Our friendly host Fleur was pleased to see us at the garden this evening, having earlier messaged to say she had her hands full and might not be able to make it - but all worked out fine, and Graham and Nick, who'd had a very pleasant chatting speed run and catch up from Freaks and Geeks, met up with Kyra at the garden bench just as Fleur arrived with both keys for the lock up and clear instructions for this evening's episode of GGN gardener's world.

We were guided to behind the bike shed (...) where there was a long patch that needed weeding and tidying, and then further along the same border to do much of the same on the other side of the path. Issued with gloves, forks, and eventually the trusty wheelbarrow, we were soon down at weed level removing much unwanted grass, weed looking plants, the occasional bulb (since replanted), and many many snails, as well as catching up on our respective weekends, and discussing with the other Wild Green volunteers what else we get up to on our Tuesday evening sessions.

As we discovered last week, it gets dark round these parts earlier and earlier these days, so it wasn't long before we'd got as far as we could see and do without accidentally removing someone's lovingly cared for seedlings, and one final tip into the nearly overflowing compost bins and we called it an evening. As always the friendly volunteer team were grateful for our help, and with now clear beds, they'll be able to turn their minds to planting bulbs ready for spring.

If it's possible to have a warm, but cooler evening, then tonight was it - the recent hot weather has certainly re-calibrated the comfort scale, especially when it comes to running.

We all looked forward to a return visit to Wild Green E13, Plaistow's most lovingly cared for community garden, and our host Fleur was on site to welcome us when we arrived - Hilary and Graham had run from our usual meeting spot at Freaks and Geeks, Nick from Plaistow, and Bea arrived in one piece on her bike.

Once we'd got the container unlocked, it was clear this evening's task would be watering to try and keep the young plants, vegetables and all the contents of the wooden planter boxes alive. Our biggest challenge soon proved to be having enough water to get everything done as their giant water butt was running low and it had been a while since there'd been any top up, either via mother nature or from the local fire brigade.

However, low water wasn't going to stop us and we soon had a production line running to get watering cans filled and roots watered as best we could. As Graham stood over the tank eeking out the very last of the drops, it was apparent we had exhausted this particular task, but as always, Fleur was very grateful for our efforts. We'll be back here again in September, by which time there will hopefully have been a rain shower or two to give the plants a drink.

We set off on a cooler run back to our start point, and diverted into the pub for some well earned refreshment - this time not needing to rely on the last drops from a water container to rehydrate us...

Next week we'll be helping out on the planters at Barnard Grove - join us if you can, those plants really need our help!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/maintenance-of-planters-on-barnard-grove-19198e61-72a0-4c49-8904-5a150c05553a

An almost perfect evening for a pleasant 3k social run and return visit to the communal gardens at Wild Green E13, where this week we were tasked with weeding the "mural bed" (aka disturbing yet again a lot of snails), and after being given a crash course in weed identification ("take out all the ones with the big rabbity ear style leaves"), and armed with an impressive collection of trowels, and a wheelbarrow to use as the collector of said ears and anything else that could be composted, Hilary, Graham, Brad and Nick got to work.

We had an audience, as the evening sunshine had brought out the crowds to enjoy the park and gardens, and we received quite a few compliments from the benches on the great work we were doing to keep the garden neat and tidy - our hosts were equally delighted with our efforts, and once we'd got the weeding done, it was time to water the vegetable patch in advance of the forecast hot spell later this week - Graham discovered the Edvard Munch "Scream" watering can was surprisingly accurate...After an equally pleasant run back, we decided Hilary's birthday of last week needed celebrating, and conveniently our run had finished right outside the pub...always great when a plan comes together.

We'll be back again to help out at the gardens on 4th August - more watering, weeding, composting and whatever other tasks that Fleur and her friendly colleagues need doing to keep this particular community garden in excellent condition.

Tonight's task, our first visit to Wild Green E13, a volunteer led community garden in Plaistow, lived up to its name in so many ways. Our welcoming host Fleur was pleased to see us, and once she'd unlocked the container and distributed gloves and gardening tools, she pointed to a long edge of the garden, where some fruit bushes were lurking behind a lot of very green weeds and grass (and snails...), and asked us to get weeding...and so we did.

No prior skills required, and whenever we came up against some vegetation that we couldn't decide was friend or foe, Fleur got our her plant identification app to give us the go/no go signal (one was even identified as an opium poppy...which made us all wonder if there was some extra curricular horticulture going on in the garden...)

With four of us (Hilary, Graham, Bea, Nick), and Fleur on management oversight (and litter picking) duties, we had a great and very sociable evening in the fading light removing the unwanted green stuff, disturbing the habitat of far too many snails, but eventually leaving this area of garden looking much neater, and with easier access to the fruit bushes. Good work all around. We've agreed on a return visit on 16th June for more wild and green fun.