A pre-winter mission for Ms M, this time tidying the front garden.

The hedge got a thorough trim to keep it neat and tidy, the footpaths were thoroughly scraped of moss, weeded, and swept, and the grass got a double-dose of mowing.

Got a lot done in 90 min to leave it tidy for winter and the paths less slippery.

Welcome to Jubz for your first Manchester session! Hope to see you again at another session in the future.

Today we joined Ardwick Climate Action on the Scouts Plot to help tidy the beds and the area before the colder winter months.

Jubz made an expertly made plan of the beds, while Fanette weeded and cleared the herbs beds, and Ben saw to the compost heap.

As more Scouts arrived, we were on digging and manure duty to top up the beds before laying with cardboard to put to sleep for next year's growing season.

Fanette was bulb planting after a well deserved break to eat, while Ben expertly made 4 or 5 tree stump stools around the bulb circle for people to use.

After a quick weeding around the trees, most things had been completed, with the space looking much better for the group session.

Trip to visit Mrs C for the first time to assess the collection and donation of items to the charity shop. Lots of items and black bags in the room but Mrs C hadn't been able to sort through or be in a position to tell me which items/bags to donate. Given the numbers of bags and items, would likely need multiple people or a car/van. Will be back once rescheduled.

Fab session with Gordon, Zoe, Dan, and others for Ardwick Climate Action Saturday session 🌱🌳☘️

We were out clearing and maintaining the sites across three locations in Ardwick.

First was near the blood donation centre, litter picking, weeding near the bed and sign, raking the leaves, and clearing the cycle path where it narrowed. We topped up the stones before moving on.

Second was on a patch near the A6, where we dug up the earth and overgrown grass to lay a more permanent path to the sign. Rusted metal used to line the edges, with stones laid down too. We planted lots of daffodil bulbs in the vicinity and cut away low hanging branches and lopped competing tree growth from the planted trees nearby.

Third was on Ardwick Green, weeding and clearing weeds and grass from the bed near the sign, trimming the hedge by the main road, and generally clearing the area.

Very productive session and we'll be helping out again on the Scouts Plot next weekend.

Had to leave for a mission afterwards plus Juno and I were out checking the course at Fletcher Moss first thing in the wonderful morning fog.

Perhaps reflecting the need for the #ThisGirlCan #LetsLiftTheCurfew initiative to improve the safety for running in the darker, winter months, it was just the one person running this evening 🏃‍♂️🔦🏃🏼‍♀️

Warm evening and much better weather with little wind and rain making the running conditions better than over the weekend. Nice couple of pints of finest Yorkshire stout at Sandbar afterwards with Fanette who came straight from work.

On a rainy Saturday morning, Ben, Peter & Sanjeev took to Gorse Hill Allotments to start prepping the plot for winter.

Taking care to avoid the pumpkins 🎃 , the group were let loose on the overgrown weeds with shears in hand! The jungle of the pollytunnel was cleared out and bindweed & brambles tamed across the patch.

With the clearance complete and a sizeable pile of mulch gathered, cardboard was laid and topped with the freshly cut foliage 🌿. Nature will do the hard work now; breaking it all down over the coming months, while helping to keep the weeds at bay!

The last task was to plant out a few perennials which had been picked up from B&Q on discount! Four Currant plants and two Gooseberry's... a welcome addition that will provide fruit for years to come! 🍇

We will be back in November for another session at Gorse Hill 🌱, so keep an eye out on the GoodGym Manchester page! 🏃