Another Wednesday and the team were back at Stoke Newington Common to give the trees their weekly drink.

To Tree or not to Tree....that was the question this week as the tree team eagerly watched weather forecast and the skies alike for much anticipated rain.

But what rain came, was classified as 'piddly' and so the troops gathered once again to do the rounds with the water cart.

This week there were not one but TWO innovations introduced to the routine:

1. The much awaited very long hose, allowing one volunteer to skip the carton filling task and water the trees nearest to the water source direct from the hose.

2. Thanks to the fresh think of a new volunteer, the use of the drinking fountain as another source of water from which to fill at least 3 cartons while the others in the cart were being filled by the other hose (attached to the splitter introduced a few weeks ago).

With these new arrangements in action, cartons were filled more quickly and needed to be refilled less often before the task was complete and the team could go home, and not a raindrop in sight.

We were back beating the now very familiar path round Stoke Newington Common, looking after the little trees. No innovations this week. Just efficient watering.

It was good to have a couple of familiar GoodGym faces join us again this week, with Bianca and Nuredin helping out again.

This week, with Chief Tree Supervisor away on holiday, there was a major deviation from the standard watering strategy - tackle the task in reverse order. Nuredin enjoyed the challenge of rolling our trolley of water containers UP the STEEPEST HILL straight to the most thirsty trees. And from there we worked our way round the common in reverse order to our standard route, with a few trips back and forth to the tap to refill.

The world was still spinning on its axis the usual way once the task was complete and the trees were well cared for for another week.

Another week, and another tree watering innovation - the two way hose splitter, allowing two hoses to be attached to the tap at the same time and fill up the water canisters double quick!

Today's priority was watering the slightly older young trees (planted 4 years ago). Although more established, these are showing signs of dehydradtion and struggle against the warm weather.

Next, the team focussed on the very young saplings planted last winter in the more sheltered areas. Although these young trees are more sheltered from the sun, they are also more sheltered from the rain and suffering more than some trees in other parts of the common.

It was lovely to have Nuredin join the team for his first ever GoodGym task.

We'll be back next week for another round of drinks for the trees.

We were back on Stoke Newington Common, giving the young trees their weekly drink - very much needed after the temperatures we've had of late.

With the new Two-Team System in place, the group whipped round the common with their canisters and cart, keeping the little whips and saplings (and some slightly older trees too) alive for another week.

This weeks innovation - using a tree guard to aid the decanting of water from a large (heavy) cannister into smaller (lighter) cannisters.