Bone appetit!

6 Goodgymers helped their local community in Ealing
Doreen
Moona
Kash
Sevan
Madhan
Harvey Gallagher
1 / 20
Ealing

Saturday 18th November 2023

Credits
Kash
Kash

SESSION ORGANISER

REPORT WRITER

PHOTOGRAPHER

Sevan
Sevan

PHOTOGRAPHER

Madhan
Madhan

PHOTOGRAPHER

Find out about GoodGym TaskForce

Report written by Kash

Share the love

When Auberon and Kasia came to Dean Gardens in Cultivate's Mystery Machine full of daffodil bulbs from Ealing Council, they couldn't know how many volunteers would show up at the Saturday afternoon planting event. Two ladies, Sarah and Mary, did not disappoint. Was that enough people to plant all the bulbs in two hours though? Hold tight!

bulbs

Whoosh! A gang of six GoodGymers has been dropped by Destiny right in the middle of West Ealing's green space. Madhan, Harvey, Sevan and Kash arrived after a session to prepare the bedding and set up beds for a night shelter at Haven Green Baptist Church. Moona came all the way from East London to make another guest appearance at GoodGym Ealing.

Doreen, determined to show up no matter the weather, decided to make her volunteering debut at Dean Gardens today! ⭐

doreen

Doreen made a great start to her GoodGym adventure by stepping in for the first task of the session: raking the leaves to uncover the soil. Harvey was collecting and wheelbarrowing them out of the way.

doreen_raking harvey_wheelbarrow

The rest of the crew split into diggers and planters. The first group dug holes in the ground for the second team, whose task was to fit ten bulbs in each pit. When asked about the pattern of holes, Auberon opposed any approach other than organised chaos - GoodGym's speciality. 👌 The patches of flowers in the spring were supposed to give an impression of natural disarray.

madhan_planting

After each cluster of bulbs was buried, Moona diligently fed the soil with bone meal. If you think the plants are vegan, think again! In case you never heard of bone meal, it is a mixture of ground animal bones and other slaughterhouse waste that provides phosphorus and calcium to plants, acting as organic fertiliser.

bone_meal

Having covered two locations under the trees at the far side of Dean Gardens, we moved to the last location - the familiar bed that GoodGym Ealing helped transform during a few Tuesday sessions, starting in September this year. We planted the remaining bulbs and raked the new layer of mulch to cover the soil. With no baby daffodils left, we were done ahead of time!

mulching_sev

The most faithful companion of the Dean Gardens tasks in autumn is mud. Those who experienced MudGym at Tuesday lunchtime sessions will know what I am talking about! Some of us, like Moona and Doreen, came well-prepared, sporting proper boots! 🥾 The rest - running or marching straight from other tasks - happily goodgymmed in light running shoes. 👟 An additional task of scrubbing the soles guaranteed!

shoes.jpg

If a bit of mud doesn't scare you and you are looking for an activity that boosts your lunchtime, pop into Dean Gardens for a weekly Tuesday session with Cultivate London and GoodGym to improve the green space for the local community!

group_dean


This task supported
Cultivate London
Growing Together

Cultivate London is a charity that provides horticultural services using sustainable, organic and biodiverse methods. They work with communities, businesses and local government to create and maintain enjoyable and sustainable urban green spaces and give local people the opportunity to learn and engage in food growing.

See more

Discuss this report
Kash

Sat 18th Nov 2023 at 9:45pm

Welcome Doreen! It was lovely to meet you and see you in action at Dean Gardens.

Doreen

Mon 20th Nov 2023 at 7:28pm

Thanks Kash,

Join us on our next session

Ealing

Recycle your run, recycle your old running shoes!
🗓Tomorrow 8:20am

Instead of going to landfill, your old running shoes will be recycled

Harvey GallagherStephDucatBeataAlan Armstrong
4 GoodGymers are going