Lots is happening at Ladywell’s Tiny Forest… as well as more lovely leafy carbon-absorbing growth of the 800 mixed native saplings, there are also elderberries ripening, rose hips reddening and acorns fattening on oak trees. So there was plenty to admire when I joined the team of local treekeepers for an evening session of weeding and spot watering, focusing our attention on the smaller saplings still in need of TLC. We even found that a tiny holly nearly destroyed by accidental trampling earlier this year – nicknamed The Holly of Doom – is now sprouting new leaves at the base of its stem and looks set to recover!

Always a giant pleasure to help tend Ladywell’s Tiny Forest, especially now the miraculous results of the Miyawaki method of planting are becoming clearer with each month of leafy growth. Thanks to deep decompaction of the soil and dense planting, native saplings that were just slender stems last May are today up to 3 metres tall! Regular weeding is an important task to ensure the 800 trees continue to get the light and nutrients they need to flourish throughout the growing season, so GoodGymers Kim, Khai and Linda joined the community treekeepers for an evening session of cheerful chopping, tidying and bindweed untangling to keep the forest in top condition. Excellent work everyone!

The Ladywell Tiny Forest has grown so much recently that volunteers could easily get lost among its burgeoning leaves. For GoodGymers Sandra and Linda and the rest of Wednesday’s team, yanking out weeds meant crouching low in some places to reach under the branches of saplings now forming a dense spread over the forest floor.

Amazing to think that the 600 native trees were planted just 18 months ago and are only a few weeks into their second season of growth – some are already more than 2 metres tall! Their rapid development is thanks to the Miyawaki method of dense planting in enriched de-compacted soil, pioneered in Japan and now being used internationally to create urban forests as a contribution to solving climate change and biodiversity decline.

In a couple of years’ time, the Tiny Forest in Ladywell Fields is expected to be so successfully established that no more weeding will be needed but for now this task is important to ensure the saplings aren’t robbed of sunlight, nutrients and moisture. The ground was well cleared by the end of our evening… next session is likely to be in late June.

If you’re curious to see what a not-so-Tiny Forest looks like at three-years-old and eight-years-old, check out this impressive video from environmental charity Earthwatch.

A small but mighty group of GoodGymers gathered to tackle the remaining woodchip at the Tiny Forest. Part of the group even gathered at a new start point and then met Linda at the Tiny Forest with all the tools.

The main task for the evening was to make the area around the benches look more inviting. We pulled up the weeds that we could and cut back the grass and any other weeds then covered them in a big layer of mulch to hopefully stop the weeds coming back through.

Hopefully the space will be more inviting for people walking through Ladywell Fields so they can sit and admire the growing saplings!

On Monday, we're heading to Catford to continue flyering for Coco Collective Community Garden.

Another week, another double task group run! This week we were heading up and over the hills to Seniors (I'll be having words with whoever planned that around my tired marathon legs...) and we had a team dropped off at the Tiny to complete the mulching.

The team at Seniors had the wholesome task of weeding and raised bed and then planting broad beans, making sure the roots were fully encased in compost and giving them a good water.

Next up we had to dig the potato bed, removing the weeds so that a new crop of potatoes can be planted. We had a good go at clearing the bed in the time we had left but didn't quite get round to digging the trenches.

It was then time for the journey back to Glass Mill and I had to admit there was no chance I would make it back. The team tackled those hills and regrouped with the mulching group in Ladywell Fields.

With all the mulching done, it was an evening of two tasks well done!

Thanks to an amazing multi-generational chain gang of woodchip diggers and bucket swingers, the entire floor of Ladywell’s Tiny Forest is now well protected with a thick layer of nourishing mulch. I felt happy being part of this cheerful resourceful team of green warriors, youngest member three years old – proud owner of a miniature wheelbarrow! – eldest an energetic grandad. Our two hour session was tiring but satisfying work, with the feel-good of knowing that now there will be much less evaporation from the soil surface around the saplings, helping them to thrive during the dry months ahead.