King Arthur and the stake in the soil

Today we were helping out the St Marks Community Centre in their garden area. A section of retaining wall in the deepest darkest part of the garden was crumbling and they needed help digging out the soil behind the wall to allow for easier repair. This was a Herculean task with all the garden weapons, whilst also trying to avoid maiming each other with forks, spades and mattocks.

Rachel, Aaron, Emily K, and David started attacking the section - pulling back ivy and thick roots to try and get to the soil underneath. We finally got a good rhythm going, breaking up the soil, shoveling into a wheelbarrow and wheeling off to a growing pile. Particularly satisfying was digging down and around an embedded metal fencing stake with Aaron finally being able to pull it out like King Arthur and the sword in the stone.

Meanwhile as there wasn't enough room for us all near the wall Sam and Emily J pulled back ivy from a fence in another part of the garden, and cleared a fresh section of path to make it easier to get access.

Whilst we didn't finish our task today we helped clear the area to make it easier to continue and let the organisers see how much soil they still need to shift.