Not done one of these for a while so here goes…

Five, met at the Haven, and.
None of the plants were for saving.
Bunk baths to bathe.
A good (perfect) dump from Dave
Definitely no misbehaving

Frogs found by Sara.
But no prince was found here, arghhh.
Good chat and laughs,
Some horseradish cut up in halfs.
To bowl was our goal, aloe vera(?)

Ok so that didn’t all make sense and I may have missed some stuff but we managed to clear a pretty good area of ground so that it can be used and it was great as always seeing everyone. I should also clarify that the dump was putting a wheelbarrow of weeds on the compost heap... We also just about missed the downpour!

Until next time…

Only a small group (Paul, David & Julie) but we got stuck in to get the weeds out on our regular visit to the Haven. Paul & David tackled the berry bush area whilst I worked with Stuart from the Haven to clear the weeds and grass from one of the veg plots, getting them ready for lots of lovely seedlings donated by Blaise Community Garden. Before & after pics show the slugs now have nowhere to hide! It was a lovely to visit on such a sunny morning. Join us next time as there's always lots to do!

Five Goodgymmers helped out at the Haven community garden with some seasonal weeding and clearing. Beds of strawberries and soft fruit bushes were cleared and overgrown edges trimmed back.

What a lovely spot to spend a sunny Easter Saturday!

As part of our regular task we met up at the Haven this morning. The Haven is always a lovely tranquil place but especially so when the sun was shining! Regular Goodgymmers were joined by Oliver and Richard on their first task, welcome both, hopefully this will be the first of many and you'll soon be getting your black t-shirts!
Stuart from the Haven divided us into 2 groups, the first comprising Russ, Richard, Ollie and Steve wielded forks, spades and a mattock to clear an area ready for the erection of a covered structure, whilst David, James and I proceeded to weed and dig over a bed which will be used for spring veg, in the process uncovering an oak seedling and harvesting some late potatoes and LOTS of bindweed - which apparently makes great slug repellent - who knew? Many trips to the compost heap later and our time was done. As a thank you Stuart offered a lovely organic winter squash for any that wanted one (mine is going in soup!)
We'll be back at the Haven next month as there are lots of ongoing tasks including laying chipping paths.

Eight runner set out for another mission at the Haven. This place is truly magical... nicely tucked away in the depth of clay bottom, the allotment is hard to find, even for people who have been there many many times (myself included)...

Tim and newest goodgym recruit Deya got so lost that a stranger gave them some bananas and kindly pointed them in the right direction. Once the team was finally reunited, we split up in three goups.

Laura and Julie tackled some nettles whilst Russ, Steve and Stuart cleared the ground to make room for the foundation of a new hut soon to be build. The rest of us cleared a overgrown area which looked more like a jungle than a plant bed. With eager hands we dug deep and removed some unwanted horseradish and weeds. One Goodgymer struck not gold but water, which sadly was not to a moment of joy... it soon become clear that a newly installed waterpipe had been hit... ironically the every same pipe had been installed on a previous goodgym task... The organisers took the incident with lots of humor (thankfully) and were grateful for our help despite adding on more work at the end of their day...

We promised to help to repair the pipe and will hopefully be allowed back to redeem ourselves!

All mishaps aside, we had a great time and it was great to welcome Deya on her first mission.

Cheers, Sarah

The heavens had opened up during our task at the Haven but a few hardy GoodGymers braved the torrential rainfalls and set about weeding two areas in the allotment. One group cleared the patch around the hand-made wood fire oven which had been grown over by nettles and dog weed. The other group prepared the ground for a new structure soon to be build. Literally breaking ground, we clear a nice and neat square for the foundation using forks and mattock (my new favorite tool!) to remove roots and brambles. We forgot about our soggy socks and wet shirts and worked our way through the task quickly. At the end, Haven member Steve was pleased with our work and I'm sure we will back at the Haven soon.

Nice work everyone!