I cycled over on a beautiful sunny Saturday and met Mr W's son who was very welcoming and explained the tasks. The council had recently been to clear the debris and contents from a broken down shed but the area still needed clearing of leaves, weeds, rubbish, rocks and bricks. The second task was levelling around the edge of the garden with soil as there was a trench. With a shovel and some core strength I managed to fill in the trench and get it all leveled. Mr W's son was very grateful and explained the plans to build a new shed soon. Oh and bonus - cute cats!

Last night we were back at Chiswick Horticultural and Allotment Society to help Hounslow Community Foodbox with their vegetable patch.

Ten goodgymers made their way to meet Steve, one of the Foodbox volunteers, to dig the plot, turn over the soil and make a start with planting potatos. We welcomed Ritchie to his first Hounslow task and there was lots of energy and enthusiam thanks to the lighter nights and sunny days.

All the produce grown will go towards emergency food parcels for people in need in the borough. Foodbox are super grateful for the help and we'll be back next week to continue turning the soil and planting more veg.

Smashing effort!

On a beautiful Saturday I walked over to meet Natalia outside the property and in we went. We met Miss J and she showed us the jobs at hand, which were clearing the weeds from the sides of the path, between the pave stones, and in the flower bed. There was also a trampoline in the back of the garden which had been taken over by brambles, which Natalia did an amazing job of tackling! We forgot to get the before shot but she cleared a big area in front of the trampoline so that in the future the brambles in the trampoline could be tackled. We ploughed through the jobs in an hour and a half and managed to completely fill the green bin! Miss J was really grateful and we left feeling like it was a job well done.

With the beautiful camelias of Chiswick House blooming in GoodGym red, it must have been time for our visit back to help out with jobs in the garden!

This week we were met by George with an emergency job - GoodGymers assemble! The Kitchen Garden is due to open today but the team has just discovered that there is a dangerous lintel by the normal entrance which means the public can't use it for the time being. There is an alternative pathway in, but it has been neglected over the winter and become clogged with weeds. That's where we came in!

Our task for the evening was to clear the path of weeds, grass and other undesirables. We were given a demonstration on the various roles.and told that it was imperative that rakers take the lead and must stay ahead of the pack. they were followed by hoers and forkers. The choreography was everything.

With the light rapidly dropping we worked worked hard, fueled by discussions of books, travel and weekend races. A massive well done to Michelle, Florian, Alan, Steph and Matt for taking on the Queen of the Suburbs in tough conditions and for some epic running!

After 45 minutes of effort we had reached the end of the road. You can see what the path looked like before our hard work, but I wish I had a decent after shot to show you. You'll just have to take my word for it that it was path perfection!

Next week Michelle will be leading the group to help with the new season of planting for Hounslow Foodbox at Chiswick allotments. You can find the details here and sign up. We also have anice litter picking task at Baron's ponds this Saturday if you're ale to help out.