The heavens opened today and when it rained it was torrential. Plans of painting the Welcare outbuilding and fence were dashed from the first drop. It didn't stop us hardy GoodGymers though and we made a break in-between the big grey clouds and fortunately it held off whilst we did our task. Jassy took the front building and tidied up the weeds that were making it look messy so that it would look it's best for the Jubilee street party. Dave, Scott, Claire and Tara took the back garden and cleared the paths pulling out weeds and rehoming the interesting coloured snails and bugs that were found.

We were all sad that we couldn't improve the look of the outbuilding so we made a 2nd attempt task for the end of June when hopefully the weather will be warmer and less prone to stormy weather. If you can make it please sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/project-wall-paint-for-welcare-2nd-attempt

GoodGym went back to Tolworth Broadway to help the Community Brain fill the planters full of plants and bushes to help create beautiful green spaces on the high street. Dave, Rachel and Scott met at the Quaker Centre and ran/cycled the 4km over to the high street where we met Tara as well as Georgia and Phoebe from the Community Brain. They had a tall trolley laden with different plants and bushes ready for planting. We grabbed trowels and started digging in the gaps to create holes for the plants. Some of them were quite root bound so we had to tease the roots out before putting them in the holes. Fortunately Georgia and Phoebe had already done a litter pick to remove the rubbish and clear some of the weeds. It didn't take long for our industrious group to work our way down the high street. One of the planters was filled with water - none of us really could work out why - but there was a hairy moment where I nearly lost my phone (as I took photos) in the boggy soil. Lucky break when I caught it!

At our 8th and final planter we made friends with the local shopowner who was grateful that we were helping to make the front of his premises look more attractive. We had a small celebration when Georgia produced a homemade gluten-free cake for Phoebe's birthday and as she was sharing it out the shopowner came out with Indian sweets for the group. Delicious!

What a worthwhile evening! Looking forward to helping the Community Brain again in the future.

Oh darkness my old friend, it was good to be back at this community garden again! This evening, it was a matter of shifting compost into empty plots or tires or a large bin in order make space for more and the delightful Marilyn ensured that Scott and I had all we needed: tools, sufficient light and cheerful company. She pointed out the bright pink of Mars up above and while I got on with shovel and shift with barrow and bucket, Scott was enticed away by the prospect of the use of a sledgehammer! He ended up taking on a herculean task of moving a very large and heavy slab. Kudos to accomplishing this feat! We hope to be back in December; however, volunteers (max one) are welcome during weekends and a schedule of who will be there to greet is on their Facebook Page: Canbury Community Garden.