Bound by Bindweed - Act 1: Gothic

Once upon a time, there was a garden in Shepherd's Bush in desperate need of a fresh cut. One volunteer from GoodGym visited it in early June and admitted defeat against the wet grass. After a scorching week, the GoodGymer returned to finish the business - but this time she brought a trusted companion.

On a hot Saturday morning, Kash and Sevan stepped confidently into Mr M's garden and put on their gardening gloves. "It will be a 15 minutes job", Kash assured Sevan. She was absolutely oblivious about the nemesis they were yet to encounter today - the bindweed!

Sevan let Kash play with the trimmer and grabbed the secateurs to attack the large weeds growing in clusters in the middle of a wildly overgrown patch that used to be Mr M's lawn. Soon he find out that the patch was covered with vicious bindweed pulling the tall grass down. After the initial cut with the trimmer, half of the grass was still laying flat on the ground, uncut. Having experience with hair cutting, Sevan combed the grass up, so that Kash could have another go with the trimmer. In the meantime, Sevan finished the weeding and raked and collected the cut grass.

Sevan, as the better lawn stylist, gave the grass the final touch with the lawn mower. The stubborn bindweed was defeated and the wilderness in Mr M's garden looked much more like a lawn. The only problem was that the uncovered grass was mostly dry and dead. The GoodGymers couldn't do anything to revive it and realised that they ran out of time - even to try all the cold drinks and Egyptian biscuits kindly served by Mr M.

Sevan and Kash finished the task on an artistic note by recreating the painting "American Gothic" in a photo, then set off to find a place to lunch before their next adventure of the day.