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 🌧

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.

How many GoodGymers does it take to construct the frame to a greenhouse? 5 apparently as Julia, Peter, Fanette, Ben, and Sanjeev went along to Eden Gardens Orchard in Philips Park to help out. A new task and location for us!

Really nice community orchard, with lots of espaliar apple trees growing, plus beds of corn 🌽 poppies, strawberries 🍓 raspberries, flower beds plus a few sheds and a polytunnel. They have regular sessions during the week and Saturday morning, not just for volunteers but also as a place to relax, read, or just spend some time there.

Recently, they needed to take down a makeshift greenhouse and wanted to replace it with a new model. This is where we came in, with limited IKEA flat pack skills and basic instructions.

It was trial and error for much of it, trying to piece bits together, match up the numbers, and work out which way bits went. While the front and back skeleton was made, after some minor adjustments and tightening of screws, the side pieces were constructed. The frame along with the roof and other bits can wait for when building in-place once the area is cleared. We'll be back later in the month to do some of this.

Good building session with some false starts and spilled bolts 🔩 giving us the runaround!