunny canal towpath, carrying their tools for the day. Scythes, slashers and shears were all transported over a lock to the far side of the canal to the chillingly named Blackberry Corner 😱

Once there, tasks were distributed with Kash, Penny and Kane taking shears to clear nettles and grass from under the trees and Sevan raking. The cuttings were being scooped around a large tree's trunk, with care being taken not to drop cut nettles onto bare legs.

The HANGOT members took control of finely honed scythes as they had training, which allowed them to clear large open areas of weeds and grass quickly. While the scythes looked cool, they weren't strong enough to cut through low branches. That was left to Steph, who took control of a large slasher, a tool that he's become quite expert with over recent tasks at other locations and used to make mince meat out of dead plants.

Between the 10 volunteers' slashing, chopping and scything, most of BlackBerry Corner was cleared in 90 minutes, giving the young fruit trees less competition for rain water over the autumn and winter. Dangerous tools were returned and GoodGymers headed back onto the canal to enjoy the unexpected sun and warmth. That's good morning's work! 👏

September is the time not only for school returns or off-season holidays but also for the final cut of the year for wildflower meadows. What is a wildflower meadow? - you may ask. In contrast to gardens with beds filled with perennials planted in fertile soil, the meadows are areas of permanent grass where wildflowers can grow. Whether looking messy or vibrant and colourful, the meadows provide habitat for insects, bees, butterflies and birds, much needed in urban areas.

This year's mini-meadow Autumn cutback at Friary Gardens had six guests from GoodGym Ealing and Hounslow:

• Steph - the hunt of the litter - armed with two litter pickers, this cowboy from the Wild West (Hayes) shot down all the crooked bottles and cans he found.
• Michelle - the outlander - scouted the gardens' frontier and cut down all the trespasser grasses.
• Sevan - the one raising the stakes - marked the dog poo left irresponsibly by the dog owners with bamboo poles to prevent others from stepping into the "landmines" (ironically, not preventing himself from doing that at the very end of the task).
• Penny - shear persistence - diligently cut the grassy plants sticking out and left them in the meadow per Juliet's (the task owner) instructions to encourage the wildflower growth the following year.
• Kash - the trim reaper - with her bramble-proof gloves, collected all the prickly stems and piled them in the compost bin.
• Gus - the human garden shredder - chopped the trimmings like a machine to fit them into the compost bin.

Whether it was due to different weather this year or the earlier cutback of the mini-meadow in June, the task finished much quicker than last year. Juliet offered GoodGymers soft drinks, homebaked brownies and Madeleines. And a bonus task!

Penny and Kash stayed to dig out squares in the grass to reach the bare soil where Friends of Friary Gardens had planned to put a new wildflower mix. Meanwhile, Sevan wheelbarrowed the extracted grassy patches to the compost bin. That job concluded the sunny September Sunday in Acton, and the GoodGymers ran, walked or cycled home to make the most of the last hours of the weekend.

Sevan and Steph Ducat completed a early mission at Pitshanger Park and went for a coffee in the sun before hitting the road to meet Richard from Ealing Greenwayers. The pair were joined by Penny at the meeting point. Richard and his crew set off with the Goodgymers to the woodlands below the bridge near the newest park in Ealing which was converted from a golf course : Pear Tree Park!! Debrief from Richard and was it Mission Impossible??We were looking at the woodlands and the intention was to create or restore a natural path towards the new park. The slashers would have to face the evil brambles, nettles and other nasty creatures that would discourage the volunteers to create the highway to Pear Tree park!! So we ended up slashing a way through the woodland, followed by some heavy shearing and raking. Sevan said to Steph that there was a spaghetti junction on our motorway!! The brambles, nettles and bindweed created twisty paths around the woodland items which were trapped and true it looked like long thin twisty spaghetti!! We also had some road blocages created by fallen trees and branches but this did not stop the highway contractors to finish a new natural path or motorway to the Pear Tree park.

A wet start to the day couldn’t stop three Goodgymers from joining the morning task to help out Friends of Grove Farm with their monthly conservation day, with Sevan braving the rain to run to the meeting point and Christos and Penny making their way with public transport.

After meeting with Mike, Anna and other members from Friends of Grove Farm, the group made their way to the area for today’s task - to clear the leftover cuttings, apparently also known as arisings, from the area after strimmers had been used to cut down the overgrown grass.

After a short safety briefing, mostly to make sure we all kept a close watch out for all the ant-mounds and giant holes in the ground, the team set to work, raking up all the leftover cuttings, dragging the chopped trees, and piling up all the waste into one corner.

With the ant-mounds making balance difficult as well as the rain continuing to come down, the team persevered with raking up and pitch-forking all the cuttings into bags to clear the area – estimated by the end to have cleared around "a-half-of-a-third" of the total area.

Hopefully all the ant-residents were not too disturbed by our activities!