There's a distinct odour to gardening in April...

...some people call it mulching...

...others call it preparing the soil...

...but that's not what it smells like...!!

This lovely group - of Andy, Helen, Steve, and Tom - got the full farmyard experience on Tuesday!

Working in the twilight-lit Listening Space Garden (which is gorgeous) in Kentish Town, this group worked with the lovely Jo and Sarah to give the flower and tree beds what they wanted...

..the heavy bags displayed words like mushroom mix and extra special mulch but they didn't smell like either of those things...

...as the bags were cut and poured, and as the 'mix' and 'mulch' was spread, a distinct aroma caught in the breeze...

...call it poop or muck or manure... it was unmistakably new for Camden!!

Thank you, everyone! Your work will give life and nourishment to this very special green space!!

This special group of eight GoodGym folk caught the best of the morning sunshine today, and as they did they also gifted flowers and blooms to the community at Ingestre Road Estate.

Across 90 active and happy minutes, nine recycled planters (from a fancy complex in Battersea) were filled with gravel, lining, compost, and perennials :)

Thank you, everyone, for your time and energy this morning! It was just great to see you!

Camden is a wonderful place where odd things usually happen.

This is why Camden residents rarely look twice.

Some tourists aren't like this and regularly look twice. This has resulted in many Camden tourists leaving the borough with neck aches, cramps, and twists.

They realised too late that oddities are normal in Camden, and that looking twice really isn't polite.

However I do wonder whether our wonderful group took second glances as we made our way through sunny and busy King's Cross.

Thirteen of us - Alison, Auriela, Charlie, Danya, Gosia, Helen, Imogen (on their first good deed - welcome!!), Jackie, John, Michael, Siobhan, and Steve - met at the (remarkably special) Story Garden.

Carley, our brilliant host, was waiting for us with a caravan of wheelbarrows and trolleys, each piled with tools, bags, and high-vis jackets.

This was the moment when our team of red t-shirts trundled everything over to the other side of Coal Drops Yard.

Our destination was the Story Garden's new (and gorgeous and permanent!!) community site on York Way. It's called The Triangle because it's shaped like a triangle, and it's mid-way through being built and transformed.

We were there to rescue and prepare a mound of earth that will soon be sewn with bee-loving flowers.

And yesterday - rescuing and preparing meant collecting, snapping, and bagging the thousands of weed sticks that covered the mound - the group's laughter and wood-snapping sounded like a happy family sat around a bristling bonfire :)

Many industrial bags filled and with the twilight fading, we made our return journey through the evening city - and I think the addition of huge bags of sticks made even Camden regulars take a second look...

...thank you for a wonderful evening, everyone! Your work made a big difference!!

Hidden behind a nook - somewhere just north of Camden Town - is a secret garden called Adelaide.

A door that's inconspicuous. A sign that's easily passed. And rows of houses that disguise the scale of what's inside...

...it was our first time visiting Adelaide Community Garden this Wednesday, and as we walked (and walked (and walked)) through this special sanctuary, we were all left wondering: "does this garden have an end?"

Which it did, and which we were all thankful for. Especially as our task, as the light fell, involved scooting up and down the full length of Adelaide's pathways.

This wonderful group - Emily, Gosia, Helen (on their first GG good deed - welcome!!!), Jackie, John, Nivia, Sarah, Siobhan, and Steve - made a huge difference this week!

Our task was to distribute a total of 200 sacks of (freshly delivered) soil and fertiliser - in piles of 7 sacks - to specific named plots.

Cue wheelbarrows ferrying, sacks aloft shoulders, and trolleys busying - and all amidst shouts of plot-owners' names - "I have 2 manures for Marie!" - "can anyone see Brian's, I have 3 sacks of fertiliser!" - etc!!

As night truly landed, our happy group finished this mammoth task. It made a big difference, and it was an evening filled with fun, connection, and teamwork!!

Here's to next time!!