On a cool and damp Saturday, seven GoodGymmers joined forces with the Friends of Wormholt Park for their ‘Big Planting Day’.

Helen, Arba and Chris were set to work by the enthusiastic Vanessa, who organised the event, before being joined by Lucy and Beth. The metaphorical baton (a spade and a pair of gardening gloves) was then passed on to Laura and Liina who carried on despite the pouring rain!

Leaf it out

The aim of the afternoon was to replant various potted ferns, foliage and other greens into the ground and beds around the park. The technique for this was to move the autumnal leaf blanket from the soil, before getting out the spades (or pickaxes!) to make a hole large enough for the plants. The next step was to mix in some compost, and a sprinkle of magic white powder before de-potting, scratching at the roots (assured this was a technical term) and placing the plants into the holes. Once in, they were buried back into a snug soil blanket and it wasn’t long before hundreds of plastic plant pots were emptied and stacked up, and the park was full of lovely new verdure.

Hole-some work

The park was full of volunteers and friends helping out with the day, from families with young children getting stuck in, to more elderly green fingered gardeners. It was root-iful to see the community getting together and the park looked lovely. Vanessa was most appreciative for all our hard work too.

Well done to Helen and Beth who did a mission double, and to Laura and Liina for their first community GoodGym mission, running all the way from the other side of London and for sticking at it despite the pouring rain!