We joined some of the local residents to help upkeep the community garden. Leanne and David started by collecting some water and then Leanne raked up the rest of the straw-like grass cuttings and found some new green plants coming through. David weeded some of the beds and around the train. Laura searched removed brambles and cut back the raspberry canes that had dried out to allow more space for the green ones to flourish. At the end Ruth from Abundance showed is how to thin out the apple and plum trees and what we need to do to wire up the trees trained along the wall. Despite the heat we steamed through the tasks and got a large amount done.

The grass had been cut at the garden and left in a thick layer preventing new growth so we made a good headway with raking and gathering it up to give the grass a chance to regrow underneath. Paul raked it into piles while Laura piled it into the barrow to pile up on one side of the garden. Laura also helped the garden group with the watering. David came later and helped Laura for an additional half hour to rake some more of the grass and clear all of the piles of grass.

We made great progress this afternoon tidying up the beds and planting a few new plants at Holgate Community Garden. We welcomed Joss and Rebecca to their first Goodgym task. Leanne kindly brought a puncture repair kit so Leanne and David started by mending the puncture in the wheelbarrow tyre which made it a lot easier to dispose of the weeds once we'd pulled them out. Everyone else got to work weeding the beds and pulling out the cornflowers that had died and Joss trimmed along the edges. Amy planted some celeriac seedlings once we had space for them. By the end the beds looked much tidier and there was much more room for the vegetable plants and flowers to grow.

Thanks to a local resident putting a hose over his wall we were able to keep a continuous flow of watering cans and buckets going to and fro and in an hour we had given everything in the beds a good drink. We also planted the last squash and courgette plants and removed a diseased honeysuckle.

We joined local residents to help them stay on top of the spring growth in the community garden. David weeded the bed ready for planting the squash and courgette plants that have been growing on windowsills for the past month. Becca trimmed the grass around the edges of the long bed and weeded the long bed along with Cara. Laura searched for brambles to evict as well as weeding. After an hour the garden looked a lot tidier and the vegetable plants were all in their new homes in the raised beds.

Five of us helped out at Holgate Community Garden's spring planting session. Jane prepared one of the beds and planted the sweet peas, spring onions and sunflower seeds. Cara and James weeded and the long bed around the mosaic and planted the two new rose bushes in the space. David dug in the bean poles and planted the broad beans and then moved the donated compost bins into place as new leaf bins in the basket ball court. Laura weeded and trimmed around the beds and coordinated the planting. There was also lavender, sage and strawberry plants planted and courgette and squash seeds planted in pots to go on windowsills until the summer. We didn't finish the areas to sow the marigold and cornflowers so these will be done in the May session.