Runs N' Roses: New Rose

We arrived at Mr S' house for our first task of the day and were met by his daughter, who was a keen gardener without the time to look after both her parents and the garden. Kash started off the task with some weight training, carrying a bag of compost in each arm into the back garden. We then set to work weeding the flower beds and the edges of the lawn in the back garden so that Mr S could enjoy the space. Kash chose to take the big wins of removing overgrown weeds from the grass and I worked through the flower beds, trying to dig out the roots and finding some invaders to be disposed of in a slightly rock 'n' roll way (perhaps).

We soon converged on a rose bush that was growing more out of the flower bed than upwards which also had some new stems emerging from the soil. A plan was made to tie it back and stop it from growing over the grass any further. With Kash doing the dangerous work of pushing the stems back while trying not to get scratched, I tried to tie some string around the wall behind the bush and we managed to hold it back and also wrap the main branches in wire to bunch them together. Will it hold? Only time will tell. Maybe the next GoodGymmers should brush up on their knotting technique.

At this point as time was short, we split the team. I went to the front garden and Kash stayed out back. Moving the rose bush had opened up more weeding opportunities and while Kash was digging them out, she uncovered a hidden power cable which Mrs S explained ran from the house out to the shed. Luckily, we didn't damage it! Finally, Kash and Mr S' daughter got their hands dirty by potting some new plants to make the back garden look amazing.

In the mean time out front, I was clearing up the weeds growing between the paving stones in the front garden so that they wouldn't be a trip hazard for Mr S. This was my first go with the wire-brush-on-a-stick and I was disappointed, it stripped the leaves off the longer weeds while leaving the stem. A change of approach meant that I ended up on my hands and knees pulling any long weeds up before scrubbing what was left with the brush.

We left with praise for our hard work and some lunch recommendations from Mr S' daughter. Always useful when you're in an unfamiliar area. Too bad that the Perivale branch of Hard Rock Café was closed for refurbishment this weekend.