Freezing conditions tonight! Frost covered pavements, black ice on the roads and an arctic wind to top it all off too. Perhaps unsurprisingly the YMCA members didn't fancy meeting us on the allotment tonight. It was evident that they had been doing quite a lot of work up there recently though. Even in the pitch black we could see the differences compared to our previous visit. There were some lovely fairly lights twisted around the poles of the old poly-tunnel adding a nice sparkle to proceedings, alongside the twinkling moonlit frost underfoot. The paths were looking spick and span; there were no weeds in sight anywhere! Likely having retreated back into the -by comparison- warm ground beneath the paving slabs.

We decided to head down to GoodGym's bed at the far end of the plot to carry out some simple maintenance. The rainbow and standard chard that we planted ages ago is still going really strong! We always love to see the produce we've planted thriving away, especially in such harsh conditions. As well as the show stealing chard, there are also some really strong support acts. In the middle there is what I think is fennel, but it was too dark and frozen to be sure. The final act is an ensemble of onions at the far side. These seem to be fairing well still. We did a little bit of weeding in the bed and the path beside it to keep it looking in top condition through the winter months.

Our bed is the best looking one in the whole plot (I say in a completely unbiased fashion!).

We finished off our time in the allotment with some hand-numbing push-ups on the wooden benches. Then ran back down to Glasshouse to stretch off and debrief.

Winter is truly upon us. A pitch black run up to the park, complemented by drizzling rain and gusty winds, really hammered this home.

When we arrived at the park we headed straight for the Locke lock-up to retrieve some small tools and litter pickers. Headtorches on full beam, we entered the bushes in the centre of the park to start the search for wrongly deposited rubbish. We had to search hard in order to find bits, the park is obviously sees a lot less foot traffic in the winter months which in turn means less litter. Either this or it's all hidden under leaves in the darkness.

When bush comes to shovel!

We managed to fill a couple of bags full of rubbish and ended up removing the odd weed from the beds we were clearing too, we had to make use of the trowel for something after all.

After an hours work we put all of the equipment back in the shed and deposited the rubbish in the nearest public bins outside the park. We then jogged off down the road to stretch off at Glasshouse.

Our tasks at the allotment consisted of meetings to discuss the future plans for the space and GoodGym's role in it... and also actual gardening work, namely pruning and weeding. We met Andrea, Mike and Keeley for prospective chat about collaborations between GG and the various other groups who use the allotment. There is scope for organising more Community MIssions at the plot with people from other groups joining us.

Andrea gave us a crash course in pruning the different varieties of fruit tree on the lotty. There are several varieties of apple. Some want to be pruned in specific ways to encourage healthy fruit and desired shapes of trees. The two main big trees are to be pruned in such a way that they resemble goblets. You want a broad spread. Downward pointing branches can be removed. Branches from the main trunks can also be pruned 3 or 5 shoots from the new growth to encourage 'up and out' growth. Any branches in the center reaching too far skyward can be chopped down to a size not topping the 'rim' of the 'cup'.

Pipped to the post

After the tree trimming frivolities we focused our efforts toward the bed that we planted earlier in the year. It needed weeding and we were the team fore the job! We had previously planted chard, rainbow chard, courgettes and leeks. Some of these were thriving but they were still surrounded by weeds that required removal. Some of the rainbow chard was sampled, though it is definitely an acquired taste raw as Kirsty can attest to judging from the facial expressions on display.

With jobs for the day completed, we downed tools and vacated the growing space.

Another balmy one in Barnso today; perfect weather for a YMCA allotment gardening session. We had been asked to go up to the allotment to attend to some fruit tree pruning that needs to be done in the next week or two before summer ends. At the moment it really doesn't feel like summer is ever going to end, but the brown leaves and grey sky are just over the horizon! It sneaks up on us every year.

Celine and James had been asked to prune the apple trees before autumn begins. Luckily Celine is a dab hand at all gardening tasks and had had specialist pruning training recently so we knew the pip holding produce would be in safe hands. What we wanted to do was cut down the long skyward pointing branches near the top and smaller ones beneath the main canopy reaching towards the ground to promote outward growth from the centre of the tree. Thus providing good quality, easily reachable fruit for all.

