On a sunny bank holiday Monday we began to gather at Glass Mill and work out who was doing which route.

We had one group head up Belmont Hill and tick off the trees lining those streets and then another group heading over to the streets surrounding Hilly Fields. And then myself and Julian were ticking off the ones around our start point.

We were met at Glass Mill by Eva from Street Trees for London who gave us some tips and advance for checking the trees health. We then set off to cover various parts of the borough.

Once Julian and I got to the last tree we felt refreshed from a slower paced group run task and also like we now knew what we thought happy soil looked like!

We regrouped at Glass Mill before heading our separate ways after an evening of goodness to round off the bank holiday.

Next week we're heading to Luxmore Gardens!

With temperatures due to reach extreme highs once again this week it was time to make sure the new hedgerow saplings in Ladywell Fields continue getting enough water to thrive. I joined a team of volunteers hauling buckets from the River Ravensbourne and carrying them along the hedgerow - a good workout by the time we'd doused all 300 young trees.

It was satisfying to spend time restoring Mr J’s front garden to a tidy state and even better to see the smile on his face once the bindweed and litter had been cleared. Mr J explained that previously he had felt his spirits sink each time he went outside because, due to a painful disability, he had been unable himself to tackle the work needed. Now he says he feels motivated to get a bit of welcome exercise and fresh air doing occasional light gardening to keep everything looking neat. And with his fence no longer choked by weeds, he can arrange for it to be repaired.

Poor Millie has broken her toe - so our helpful Linda nipped over to get the toolshed key and we swapped the Cator Park task for one at Alexandra Rec. We started the meetup with a quick chat about 'favourite smells' - inspired by petrichor smell of the earth when the rain starts. Favourites in the group were quite specific and ranged from the New Zealand bush, to painting memories, and nail varnish! We headed off doing just a little loop, and dodging raindrops, and met Merrin and Linda at the park, where we set about mulching the new hedgerow trees that had been weeded just a few weeks back but now needed protecting from the recent hot dry weather. The little bits of rain the last couple of days made it the perfect time to wheelbarrow mulch over to the trees and hold some of that moisture in, to give them a fighting chance this summer. We got quite a few barrows ferried over and added to the rows of trees in between chats about holidays, the weather (of course) and even ChatGPT! Thanks all and see you again soon - another great job :)