Stinging nettles are FORKiven not FROGotten

2 GoodGymers made their way to help an isolated older person in Camden.

: Saturday, 15th of April 2017

On Easter Saturday two GoodGymmers gave Mary's garden a rakeover and cleared the weeds to make it look as good as it did THIRTY years ago

What we faced

Mary and her husband had lived in this home for 30 years but couldn't keep up with the garden maintenance due to creaky joints and ill health. They called on GoodGym to save the day and make the garden a welcome sanctuary once again.

Today's dynamic duo met Mary who has two gardens: the grass in the back garden was overgrown with nettles and dandelions taking over several territories and the bed and patio slabs (of both back and front gardens) had been invaded by weeds.

What we did

Firstly we had a cup of tea and fig rolls! Then I switched on my tunes.

The lawn was overgrown and not very welcoming so needed a haircut. Alas, Mary didn't have a lawnmower or a strimmer so it was down to Frances "The Power" Powrie to give the lawn a trim. It's a great workout for the arms and Frances made short work of it.

I grabbed a fork and turned the clay-y earth in the bed to remove the stubborn weeds. It was surprisingly hard work as the ground was so dry - I didn't think I'd complain about the lack of rain in the UK!

We were raking it in by the end and filled two massive bags of cut grass, weeds and nettles. While gathering up the green stuff we saw a cute frog jumping for freedom. It's amazing how much energy they generate in their legs and it reminded me of the plyometrics session I'd been to in GoodGym Islington (how much return energy we get from a spring in our step).

Mary also asked if we could pluck the weeds amongst the herb garden and in between the paving slabs which was fiddly but they looked better afterwards.