The longest day of 2025, which happened to be the June community day at Western Road, brought temperatures soaring to 30 degrees. Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash ran from different directions to reach Southall's urban garden and meet Angela on her first session. The GoodGymers knew Angela from Ealing Soup Kitchen (not the coordinator Angela) and were delighted she had decided to give volunteering through gardening a chance.

The tour of the garden

Angela was warmly welcomed by Janpal, the organiser of the community day, who gave her a complete tour around Western Road Urban Garden (WRUG). All the GoodGymers entered the polytunnel, which they had helped set up. Those who were still feeling hot and sticky after their run experienced an entirely different level of heat! The thermometer inside showed 41 degrees - the current temperature, and 59 degrees - WRUG's polytunnel heat record!

Janpal presented the results of his planting in the polytunnel this year: from staples like tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, and red bell peppers to more exotic plants like gourd, karela (bitter melon) and snake gourd. Melon and marrow were difficult to distinguish without visible fruits. Okra still awaited to be planted. The vegetables grown at Western Road are distributed among those in need in Southall. Because many residents belong to the South Asian community, Janpal makes sure the people struggling with food affordability are able to cook their traditional dishes with the local produce. That explained why the polytunnel was rich in different varieties of chilli peppers!

"Those chillies here are *banging hot*! It's pumpkin chilli pepper. The packet said 35,000 on the Scoville scale" - Janpal.

We walked outside, where the breeze made us feel that the temperature was quite agreeable compared to the sizzling polytunnel! Janpal had more to show us on the subject of hot peppers: cherry chillies - the result of the veg seedling swap with our friend Joseph managing the urban garden in Greenford. Those were apparently quite deadly. Asked about who such chillies were for, Janpal mentioned an idea about organising a chilli-eating contest at Western Road!

Outside, we saw Janpal's pride: dahlias. Angela was quizzed on her knowledge of the plants as we walked past fennel, fenugreek and poppy. We reached raised beds with onions, cabbage, cauliflower and rare plants originating from Southeast Asia - a kind of very long, thin beans. The most inspiring was the raspberry and lettuce plot planted by seven-year-old children. We entered the orchard and were amazed to see that all the trees planted less than two years ago already had fruit: apricots, mulberries, apples, cherries, and pears. Janpal was excited about the ripening apricots but worried that the WRUG's fox would get them first. The troublemaking fox was notorious for damaging the dahlias, digging holes and stealing fruit and vegetables.

"So what is today's task? A fox hunt?" - Kash.
"The fox is okay. He keeps the rats away. We've learned to coexist" - Janpal.

The task

Our team was joined by Paul, Katie, Ash, Geoff with his daughter, and later, Ravi. Janpal and Ash were hoping that there would be enough hands to clear the entire space next to the tool shed of weeds and greenhouse parts. Katie and Geoff's daughter then started by decorating the gate instead - the result was wonderful! In the meantime, our team moved parts of a small greenhouse (to be assembled in the future), and a solar panel, then pulled or cut tall weeds on a large area we've been working on. There was plenty of bindweed, which should not be placed together with compost, so we piled it up separately to be later burned. We faced a real challenge when we had to dig out the roots of the weeds. The recent hot days made the soil so hard, we could not stick a fork in it! Only Geoff, the professional gardener, seemed totally unaffected by those conditions and kept digging successfully.

The tables turned when Ash brought us first small pickaxes, and later an adze and mattocks. Those gradual upgrades were a true game changer that allowed us to clear the entire space we were preparing for the second shed. We also buried a trench and levelled the ground for the new construction. In the last few minutes of the session, Ash convinced everyone to pull together and place a membrane to cover a section of the levelled area. That will help suppress the mad weeds' growth in the next weeks!

"A tremendous effort today by your colleagues in very difficult conditions. It has made a real difference." - Janpal.

The reward

If the sight of what we've achieved today was not rewarding enough, the generous refreshments provided by Southall Community Alliance certainly felt like a reward! There was a mountain of fruit (not the crops of the garden yet), delicious samosas and a bucket with ice full of water and soft drinks to keep us cool and hydrated.

