Another great session at Scout Park with Urban Forest Tribe - hosted by founder Paula, and family members Stephen and Stephen. Rope was placed around the poles to create clear boundaries, 3 "balance boards" were put in place, and an enormous amount of wood-chip moved from a storage pile to pathways and use areas. The Urban Forest Tribe area is looking great!

Two Haringey goodgymers went off to the Mulberry Tree again to do some gardening. Another fun session with a good variety of tasks which kept everyone busy. Asan helped with planting asparagus plants, and with planting sweet pepper seedlings in to pots, amongst other tasks, and Mark was kept busy weeding and watering. Karen, Mark's sister, put in a guest appearance, even though she only arrived last night from Cape Town, and impressed all with her gardening skills and energy. Another great lunch prepared by Jo, which included 3 cornered leek pesto with pasta, and herbal tea, capped of a great time together in the garden.

A splendid morning at the Mulberry Tree Community Garden - the rain held off, the early chill in the air disappeared, plenty of interesting tasks and rounded off with a great lunch with nettle soup starring. Asan showed his range of gardening skills transplanting poppy seedlings that had sprouted in several raised beds to a different area in the garden, and also worked with Mark to repair a cold-frame raised bed. Mark planted strawberry runners in to a vertical bed built from a pallet rescued in the area. Come join us on a Friday: 10am-1pm including tea/coffee on arrival and lunch under the mulberry tree before departure.

Two new Goodgymmers, Haoran and Helen, joined today's run leader Sarah at Blue House Yard on this balmy spring evening. From there, it was a gentle run to Lordship Recreation Ground to meet task owner Mike and the rest of the GGH gang.

Mike issued us with a wheelbarrow each and we headed to the woodchip pile. The first task was to uncover some logs that were submerged in the pile and load up the wheelbarrows. Then we had to wheel the barrows across the Rec to the bug hotel in the orchard. This is something we had started on a previous visit, so those who had been before (coughSarahcough) were reminded of how hard it is to transport a fully laden wheelbarrow across the Rec. We definitely put the Gym in Goodgym today!

As the sun set, the bugs inspected the improvements to their hotel. There was time for them each to have a snack before bed. Yet again, no one in our trusty team had remembered to put insect repellent on before venturing out this evening. That's just how altruistic (or forgetful) we are...

Today's task involved showing some love to a bed at Chestnuts Park. It needed a little bit of tidying up, clearing a little space for the plants to breathe, and bagging up lots of dry leaves to make leaf mulch. Hopefully we'll be back soon!

Friday morning and it's a public holiday - what a great opportunity for some gardening - which is exactly what Asan and Mark did. After looking at the list of tasks for the session prepared by Jo, leader of the Mulberry Tree Community Garden (MTCG), Asan impressed all by indicating he wanted "something hard to do". A further task was duly added - continuing the work begun by our GGH team in March - digging up and shoveling a rich mix of compost-soil in to large bags. Mark meanwhile went orienteering around Haringey to find an open DIY store to buy a staple gun (Wickes) - which was used to secure plastic backing to a pallet - now a vertical bed for growing strawberries. Along with several other "regulars", all but one of the 10 tasks were completed, enabling three-cornered leek pesto and pasta for lunch, prepared by Jo, and a bag of "greens" for each person to take home.