Daffversity

Sevan and Kash did a good chunk of GoodGym running so far that day - it took 16 km in total to run to the monthly Grove Farm task in Sudbury Hill and go back South. They went so far South that they crossed the Hounslow borough border! Sevan and Kash still had plenty of energy to share with the neighbouring area and support Boston Manor Park with the planting activity.

The Ealing guests reported to the park manager, Vanessa, at the service yard. There were no other volunteers yet, but they found out they would be teaming up with a group of youths, volunteering as a part of the Duke and Edinburgh scheme. Sevan and Kash felt pretty youthful on such a lovely, chilly but sunny day and enthusiastically joined a crowd of people less than half their age.

Vanessa asked for a volunteer who would haul the trolley with daffodil bulbs and tools to a meadow. Kash selfishly jumped right into the action and pulled the vehicle to the destination. In retrospect, she felt a bit embarrassed, not giving the teenagers a chance to step in. One of the youths had a chance to give a helping hand and act as brakes when the trolley was about to roll downhill.

At the meadow, Vanessa gave a lively and thorough description and a demo of the daff planting routine.

𝕯𝖆𝖋𝖋 𝖕𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖗𝖚𝖑𝖊𝖘:

• 𝔉𝔦𝔫𝔡 𝔞 𝔰𝔭𝔬𝔱 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔩𝔢𝔰
• 𝔘𝔰𝔢 𝔞 𝔴𝔦𝔤𝔤𝔩𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔳𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔭 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔭𝔞𝔡𝔢 𝔡𝔦𝔤 𝔞 𝔡𝔢𝔢𝔭 𝔥𝔬𝔩𝔢
• 𝔓𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔢 𝔞 𝔟𝔲𝔩𝔟 𝔦𝔫 𝔞 𝔥𝔬𝔩𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔦𝔰 𝔞𝔱 𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔰𝔱 𝔱𝔴𝔦𝔠𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔟𝔲𝔩𝔟'𝔰 𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔡𝔢𝔢𝔭
• 𝔓𝔲𝔱 𝔞𝔫 𝔬𝔡𝔡 𝔫𝔲𝔪𝔟𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔟𝔲𝔩𝔟𝔰 𝔦𝔫 𝔞 𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔩𝔢 𝔥𝔬𝔩𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔞 𝔫𝔞𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔞𝔩 𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔨 - 𝔱𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔢 𝔬𝔯 𝔣𝔦𝔳𝔢 𝔦𝔰 𝔞 𝔰𝔴𝔢𝔢𝔱 𝔰𝔭𝔬𝔱
• 𝔖𝔱𝔬𝔪𝔭, 𝔧𝔲𝔪𝔭 𝔬𝔯 𝔡𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔬𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔬𝔦𝔩 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔠𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔟𝔲𝔩𝔟
• 𝔉𝔦𝔫𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔶, 𝔡𝔬 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔰𝔭𝔢𝔠𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔡𝔞𝔣𝔣𝔰 𝔠𝔩𝔬𝔰𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔢𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯

The last part was crucial. There were several kinds of daffodil bulbs and Vanessa wanted to ensure the diversity, or shall I say daffversity. After planting two clusters of one variety, we were supposed to swap for a different daffodil type to plant in our region. On the other hand, Vanessa asked us not to mix different species in a single hole, so we would still create monolithic neighbourhoods between daffodils. Well, we guess that building a true spirit of daffversity takes time and effort. Maybe the next generation of volunteer gardeners, who joined us today, will take a more revolutionary approach in the future!

With Sevan and Kash being pretty experienced and efficient in their planting routine, and the young people working diligently too, the task took less than an hour to complete (without the setup and intro). Our daffodils should start coming up in February. They will not only look pretty but will be of service to those pollinating insects that start work early in the year!

Honourable mentions:

• Just before leaving for the meadow, we bumped into Harvey who was coming back from a different GoodGym task but couldn't join us - family and football take priority! The next time you can meet Harvey will be at a community mission to recycle old running shoes!
• After the task, we found another Ealing GoodGymer Milly, who was in the area with her crafty business matters. By the way, Milly had set up a perfect Christmas group run at St Mary's, so check it out!
• We bumped into even more friends - Julia and Shaz, the regular volunteers from Bixley Field Allotments! We will meet them again at the December Bixley task - sign up if you'd like to meet them too!