GoodGym Ealing joined forces with a new community organisation this afternoon, Friends of Friars Gardens (FOFGA). They had taken control in 2016 of a neglected, triangular piece of land from the council. The green space was surrounded by houses and the local residents had joined together to clear the overgrown weeds from the space and plant a beautiful and varied community garden, which they continue to maintain. The task owner, Juliet, gave us an introduction and a tour of the gardens when we arrived.

The Friends group had asked GoodGym to come and help with the annual cutting back of their mini-meadows, areas of the gardens which host grasses, wildflowers and fruit trees. The cutting back takes place each September and is done with manual tools only to be kinder to the environment. An excellent opportunity for a full body workout for the GoodGym volunteers!

There was a strong showing of GoodGymers and they were given great tools to work with. Freshly sharpened shears were provided along with loppers, secateurs and a wheelbarrow to move the cuttings to the garden's compost pile.

The GoodGymers started with the easy stuff, chopping down the wildflowers that had risen above the grass and taking turns to roll the wheelbarrow full of cuttings to the compost pile. Well, it was reasonably easy as spiky plants and weeds were hiding in the grass too! Different methods were used to reach the bottom of the long stalks. Squatting, bending at the waist with a wide stance and for the less energetic, using long armed shears were all practised 😂

Next came the grass, which looked deceptively short. Actually, it was almost half a metre tall in places and had been flattened down over time. It took a combination of raking by Harvey and Divya, with others and pulling to make tufts of grass stand up, ready to slice back down to size. Some people worked methodically, while others walked the meadow looking for long blades of grass that caught their eye, then attacked them.

After 90 minutes, the mini-meadow looked much tidier. Its haircut was a bit uneven as we didn't have the consistency of a lawnmower. It still looked a bit wild, which everyone agreed suited its purpose and was how a meadow should look.

On a hot day, much needed refreshments were provided by FOFGA with water throughout the session. At the end there was an extra treat, cake and lemonade to re-energise us after our endeavours! 🍰