The next chapter

Whether you have joined us today or not, the next opportunity to support Western Road Urban Garden awaits! Come to Southall for more fun, rewarding community work in a friendly group, and those excellent samosas in July - sign up now!

Legends about the feats of strength, bursts of joy, and - most importantly - samosas at Western Road in Southall spread quickly outside the Ealing Borough. The accounts reach as far North as Ickenham, where our newest addition to the team lives: Zahra!

Zahra made Western Road her first GoodGym session and was warmly welcomed by Janpal from Southall Community Alliance, who told her the story of the Western Road Urban Garden project. Apart from the GoodGymers, the allotment was visited today by volunteers Andre, Paul and Katie, with a brief cameo from Mr Bhasin.

Janpal likes to bring colour and vibrancy to Western Road. This season, he bought some dahlia tubers of many varieties, some of them named after cocktails and liqueurs like Cuba Libre and Crème De Cognac.

"What about crème de la crème?" - Andre asked.
"That's all our volunteers!" - Janpal replied.

The day was sunny, yet the cold wind made us think that the spring was not quite there. The first task was to bring the bags with soil from outside into the polytunnel, stir the earth and top it with compost. The dahlia bulbs would have much better chances of sprouting in the warmth of the polytunnel than outdoors.

With that job completed, the team: Zahra, Steph Ducat, Kash, Andre and Paul moved to another assignment: moving donated wood from next door's garden to the urban garden site. Sevan was receiving the planks handed over to him and putting them aside. With nails sticking out of the timber, and glass discovered in the grass at the boundary of the gardens, the task was abandoned as the safety of the volunteers was the priority, and not everyone had sturdy enough shoes to risk a cut.

When Lena and Marta arrived, they joined Zahra, Kash and Andre in planting the dahlias. The process involved soaking the tubers, writing variety names such as Tsuki-yori-no-shisha or Kennemerland on donated plant labels, and planting the bulbs. The Dahlia crew filled the soil bags with all 32 bulbs prepared by Janpal. Nice work!

Steph and Sevan returned to their ambitious task of splitting the massive tree stump which had been started last month. 28 days later the GoodGymers discovered the poor wedge still stuck between the stubborn wood and getting rusty at the top, where it had been repeatedly smashed and, as a result, had lost its protective coating. The two GoodGymers took turns hacking the stump and eventually released the wedge and gloriously split the wood. What a victory it was! Both pieces of the root were taken on a trolley and placed on top of the barrier made of logs like a trophy.

After the break, when Janpal's legendary hospitality was proven true (yes, there were samosas, drinks, biscuits and fruit!), Sevan and Steph moved on to a different job: preparing the soil at the community allotment plots. The session ended at 1 pm, and the volunteers were offered the produce to take home, this time: leeks.

We are looking forward to the late Springtime sessions at Western Road and seeing our dahlias' colours coming to life! Stay tuned for our next session at Southall's favourite urban garden. Next Saturday morning, we will be meeting for a dose of conservation work at Grove Farm Nature Reserve.

Our first session at Western Road Urban Garden in 2025 brought an even more formidable challenge than last year's log relocation. There were plenty of different tasks to do - including planting in the gaps of the native hedge - but when Kash asked who would like a non-muscle task, she heard a resounding silence from Mohamed, Liuba, Steph Ducat and Sevan. Everyone was determined to tackle the job that Janpal thought only GoodGymers would be capable of doing (in the absence of Council's heavy machinery or a chainsaw): moving bases of 70- or 80-year-old pine trees!

For the first four stumps, we used a combination of rolling and pulling a trolley to move them closer to where Janpal wanted to create a natural barrier to the garden. Thanks to stellar teamwork, the five GoodGymers and our friend Andre were well-equipped to complete that job. The remaining two giant tree trunks (one of them was a double tree!), even the mighty Andre considered impossible. Splitting the logs into smaller pieces would make the job manageable - but how?

