This was the church's monthly volunteering session and as ever Abby had lots of jobs for us to do, including weeding, watering, planting out an area under the laurel tree and turning the compost. The latter was tough work but Williams did a great job, while Clare shared her gardening expertise with the rest of us. We were joined by Penny, the very cute schnoodle, and refreshed with squash and banana bread. It's been lovely to see this garden blooming over the past few months.

The Merton posse turned up at the community garden armed with their gardening gloves, knee pads and trowels, all set for a session of weeding. But as it turned out, first on the list of tasks was relocating the numerous (but very well hidden) caterpillars from the cabbage patches into the wild flower area.

Some of us were better than others at spotting the tiny green creatures, but thankfully there was plenty of watering, dead heading and general tidying of this wonderful community resource to keep those of us with less than great eyesight busy. And a gardening task wouldn't be a gardening task without at least a little weeding.

Any calories burnt off over the hour were more than made up for by the Scottish delicacies kindly shared with the team by Rachael. So everyone left with a smile on their face and sugar on their tongues. Well, you've got to refuel, right?

Started the day lending a hand with the setup at The Open Table at Martin Way Methodist Church. It was a great way to kick off the morning, getting everything ready for the lunch session and grabbing a coffee afterwards.

Rain stopped play (or work) initially, as a thundery downpour soaked the garden, although full marks to Jade and Jo who kept calm and (tried to) carry on. Thankfully the deluge was quite brief and we could soon get stuck in clearing logs and stones in preparation for a new woodland display under the laurel tree, then digging it over, plus some general tidying and weeding. The garden is looking blooming lovely at the moment and the new insect hotel is the bee's knees.

The crew came together to water the plants and tackle the weeds around the community garden. With watering cans, gloves and great teamwork our trusty trio whipped the space into shape, one weed at a time. A quick, satisfying mission with a visible impact. Well done team!

It was the day of the annual church fair and Georgina was joined by Clare, who was doing her first session. Bright and early in the morning, our two hardy volunteers helped to move tables and were then asked to put up the tent gazebo, which was quite a task! Great work both - and welcome, Clare.