Urgent wild garlic protection awaited GoodGym Bristol this week with a maior operation planned to stoo the Council accidentally mowing the wild garlic before it could seed and spread.

Sleepers, that had made the raised beds before the big re-build (and accompanying big compost shift), were being moved from one edge of the park to the other with well-laden wheelbarrows and hefty shifting of the wood and a careful plan (make it up as you go along) to create a wall between the cutting grads and non-cutting garlic. Oh, and deadheading the daffodils in the tyre stacks where we'd been called on for emergency bulb-planting so theres space for the to grow and daffodils to prepare for next Spring.

Finishing off with lemon balm and something else tea and homemade nettle and dandelion cake (all foraged from the park and GoodGym were away again, more chat at Workout and Vaguely Northern Darren using his amazing video and audio skills to record the scene for all time.

The forecast was “a bit soggy” - it was a Bank Holiday so it was always going to be a bit soggy - but not enough to put GoodGym Bristol.

The weeds have benefitted from the recent dampness with the warmth and are making by a bid to take over somebody the beds that have been bare over the winter. So we concentrated on one with grass and stickybud instead of the normal bramble and buttercup.

Top work, chatting about natural burials in mycelium coffins and then lunch at a new spot - Stokes by the Orchard which got a huge thumbs up.

Happy Easter Monday!

Does a yellow warning of rain put GoodGym Bristol off an outdoor task? We're made of tougher stuff than that - at least, some of us are!

We took the opportunity to venture back to Hebron Burial Ground to progress further towards the wall that we knew was begin the brambles and, it turns out, elder tree.

The running group were already making great progress when the walkers arrived and got stuck in alongside Gerry and Cat. As Freya amazed us all as, after her head had a close "brush" with some brambles, she fought back by pulling HUGE bramble branches from the maze of stalks - "once we chop, we can't stop". Caroline declared to job of carrying the tarpaulin of choppage over and onto the compost pile to be too skilled for her, having seen Richard and Vaguely Northern Darren's professional approach, whilst Jason found someone's past treasures deep under the brambles - hopefully that person now has a place to call home.

David and Melanie took a delicate approach to clear around a gravestone whilst discussing their human barometer skills to know when rain was on the way.

After so much chopping, we weren't quite followed home by the Police chopper (helicopter) but it was hovering over Redcliffe for a long time whilst we chatted over pots of tea/cappuccino (not the red version made of tea?!)/shandy/cider and the lack of plans for Easter.

Hope everyone sleeps well after a good dose of fresh air and NO RAIN AT ALL!

We've had some wonderful weather recently, but as is oft the case with the English climate, it doesn't stay for long. Having said that, it wasn't in any way uncomfortable as 8 GoodGymmers (Cosmo, Ruth, Aaron, Jason, Emily, Kate, Ava and Meyrick arrived for one of two visits to Sydney Gardens this month.

Dry it was, and cloudy, perhaps a little chilly in the wind, but a far cry from winter which I hope we've now left well behind. The Friends of Sydney Gardens have a 'formal event' of some kind on the 11th of May, (apparently the mayor is attending). There are certain areas that need a tidy up before this as they will be viewed by the visiting dignitaries, and GoodGym Bath were more than happy to help.

There is a gated enclosure next to the Holburn Museum, which acts as a store for grounds maintenance. In the middle of this area is a derelict building, a relic from the 1700s. Our supervisor educated us that back in those days, this derelict building was in fact a 'Supper Room' and was linked to the main building (the Holburn Museum) by a series of other buildings, a bit like the West Wing.

This was overgrown with weeds, brambles, nettles and saplings all vying for dominance; the result of years of neglect had let them run amok. Our job was to trim this unsightly flora back and reveal what is left of the Supper Room to be seen in all it's glory - this will, though, take some imagination.

We pretty much cleared it all in the short time we had. Great work GoodGymmers, we'll be back in two weeks.

As if we hadn't had enough of litter from the last session, we jumped straight into helping the Berry Maze with their Annual Easter egg hunt/community litter pick combo. Though this time, it was a bit tricker as the Malago river itself had many months of fly tipping building up. Only one way about it, wellies on! Freya and I got slightly damp and at points very stuck, but we did managed to get the bulk of crap out of the river(3 Tvs, 2 trollies, 1 wardrobe, 1 sound system, many many bags of clothes.) Frances, Jason and Rich had found a doorway into another world of fly tipping, mostly doors. 6 doors in fact! They also gave aerial support to us riverfolk with lifting bulky stuff out the other side. At the same time Emma and and Janka were busy clearing out the Berry Maze maze, keeping Barney happy is a very important part of the job, as his jokes get worse the more weeds there are in the maze. between us, the berry maze, and the locals, we managed to make a massive impact on the local environment, and green spaces. Big thanks to everyone who came along,