You gotta roll with it - You get take your time - You gotta say what you say - Don't let cricketers get in your way.

10 wonderful goodgymers got together to help our lovely community orchard. You can see their facebook page here, originally set up as a response to park vandalism this project will hopefully be one for future generations to come.

As we are still going through one of the driest Springs for decades, goodgym made the plan to help the orchard trees survive, some planted only last year and some more recently this year. Michael went to speak with the wonderful Mel in her Cafe - The Secret Garden about the task and pick up some aqua rolls.

To increase the challenge, we asked runners to try part of the run with the aqua rolls - Darren was nearly rolling in the deep, as Emily rolled straight past him. Jonathan was certainly ready to let the good times roll.

Each aqua roll holds 40 litres of water, and as the tap for the orchard use was 350m away from the orchard, these would make the task at hand a lot easier. With nearly 50 trees to water this would take a spectacular 500 litres of water to get enough down into the scorched soil. Thankfully the trees are all mulched so the water won't evaporate easily.

We split into teams of water runners and water givers, two aqua rolls, watering can and a lot of energy. With 5 trips back and forth, three people each time, we covered a total of 5km alone on the task and over 500 litres of water. Each runner had a break whilst the team got to watering the trees, and importantly remembering which trees had been done.

After a lot of strange looks from the cricket teams playing in the field, and some questions from them as we left, the task was complete and we were making our way for a catch up in the local.

Tonight saw us return to Global Gardens, you can tell the weather is better when we start the community growing spaces again. 5 goodgymers, and a Ben made their way up, Michael and Neda walked from the meeting point, met halfway by a running Nathan. Llion met us at the task, eager to get started, and Su and Ben made their way from a little closer and walked up....apparently seeing a tornado as they went.

Look out Toto

Michael let the group into the allotments only to find a concerned Su pointing to bellows of smoke in the distance, so we quickly got everyone set up before running to see what was happening.

• Su, Ben and Llion were given the watering duty - is there's a veg bed then water it!
• Nathan and Neda were taken up to the sensory space, where the hazel saplings needed help to breather and grow. Time to cut those brambles back.

Whilst everyone got to work, a concerned Michael ran over to the second set of allotments, where his very own plot was. Unfortunately, one of the holders had been burning some waste (naughty) and it had gotten out of hand and caught on the trees.

After a brief chat with some fellow plot holders, and witnessing the arrival of Police, and fire engines, Michael quickly made their way back to the group with an update.

Joining in with the team, Michael got onto some strimming duty, tidying up the entrance to the sensory garden - but not going over board, it is "No Mow May" after all.

A longer Tuesday than usual, but that was to be expected with all of the commotion.

We will be returning to Global Gardens in two weeks, May 20th to celebrate as goodgym Cardiff turns 8. Get signed up now --> here

Yes..... There is something about Imy, she has wings.....

congratulations on your 100th deed

Of course the celebration called for the finding of the old fairy wings, which Imy wore with 'pride'

We made our way to our task tonight, painting the never ending railings. Perfect weather for painting though, and a new beautiful jogging route along the river, much better than the Winter option.

We did a bit of extra time tonight, doing 40 minutes volunteering, whilst chatting about the upcoming birthday celebrations of goodgym, Llion and the Welsh language songs from our resident Eisteddfod favourites, Imy and Andrew.

Join us next month as we celebrate community gardens and on the 20th May we have our 8thbirthday

Get your wings...

Tonight was our return to the Grow Cardiff project at the Grangetown Medical Centre, we hadn't been here for a year when the project first started. During this time, they had managed to secure some money to create a more accessible site, so we were welcomed with a brand new flooring and the start of the new beds.

We met Chris and had a brief chat about the time inbetween our visits, before getting to the list of jobs for the evening.

• Move slabs to the rear of the centre.
• Infill compost bins with green waste.
• Water the fruit trees / plants behind the medical centre.
• Litter pick around the centre.
• Move surplus building materials to the rear of the centre.
• Sort area under the Cherry Tree, level the soil,
• Remove rubble from borders.

A lot of work and what looked to be a great workout on a glorious sunny evening. No time to stand about, lets get to it!

Before we had even arranged the garden jobs, Jonathan and Neda were out litter picking in the sunshine. Gold Star to you both....⭐

Su and Imy were onto the borders, taking out any large stones and moving them to the large middle planter. Lucy was sweeping and cleaning, Adam (after breaking the rake) was on leveling duty with Dylan.

Darren and Andrew were with wheelbarrows, moving bricks, slabs and rubble from behind the polytunnel to behind the medical centre. Martin, took to the green waste compost area and filled it, then joining the wheelbarrow crew to build their very own Jenga stack.

It was a great evening helping and we certainly kept ourselves fit tonight. Well deserved food after the run....

Join us next week as we will be keeping with the Nature theme this month over at Cwtch Together.

7 Goodgym runners ran across Cardiff to help the Salvation Army in their garden. It was a nice bit of T-Rexercise.

This was the second time we have visited to prep the garden ready for planing. Michael got the tools from the shed and it was time to 'Get it on'. Gardening tools that is, no need for the 'Dino-saw' today!

We cleared down the weeds and dead plants from several planters. We also got rid of the rogue ivy from near the shed. Then we discussed some gardening feng-shui and we moved around the pots and long planters to make better use of the space - check the pics.

Rather than 'ride a white swan' we decided to run back with some T-Rex tunes playing on Michael's speaker, content we had left the garden and the planters ready for ready for the residents to start designing and planting in the coming weeks. I'm sure whatever they create will look T-Rexquisite.