I thought tonight's run report title was going to have to be another pun based around rakes, as the first task which John from the Friends of Gwendwr Gardens got me started on was raking fallen leaves up. But thankfully we got stuck into cutting down some tree saplings once Biscuits arrived! After quickly bagging up the leaves, we spent the remainder of our hour digging out Ash saplings which were impeding the growth of surrounding shrubbery. Biscuits put in so much effort that he bent the garden fork... perhaps the most satisfying part of the task was straightening it back out again!

Thanks to John from Friends of Gwendwr Gardens for having us, and to Biscuits for lending a hand (and coming up with the run report title!) Cookie will be back soon, so keep an eye on the website for our next Tuesday task. In the meantime, we will be at Fulham Palace this Saturday for more GG fun - sign up here!

After a boring time locked away due to Covid, I returned to a large group of Goodgymmers helping out around the Gwendwr gardens space.

Andrew and Tish helped chop back the Ivy so that it was level with the path, whilst Michelle and Biscuits did a chopping back of nearby bushes to ensure that the path was passable. Jonathan, Lucy and Katie all took it in turns watering the plants around the gardens (needed after the sweltering heat) and Helen, who kindly led the mission after I rudely stepped away, helped deal with a rogue bramble that had steathily grown in the beds.

A good evening well spent with friends, here's to many more like it.

Four goodgymmers made their way to Gwendwer Gardens on Tuesday night to help out with some weeding and pruning of a lush and dense garden.

Ita was on her first mission with us and we hope she had a great time and we hope to see her again! She fit right in and cracked on like a seasoned goodgymmer ripping up weeds.

We also helped with some pruning, tackling Ivy that had overgrown onto the paths and some old branches on a thriving bush.

John, the community manager, also supplied me and biscuits with plums (or so he thoughts). Well it tasted like a plum and I haven't experienced any poisioning symptoms so far so seems like a great way to harvest plum pits!

Congrats to Ita for coming to her first session and Amy for her second and a massive thanks to our veteran Biscuits for coming along and being such a welcoming member of the team.

Only snag (literally) came at the end when a couple of spiky bits of foliage caused not one, but two bags to split on us, needing a combined effort from three goodgymmers to bag it all up.

A good evening and we should be back at Gwendwr gardens soon!

I made my way to Gwendwr Gardens and met the lovely John and the other volunteers.

Only a small clean up today, but I helped de-thistle the rose beds and turned the soil ready for the new year.

Wore only a t-shirt and shorts so probably wasn't the best for thorny bushes!

I was the sole GoodGym representative at Gwendwr Gardens this morning, helping John and his team of volunteers out. The friends of Gwendwr Gardens help keep this wonderful community space looking lovely, and had big plans for the day.

Some of the volunteers were cutting back hedges and branches, some were litter picking and I had put myself on the GoodGym specialist area - weeding.

I spent an hour or so on a patch above the sunken garden, and filled my bag with all sorts of weeds, before handing back my trowel, and heading home.

It was a shame the mission was listed quite late, but as they say… One GoodGymmer is better than none though, hey?

Three GoodGymers, Beth² and Clare, met on a sunny Saturday morning at Gwendwr gardens to help John and a group of local residents to weed the sunken garden. "Big little" Beth was first to arrive, and set to work in the patch which GoodGym had been in charge of at tasks in the previous months. Next to arrive was Beth, who grabbed a fork and quickly set to work too. A little while later Clare joined us - having got the tasks mixed up, she had to make the trip across from Furnivall Gardens to help out today.

The main task at hand was clearing the overgrown grass from the borders. And, of course, playing our favourite GoodGym game - weed or not weed?

The highlight of the morning was the two ongoing "wars" during the task... firstly, there was the classic sticky weed war. Beth came out on top, having successfully got "Big little" Beth many times during the task. Although karma did have its way, as she too was covered in sticky weed long after the task was over. The second war was between Clare and John - the question being whether the patches of wheat should remain or whether they should go. After a wheated debate, it was decided that a tasteful pruning was the best way forwards.

Two and a half hours later, three bin bags full of weeds had been plucked from the sunken garden. The three musketeers parted ways, and Beth² headed off for lunch before making a trip to Hounslow for their second mission of the day.