I traveled to Kingston upon Thames this evening to help Mr G with a bit of deweeding in his backgarden. I need to say I had second thoughts on the way there when there was literally a downpour 🌧☔️💦 every 10 mins 😑.

I arrived a bit earlier and knocked on Mr G's door around 18:40. He welcomed me and right away led to the backgarden 🌱.

Need to say - his garden is indeed overgrown (and I added few photos to show that - in case there is a follow up session). As he mentioned right away trhe most important thing was for him to clear the patio, where currently the chairs 🪑🪑 and umbrella ⛱️ stood. He also mentioned that around couple of week ago

I got my 🧤 gloves from the backpack and was ready to go 🚀. I quickly learned that the entire area was covered with a tick layer of a cotton-like fabric which was wet, dirty and... propely stuck to the ground. I didn't have a scraper and the available brooms 🧹 and rake were to weak yo scrap that off. I eventually used just my hands. This was an activity Inhave been doing most of the time.

I couldn't resist and needed to check what tree 🌳 caused this damage - based on a photo it's confirmed as Eastern Cottonwoods. The one from Mr G's garden was huge, very old and majestically 👑 grown right in the middle of the garden.

I have also targeted some of the mulberry plants that were just became a bit too invasive for the patio area 🏴‍☠️. I grabbed shears from Mr G's toolbox 🧰 and cut them down to carve out some extra space.

On a very positive note, there was a little Robin 🐦 who kept visiting me as I progressed through the work. I almost felt it's some sort of a fairytale 🧚‍♂️. Either it was monitoring my efforts or maybe was looking for fresh worms 🪱 to grab for the dinner as they got revealed under the "cotton" sheet.

I worked around 1:30h 🕚 and ended up pretty soaked, but the result was worth it! Mr G was very pleased and insisted I will take money. I declined and wished him a lovely evening (he might as well spent it in his patio now!)

Emily, John and Gosia visited Hogsmill Community Garden today to help out with a couple of maintanace tasks requested by our lovely host - Julie.

It has been raining this weekend (almost all the time), so it was hard to expect anything else this morning. Fortunately, the weather was quite merciful and gifted us with a calm cloudy sky and just an occasional light rain 🌧.

Our first task was to cut back overgrown lilac tree 🌳, mulberry bushes 🫐 and some pesky vines which occupied one of garden's fences (one on the left of the entrance). The shed was very well equipped and we got a pair of shears ✂️ for each, which allowed us to tackle the task in around 30-40 mins.

In parallel, we also poured out accumulated water from trays placed near the same fence (which were used for flower pots and planters 🌱). Some extra water from time to time is nice but certainly we didn't want these plants to drown 🏊‍♂️.

After completing our first task we sat down at the table for a tea ☕️ and a great chitchat 💬 with Julie. We learned a bit more about the history of the garden, as well as events already hosted and planned for the future.

After this small break we kicked off the second task which was to take down a garden pavillion 🎪. Completing this task wouldn't be possible wihout a wonderful collab between GG and our host (one person per each corner). All was dismantled and put intro a polytunnel (as instructed) in around 15 mins.

Julie was very happy with the outcome and she invited us again (as there is always plenty to do) 🙂. It was a great productive start of the day and certainly we shall be back

For the next few weeks 7 Goodgymers from Kingston and beyond signed up to help collect and submit data from their different areas of butterflies and moths in different surroundings including parks, hedgerows and gardens. This will help see how these wonderful species are doing in the current times and climate.

This morning I kicked my count off by observing some hedgerow by the Hogmill River. There mainly seemed to be just the one type here. Will hopefully see some more different types when I go looking in Richmond Park next week.

Brought and dropped some pasta as low items in the food bank.

A lovely event run by our friends at Refugee Action Kingston to help refugees move on and feel part of their community.

A new challenge this Tuesday at The Malden Centre near Jubilee Square as we helped Emma to help set up a food hub for Kingston Voluntary Action.

It's going to be a fantastic venue and the kitchen rooms just needed a good clean, which Anna, Emily, Levita and Rachel got going with.

Meanwhile Dave, Marcos and Tom got sweeping, removing lots of leaves and litter outside their enormous refrigerated shipping container, which is for storing the food and was perfect for one of our weirdest team photos ever.

A nice fun task, even including free biscuits!