It was great to welcome Beth to her first Goodgym task. Beth, Laura and David weeded the long bed in the garden. Ed cut down the cardoon plants. We wanted to keep the seed heads for the birds so he and Leanne arranged the heads into a recreation of the Thixendale Swirl. Ed then cut back the brambles, Beth cut back the raspberries and Leanne trimmed back some of the bushes. One of the members of the garden group brought quince jelly and paste made from the quince tree for everyone to take home.

Between the five of us we managed to do lots in an hour at Holgate Community garden. Jane cut all the brambles down and cut down the dried plants in the top bed, Becca and Libby watered and weeded ad David and Laura sorted all the compost bins again so they closed.

Despite the heat 5 of us helped to rescue some of the thirsty plants at Holgate Community Garden which had been struggling with the heat. Becca, Libby, Ellie and Laura cleared as many of the dead plants out of the beds as possible so it was clearer what needed watering. David went to and fro with the wheelbarrow filling up watering cans and buckets to water as many of the more fragile surviving plants as possible. It was hot!

After a cooler wetter weekend the sun came out for the gardening session at Holgate Community Garden. Jane planted the bean and courgette plant she had grown at home and redirected the honeysuckle. Carys and Becca weeded around the sweet peas and vegetables and cleared around some of the smaller trees to give them more chance. They then all weeded around the train. David helped to weed the beds and prune the large jerusalem artichokes. Laura cut back brambles and did some weeding on the long bed. At the end some of us enjoyed free juices from local resident Suzy who was doing a test run for her new juicing business in the garden.

Leanne, David and Laura pulled up lots of weeds and grass and planted some courgettes and beans and watered them. Lots of new local people joined us. The end.

The Community Garden was looking great today with all of the tulips out. The bees were already enjoying the first few cornflowers and we planted some more cornflowers, sunflowers and honesty plants along the beds for them to enjoy later in the year. We also planted parsnips, leeks, fennel and lettuces straight into the beds and runner beans, french beans and courgettes into pots. The broad beans and radishes were already coming up from last months planting. We also tidied up some of the beds and trimmed around the edges. At the end we took some of the pots home to care for on windowsills and under glass ready to plant out later in the spring.