John: On arrival, I was asked whether I knew anything about gardening. “I just do what I’m told”, I answered, based on my GoodGym experiences. Still. I was trusted to remove anything dead from a large area, which resembled a low-growing forest. But how do I know what’s dead, I wondered. This turned out to be simple – anything dry and crinkly, falling on its side or just looking limp. I soon discovered there were a lot of deceased plants, or more often parts of plants, in the undergrowth and the overgrowth. Two hours flew by, and there was more I could have done, but I had other plans, and anyway we’ll undoubtedly be back next month.

Emily: I spent an hour and filled about 5 bags of dead vegetation for the compost. As always the Penn Road volunteers were lovely and came round multiple times offering tea and biscuits!

Lots of trimming all around the gardens :)

Sevan was back at Penn Road Gardens for the first time in ages. Arriving a bit early, he did a quick litter pick until others arrived. While tidying up, he found some cultured snails gathered round a biography of Stalin!

The residents told of the exciting/concerning event that had taken place since last month's volunteering session. A scooter had been dumped and set on fire next to the equipment shed. The residents had reacted quickly to damp down the flames and London Fire Brigade had arrived in a speedy 6 minutes. Still, there were plenty of signs of singeing on the nearby bushes.

Sevan spent the whole session in the area of the fire, trimming back anything burned or that'd withered in the heat. The advice to him was, if you're not sure, cut it back anyway

"It [the rose bush] looks unsightly. Cut it right back. If it survives, it survives. If not, it's a new planting opportunity" - Local resident

A few charred scooter parts were found too and binned while everything organic was fed to the wood chipper to have a second life as compost.

5 GoodGymers joined the residents of Penn Road Gardens to help out with a variety of tasks. Composting, saving snails and ridding the garden of invasive plants.

Emily and John arrived bang on time (almost) on Sunday morning to help tidy up Penn Road Garden, a quiet and peaceful green triangular public space that is regularly maintained by the local community. It's late January, but we still had many leaves to clear, which will be composted.

We also picked up numerous large twigs, and branches of all sizes, which had become detached from the park's trees following recent storms. While working hard, we were able to catch up with each others' lives over the two-hour task, while also removing green shoots and holly which were smothering tree trunks.

David and Sevan were the GoodGym representatives at Penn Road Gardens this Sunday to help the local residents keep on top of the regular maintenance tasks. There were 2 types of tasks on the menu this morning. Both equally valuable, but very different.

On the side of Good, there were future plans that needed to be set in motion now. David helped a group of volunteers to plant spring bulbs, which will shoot up and provide a beautiful display after the winter. For now, they'll stay hidden beneath the soil. Sevan was also asked to add some bits of cardboard - soggy after the night's rain - to the compost heaps to add carbon rich material to the future compost mix.

On the side of Bad, or rather banishing bad from the gardens, there were current problems to be addressed. David started the task by weeding alkanet from the flowerbeds, working along one side of the gardens. Sevan on the other hand was sent behind the shed to clear a patch of brambles. Out of sight, out of mind? No matter, after hiding in the bushes for a while, he'd managed to dig out all but the deepest roots, leaving the area bramble free.

Part way through the task, some light rain started and got heavier, then heavier still. As the water started to seep through their jackets, the GoodGymers decided to go their separate ways to find some warm, dry cover. Such are the joys of gardening in autumn.