Just as Deux ex Machina, WRUG's Chief Engineer Ash arrived with his head full of ideas and a wheelbarrow full of tools (sadly not the chainsaw!). His strategy to tackle the big problem was to split it into smaller chunks, using a saw, an axe, a maul, a wedge, a mallet and a sledgehammer. Liuba and Sevan were at the forefront of the transformation, removing the soil from between the roots, and then sawing grooves in the weakest parts of the wood. Steph, Mohamed, Kash and Ash were taking turns hacking into the rifts in the tree bases with the axe and the maul, making slow but constant progress in splitting the trunk.

Halfway through the task, the gang took a short break to replenish their stamina with samosas and tea, kindly provided by Janpal, and warmed themselves up in the polytunnel. The GoodGymers had a chance for a chat with Paul and Katie, who were busy with another job at the urban garden today. Our team found out that the wounded pigeon that Katie had found in the morning sadly didn't survive till the afternoon.

Life had to go on, so we went back to our wood-splitting challenge with fresh energy. We kept turning the enormous tree base (which needed three people!) and attacked it from different angles. The crevices got deeper and deeper with each strike of the maul. We handed the mallet to Janpal for the honorary last blow... which didn't happen! Instead, the wedge was stuck deep in the wood and we could no longer reach it with the hammer! We kept manoeuvring the wood, hoping to split it from another way or at least release the wedge, but we ran out of time. So close - yet so far!

Now it was time for the team to split, with Liuba and Mohamed heading home, and Steph, Sevan and Kash running to their next missions. Ash promised the GoodGymers they would complete the job at the March session at Western Road and the team pledged to return to claim the glory for their hard work. Come and join us at the session next month - the wood-splitting challenge is still on, and other, less extreme, tasks are waiting to to be done.

On Saturday morning, three GoodGymers braved the rain and ran from the East or cycled from the West along the muddy Grand Union Canal towpath to Western Road in Southall. The first task allowed them to hide in a warm polytunnel, the same one they had been involved in putting up. Directed by Janpal, GoodGymers Steph, Sevan and Kash dug out and wheelbarrowed the last season plants to a new compost pile, where Paul and Katie were building wooden fencing. The polytunnel team was joined by the one and only Andre and quickly cleared the space, leaving behind only the chilli and gourd plants that Janpal wanted to keep.

Janpal had to leave earlier, but he made sure everyone's journey to Western Road was worth it - he brought fresh, warm samosas and a jug of hot water to make tea. To deserve that kind of a treat the team in red-shirts demanded another task. Paul led them to Mr Bhasin's place where a huge pile of chunky logs awaited. With a small fleet of trolleys and wheelbarrows, the GoodGymers and Andre transported the wooden beasts back to Western Road. On the way, they met Ash, who joined them shortly with extra muscle and an extra trolley capable of carrying more pieces of wood than other vessels. The sight of timber on wheels, caused some of the members of the public to drop their jaws. One man even drove into a lamppost while reversing. The GoodGymers didn't see the mishap, but rumours were that it was because of the stunning looks of Ash and Andre!

The transportation task was paused for a while due to the visit of MP Deirdre Costigan and Councillor Paul Driscoll to Western Road. Both praised the Southall community and GoodGym for their hard work on sites such as WRUG.

When all Mr Bhasin's logs landed at their new home next to the Western Road polytunnel, it was time to relax and finally, feast on the spicy samosas that fortunately hadn't all disappeared yet. The pastries were quite big, so everyone who had two didn't leave Western Road hungry.

Ash told us about more timber that needed to be relocated to the WRUG site, so we may have another task at Western Road coming up. Watch this space!

"Fun, exercise, food growing - this is our mantra" - said Janpal, the director of Southall Community Alliance, welcoming us at the Western Road community action day.

Western Road Urban Garden is a unique place in Southall. Risen from the foundations of a derelict allotment and decades-old rubbish dump, it became a flourishing place where the local community could grow food. Unlike many other sites, formed around specific faith groups, WRUG champions diversity and inclusion - everyone is welcome, no matter their background or beliefs.

