Grapplings with saplings & nettles in kettles?

Fresh from repping GoodGym at Pymmes parkrun that morning, Frances and James beat a hasty path to Mrs W’s place where an overgrown back garden awaited their botanical administrations.

Mrs W’s garden was lush. It was plentiful. It was too lush and plentiful. She wanted it cleared so it would be easier to manage and so she wouldn’t have to worry about the overgrowth any longer.

Up we stepped to help. After warming up earlier with a 5k run we were feeling fighting fit and ready to tackle the thick carpet of weeds in front of us.

Mrs W provided tools, spiffily on-brand red gloves and the largest garden waste bin bags we’d ever seen. We hardly needed any more invitation to get this good deed under way!

Most of the weeds came out easily: the soil was dry and not tightly packed. Of course there were some saplings and thornier customers that need a firmer yank, and these provided a decent upper body workout. Also, there were nettles.

As we pulled, piled and packed, we prattled on about dogs and running events and weekend plans and what nettle tea could possibly taste like and some more about dogs. Several pictures of dogs may have been shown on mobile devices. Also, there were nettle stings.

As midday approached we cleared up, having made great progress. The garden was largely liberated of its overproliferating planties and the visual difference this made was striking.

Mrs W was most appreciative and really made us feel extra chuffed to have been able to help her reclaim her backyard. It felt good to give her - and ourselves - a great start to the weekend.