Second Monday of the month meant that, No Surprise, GoodGym Richmond were returning to their original Avant Garden Plot, The Three Pigeons, showing yet again that they have Got What it Takes to keep Buccleuch Gardens blooming and beautiful.

Preparing for Autumn, we were wielding secateurs to tidy the plot, diggin’ and weeding the perimeter and preparing for the Seasons of Wither. Pampas grass seed heads were removed and self-seeded St. John wort cut down. And at the Arcade, Lords of the Thighs JP and Chris wielded forks to turn our compost heap and dig out some rich organic matter to help with some late summer planting.

By now we were more than half way there and everyone chipped in to plant thyme and a selection of bargain-basement bedding plants (begonias, verbena and petunia) that will hopefully provide a splash of late summer colour for a few weeks.

The Three Pigeons Plot was looking Drop Dead Gorgeous by the time we finished. Around 8pm, as Darkness was falling, it was time to Draw the Line, clear up and run, cycle and Walk this Way back to the Tap Tavern (where the lime Deuces are Wild) for a quick GG social, before we all had to Head Home Tonight.

But we will be Back in the Saddle again soon, including a super Saturday on 14 September with our regular monthly GG Mission at Ham Lands at 10am https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-the-happy-ham-landers-bd191a17-5b00-42da-ae77-5a8eed086ac4 plus an awesome Treasure Hunt late summer social at 2pm https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/end-of-summer-social.

An annual task for us that means a good walk rather than a run, delivering leaflets Richmond CVS to advertise their upcoming Trustee Recruitment evening.

The group met at the Tap as usual for an intro and a chat about some upcoming tasks before heading into surrounding residential streets to deliver the leaflets. Many hands make light work and within an hour all leaflets were posted, with time to admire some doors, front gardens, a passing fox and a hairless cat!

An evening of watering at our sponsored beds in Buccleuch Gardens to help the plants get through this spell of hot dry weather.

.... and a picnic afterwards sitting next to the last remaining Canarian palm.

A team of GoodGym Richmond’s stupendous seven made their way across to Power Station youth club in Mortlake to do some good.

We weren’t quite sure what we were going to get up to, but whatever it was, we’d apple-y get on with it… Danielle the youth leader showed us tables laden with fresh produce. Curly kale, marvellous marrows and an abundance of apples. The challenge, if we should accept it was to prepare the crates of fruit to freeze, ready for future apple crumbles and pies.

We core-dially accepted, and chopped to it, prepping ourselves with the knives and chopping boards. Some of us solo and some in pears, we cut the fruit into chunks and sprinkled over cinnamon before bagging it up for freezing. Amazingly, despite trusting us with sharp objects there were no injuries (even with some flying footballs courtesy of Sam in the room)!

Forty or so minutes later, there were multiple plump bags of sweetly cinnamoned apples ready for the freezer. A quick clean up, and a peel good job done. There was even time to enjoy the, ahem, versatility of the humble courgette in its overgrown form for a group photo.

As we left the youth club, we were greeted by darker skies and a spitting of rain from overhead. Time to fruit off back home until next week!

Joanna, Sam and Anita were channeling Aquarius the water-carrier (Zodiac sign for those born 20 Jan to 19 Feb) rather than the 1960s hippie musical.

When Joanna, new to GoodGym’s gardening work in Buccleuch Gardens, asked the question ‘Where’s the water?’ she may have been expecting a tap or standpipe rather than the huge River Thames.

This was a humorous start to an intense 45 minute workout. We drew water from the river , carried it up stairs (looking fantastic after Monday’s Group Run weeding efforts) and along the Thames Path to water some of the thirstiest plants at the Three Pigeons Plot, around the benches and in the Arcade Planters and Rockery .

Great work water-bearers.