Five GoodGymers: Bal, Kash, Paul, Sevan and Steph Ducat met other volunteers: John, Paulina, Ash, Jeff and two ladies from the local community and felt lucky that they relied today on their running, cycling and walking (even from a bus stop) rather than the Elizabeth Line, not so favourable to other volunteers.

"We were expecting Paul to arrive around noon." - Janpal
"Paul is here!" - GoodGym Paul

Janpal meant Paul from The Ealing Parks Foundation, who was supposed to swap with him as the community day leader, as Janpal was planning to attend the arts event at the Southall Town Hall in the afternoon.

The great indoors

Janpal gave us the usual tour around the allotment, starting with the famous polytunnel, where the temperature reached 35 degrees. Inside this magnificent structure, we discovered a plentitude of vegetables and herbs: courgettes, aubergines, tomatoes, melon, different varieties of chillies, tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, sweetcorn, marrow, coriander and fenugreek. Western Road Urban Garden was a proud grower of plants known as staples of Indian and African cuisines.

Unlike their outdoor counterparts, reaching Janpal's waist height, the tomatoes inside the polytunnel towered over John, the tallest of volunteers. Because of their height, the tomato plants needed additional support - here is where Sevan stepped in, using bamboo sticks and strings to keep the giant plants in shape.

The veggies in the poly-sauna were very thirsty in the recent hot weather. Paul volunteered to water them with a hose. We didn't suspect (or did we?) he would use his new toy for surprise attacks, sprinkling the fellow GoodGymes with cool water. Paul's targets inside the polytunnel appreciated the refreshing experience, while others promised revenge - in December!

The great outdoors

While giving the new volunteers the intro to the urban garden, Janpal told us about one of his experimental purchases from the garden centre: a lemon cucumber, which he had planted earlier in the year, and we could marvel at its unusual fruit. He also entertained us with stories about the unexpected links between Western Road and the police!

The setup of the garden served people of all ages and abilities. The allotments, rather than being maintained by individual holders, were open to community groups and school children. The raised beds offered gardening opportunities to the elderly and those with reduced mobility - volunteers could sit on the edge of the wooden bed and immerse themselves in gentle weeding, without bending their backs.

Bal, Kash and Steph chose to continue the work they carried out during the last two community days: digging out the weeds. How could more fork work be so tempting? Maybe because there were only two small plots to finish off? The hard work paid off and before they left, Bal and Steph planted vegetables on the patch they prepared - a rare privilege if you are not a school child. Or a necessity while kids are on summer vacation?

As usual, Janpal hasn't forgotten about his staple incentives for the volunteers: ice-cold water, fresh fruit, tea and, of course, samosas. Keep an eye out for more community days at Western Road to taste those goodies after a dose of fresh air and exercise at the urban garden.

In the meantime, we are linking up again with Feeding Ealing (the organisation behind the Western Road polytunnel project) and Heston Lions to pioneer a new urban garden in Greenford - join us next Saturday for a task which is just a short walk away from Horsenden Farm monthly volunteering session.

Today’s Mission brought five GoodGymers to the Western Road Urban Garden. Christos, Steph and Paul met just outside the gardens, and as the group made their way into the gardens, were greeted by Janpal to give an introduction into the task for the day. Joining us from the Western Road Urban Garden community were Ash, Andrei and Jeff.

First picking up our tools for the day – shovels, pitch forks, buckets and wheelbarrows – the team were shown two plots of 3 x 3 meters in need of clearing at the back of the garden.

We were very soon joined by Kash and Sevan, to pull up the grass, cut down and dig up the deep-rooted weeds, and clear out the rubbish from the two plots. The group, so dedicated to complete the task that nothing would stand in our way, even twisting the metal of a pitch fork all to clear out these plots!

As we dug deeper, inevitably more and more litter was surfaced, with Sevan going about collecting the glass and finding a number of bottle tops. A rare find was a very old intact bottle of whiskey buried in the soil, still with a small amount of whiskey left in the bottle. Obviously this is now very well-aged, but no drinkers!

With everyone working straight through to the end of the session, the team finished clearing the plots, and enjoyed some fantastic samosas provided by Janpal for a well-deserved break.