“I love it…working with a spreadsheet all day, this is a life saver”

Japanese garden water-feature, bamboo fencing, walled-growing garden, pavilion, outdoor kitchen, auto-irrigation greenhouse… these are just some of the plans Nikhil and Laurelle are incredibly excited about.

As co-ordinators of Barking Food Forest, they have a hugely ambitious programme of improvements planned for the whole community to benefit from. First on the list was a special mission for GoodGym B&D - to control the tall grass in the kitchen-garden that appears every summer and plays havoc with the vegetable boxes.

Excited to find out more about this magical place, as soon as we arrived, families were just leaving after bringing their own plants to pot-out in the kitchen-garden. In fact, any local resident can come and plant their food here – just one of the massive benefits Barking Food Forest brings to the area.

"The Good Gym have really helped us out with their amazing effort. It was great to meet everyone, lots of good vibes, laughs & much needed muscle power! Looking forward to their next visit already" (Nikhil, Barking Food Forest co-ordinator)

Laurelle started the session by taking us on a whistle stop tour of the Food Forest; a huge amount of work is planned to make this oasis even more paradise like.

Nikhil showed Peter how to cut the gauze used to suppress the grass growth, whilst Steven and Emdad shovelled wood chip into barrows and transported it to the kitchen-garden to lay a 2-inch deep barrier to prevent grass coming up.

This important work will not only make the kitchen-garden more accessible, but save hours in the future by preventing weeds, grass and other unwanted seedlings taking root.

Playing a part in this unique project gave all the GoodGymmers a huge boost, and we can’t wait to be back again next Tuesday 6.15 (15th July). Join us by signing up here

See you soon

Steven (B&D Area Activator)

NB – if you are a local not-for-profit organisation that would benefit from GoodGymmers to complete practical tasks in outdoor greenspaces, please get in touch steven.champion@goodgym.org