Alistair at Marston Community Gardeners put us in touch with St Nicholas' Primary School in Marston as their vegetable plot and polytunnel had got out of hand. It seems like the project was originally going really well, then Covid lockdowns happened and before they knew it the plot was overgrown and daunting to get back into a usuable state.

To be honest, we had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into until we walked into the school playground, squirmed through a gap in the hedge, and were met with a jungle of bramble, bindweed and various Unidentified Growing Objects. Well, never a team to give up before we've started, we gamely pulled on gardening gloves, armed ourselves with loppers and got to work. Once started we made pretty fast progress. Weed matting had been laid in the outside areas, so much of the vegetation actually came up quite easily (no digging required). Once we'd cleared a route through to the beds and compost bins the outside jungle started to look tamed quite quickly. Likewise, inside the polytunnel the weeds came up without too much digging so it looked ship-shape within an hour. Overall this is definitely going to require a few more visits before it's back to it's former glory, but we left the polytunnel ready to use, the entrance cleared, and the whole plot in a better state. Hopefully the school will start to use the polytunnel, and the outside areas can be back in full use by next spring.

Congratulations on reaching the 10 Good Deeds milestone Steve!

Good to meet you Imogen - hope you enjoyed your 1st GoodGym evening.