We used loppers and shears to cut the branches 5 or 7 sprigs from the new growth in order to promote the desired growth and angles. We expertly snipped for a couple of hours, skillfully avoiding any rain, before clearing up and packing the equipment away. We put the long lengths of branch we'd cut down on the hedge at the far end of the allotment to bolster it where it looked lacking.

We left the lotty looking lush! We'll be visiting it again on Friday to continue the good work carried out today.

Our monthly run up to the YMCA allotment this time around was slightly different to our usual visits. Upon arriving at the allotment we found a large group of people sitting around and blasting out sing-a-long tunes beside a 'fire'. There wasn't much to be done with such a large crowd in the workspace and so it was suggested that we do a litterpick around the paths and roads bordering the other allotments so as not to disturb the gathering too much.

Luckily we had bags and gloves with us as it's always good practice to have a plan-b (plan-b being bin bags) in the bag for unforeseen circumstances. This being the case we set about making the area that much greener and less plasticky, with the dulcet ever-fading tones of campfire songs accompanying our pick from afar. We did a thorough clean up of the streets for the duration of the session before heading back to Glasshouse for an equally thorough stretch off.

What can go wrong next week? Come along and find out!

Our visit to the YMCA allotment this month was a special one; it coincided with a family orientated social gardening session which they were were hosting there from 6 - 7.30pm. Because of this time frame we decided to set off on our run a bit earlier than usual to enable us to spend the maximum amount of time with everyone.

GoodGym were first to arrive on scene, closely followed by some others who had spotted us running towards the allotment from their car. We got the lock-up opened and watched the steady stream of people arrive. There were folks of all ages eager to help out at the community growing space; lots of children, who were very enthusiastic 'allotmenteers', along with some of their parents and other local people affiliated with the YMCA. There must have been a good 12 plus people people there working away.

The first task of the evening was to weed one of the raised beds. Everyone picked a spot around the bed and got to work. There were a distinct lack of trugs at the allotment tonight so we were forced to make use of large plant pots and compost sacks for weed deposition. Some other volunteers had been at the allotment earlier in the day, including our litterpicking buddy from Twiggs, Scott and we suspected that these people may have moved the trugs; it's a mytery! There was a lot of chatting going on between everyone during the weeding which was great. Some topics of conversation with the kids included querying the species of certain plants we found, the best methods for pulling up weeds and what positions people play in their netball teams. We also had fun inspecting the masses of frogspawn in the little allotment pond.

It's so great that spring has arrived, the trees are re-leaved

After the bed was clear we aerated the soil and then raked it level. We then used canes laid flat across the bed as guides for planting onions in rows. We used a finger to make a shallow hole in the soil alongside the cane. We then placed a bulb into the hole and secured it in place with some surrounding soil. One hand's length was used to approximately space out the planted Alliums. One half of the raised bed was filled with onions. On the other half of the bed we were to plant potatoes. Again we used canes to mark where the lines of potatoes would go. We placed potatoes along the cane at spaces of around 12 inches, then dug potato craters with a trowel down to a depth of around 6- 7 inches at each point. A sprouting potato was then dropped into each hole and covered over with soil. At the end of each row of planted produce we left a vertical cane to denote the locations of each one. Teas and coffees were brewed up on a camping stove to keep the workers toiling at maximum efficiency.

Sooner or tater

With so many caffeinated volunteers in attendance, the evening's objectives were very speedily achieved. We had managed to fully 'de-weed' a large raised bed, prepare the soil, and then plant two full crops. After celebrating our achievements, some spare produce was shared out to those that wanted some, namely huge leeks.

We then said our goodbyes, thanked everyone for a wonderful evening, and hit the road, specifically Dodworth Rd, towards Penny Pie Park where we then did repetitions on the steel fitness equipment in situ there. The reps included 20 lat pull downs with palms facing away, 20 with perpendicular palms, 20 quad presses, 20 stair climbs and 20 bodyweight presses. Following this, we ran back down the hill to Glasshouse where we stretched off after our 5.4 km run, strength session and perspirant inducing planting activities.