Leaonie and I met up with Ian and the Friends of Beckenham Green to clean up the planters by the High Street. We were tasked with extracting the bindweed that's crept in and started to twirl around the plants previously bedded by the Friends.

Leaonie also took on some litter picking - fab stuff!

This week, I joined Viv, Lumin, and a team of local volunteers for a sunny spring gardening session.

With everything coming into bloom, it’s the perfect time to keep on top of the maintenance and help the planters reach their full potential. We rolled up our sleeves and spent much of the session pulling up grass and tackling weeds.

Viv also shared an exciting update on the planter repairs, thanks to generous donations from the community. Work is now underway! The old coping stones have been removed from the bed near the park entrance, and new ones are being installed.

The blooms are just getting started, and we’ll be back again soon to keep things growing strong. Come and join us! 🌼🌱✨

Our Wednesday evening crew took on the Greener & Cleaner allotment, meeting the brilliant Efi to hydrate some thirsty plants, layer cardboard into the compost, and even learn how to make some nice natural (stinky) fertiliser out of nettles!

We were also lucky enough to go home with some giant rhubarb stalks, sage, mint and sunflower seeds - thanks so much! (I can confirm that these have all been put to good use, not just transformed into daggers for a quick duel…)

One thing I love about goodgym is how many skills I've picked up along the way.

I've learned how to fit loft insulation in a church, how to plant and look after trees to ensure they survive, and improved my flatpack furniture assembly skills (from terrible instructions).

Today I (mostly) single-handedly made a planter from some wooden sleepers. I had some good advice from Bromley Mencap's facilities person Michelle, and Caroline from the charity provided her steady hands and I sawed and connected the pieces together. Another skill for the collection.

Forgot to take a pic, so here's a birdbox I made (with some of those transferable skills...)

Did some prep for some workshops - cutting up a load of planks of wood which will soon become bug hotels!

Very hot work but satisfying with a lovely bunch of people.

At Beckenham Green this time I was charged with getting the last of the autumn's leaf fall out from under some bushes, where the old brown leaves just will not disintegrate! I loaded up a black bag of them and left the space tidier.

Before heading off I also helped the Friends move a fence to create a better shaped enclosure, and it looks much better now :)