The famous five made a fab job of harvesting and maintaining the community plot at Gorse Hill Studios allotment this evening.

After a stop-start run from Deansgate, we convened onto the plot in the overcast sunshine, ready to get a good session in. Scott and Ben harvested a surprising number of potatoes 🥔 of many sizes, with more and more being unearthed as we scoured the plot.

Meanwhile, Sanjeev and Fanette were on bean harvesting duty 🫘 with lots of runner beans picked out, while others continued to grow. There were also lots of tomatoes 🍅 harvested from within the polytunnel, with some not quite ready to pick, so plenty more to come.

Peter was lead waterer, planter, planner, and coordinator, making sure plots were seen to and planning ahead for next year.

There was also a lot of corn 🌽 harvested plus any apples 🍎 that were ready to pick.

Very productive session, and we dropped off all the bounty to Gorse Hill Studios for them to use in their community groups.

Afterwards, we had a well earned Wetherspoons tea and beverage, making full use of the Monday night deals, before making our way home in the Manchester rain 🌧

New task location tonight as we went to help out 422 Community Hub based in Longsight. The group carry out a range of community activities including a baby bank, cafe, pantry, meeting space, and local hub.

This evening we loaded our bags with a list of items the pantry was short of, including: tinned tuna, sweetcorn, baby wipes, tea, coffee, squash, and long-life milk. 4 or 5 carrier bags full of food to go towards the pantry over the school holidays.

After placing the items safely in the Keter box at the back of the centre, we used the Clean Up UK litterpicking supplies to clear up discarded litter from the surrounding streets. In just over an hour, we filled up 4 refuse sacks of rubbish, with lots having blown around in the wind. We placed them next to a public bin and reported them to Keep MCR Tidy for collection.

We'll likely be back at the community hub in the future to help with sorting baby bank items and for some painting, so keep an eye out for that.

While not political, there was something very William Wallace about the task tonight, with FREEDOM being the aim of the game to help with the maintenance of fruit trees in Philips Park 🌳

While Dennis was on his way, we weeded what we could around the fruit trees, with lots of grasses taking up the space within the cages.

Once the tools arrived the real work could begin. With a bespoke allen key 🔑 we unscrewed the attachments holding the cage to the stakes, giving more breathing space to the apple 🍎 and pear 🍐 trees in the park. It also freed up more room to thoroughly weed, give them a lot of water, and reduced the wire from the cages digging in and causing damage to the growing branches.

Fanette and Ben managed to do this for most of the trees, with a few trips back and forth to collect water 💧 and managing to keep the screws and cages for later use. The pile of weeds and grass were disposed off around the park. The cherry 🍒 tree just had a good watering, having not grown too much with some of the dead branches removed. Other pruning tasks will be for another day.

Meanwhile, Sanjeev and Dennis focused on one of the leaning apple trees, in an attempt to support it and straighten it up. With the lack of rain and clay soil, making a hole for a new stake took a bit of trial and error. With a hammer 🔨, manual hand earth auger drill (basically a big screw tool), and a bit of water, they did finally get a couple of holes in to apply stakes, held in place by loose stones. Sustainable engineering certainly at play, using loose stones, a wobble, and manual tools to provide the support with no power tools or concrete in sight 🌱🌳💪

With the fruit trees uncaged, cleared, watered, and grasses disposed, we cleared up, seeing the orchard before their Britain in Bloom judging in August. The walk and run back along the Ashton canal was a pleasant warm down after a productive session 👏 well done all!

Welcome to Lucy for your first GoodGym session!

This evening, we were back at Eden Gardens Orchard in Philips Park to finish where we left off with a greenhouse needing to be built in place. Some of the frame from two weeks ago needed a bit of re-jigging and lots of the screws needed tightening, but bit by bit, we made some progress in the right direction.

While some screws snapped with some over-keen tightening (🙋‍♂️ guilty) we managed to get the back and 2 sides in place to screw together, with Jodie nimbly able to attach the clips connecting the frame to the base. Just in time, the front frame was ready to attach after some swapping of pieces, with a team effort needed to hold parts together while others screwed the bolts in.

As we tightened the screws, added more of the roof, and cross pieces were added for some extra strength, the structure became much more sturdy, shapely, and almost looked like a greenhouse (just without the glass).

Dennis from the gardens seemed very pleased, bringing out a northern staple of vimto, plums freshly plucked from the trees, and Julia supplementing with biscuits to keep us sustained. We had a potter around the orchard, seeing how sweetcorn is fertilised in lines, with a bit of weeding of the rocky path. Thank you to Peter for the Oregano!

Cracking effort from all involved. Next week we'll be helping weed and maintain the fruit trees 🌳 growing in Philips Park, including those grown with magic walnuts.