Back at Buccleuch Gardens to plant out the remaining 4 potted plants and get them watered in. One shrub went in at the far end of the rockery where the substrate proved more rock than rockery. After removing soil to expose the stones, I eventually found a spot where I could dig down deed enough to give the plant a decent chance of rooting and thriving.

And as usual there were many other weeding and tidying tasks that distracted me.

Gardening odyssey at Good Gym Richmond’s sponsored plots in Buccleuch Gardens Richmond: planting out some of the recently donated plants ( 6 down, 4 to go); weeding; tidying and sorting the tool store in the Arcade.

A highlight of the session was finding that someone had already done a really excellent job of dead-heading all the stachys (lambs’ ears) in the Arcade Rockery. Hopefully I have recruited this community gardening hero, Homer, to join GoodGym.

The lowlight was a 3rd loss of the brass tap handle for the outside tap at St Mary’s church. Carefully but inadequately tied to the Arcade key.

(To the tune of 'round the mulberry bush')

Round and round the local streets,

With a stack of leaflets,

Sharing news with all we meet,

Of Richmond's best kept secrets!

Of GoodGym's way of keeping fit,

More sociable than doing HiiT,

Getting out rather than choosing to sit,

Giving back and doing our bit!

Took 10 donated plants to the Arcade in Buccleuch Gardens, Richmond, ready to be planted next week.

...... keep a wider variety of plants alive during really dry weather, promoting better biodiversity.

More watering, tonight, just the Three Pigeons Plot and the Arcade, plus a bit of weeding out of plane tree saplings and thistles. Great to see how much happier and healthier some of the plants are looking after a few watering missions.

And a huge 'thank you' to the wonderful gentleman who offered to help out during his daily evening walk and has now started to dead-head the stachys in the Arcade Rockery.