Anita

Dropped off a £10 eBay push-mower that GG Richmond can now use to mow The Arcade lawn. Then returned to do some much needed watering at The Three Pigeons, under the watchful eye of a small family of ducks. Finished with some weeding and raking at The Arcade, blitzing some of the cleavers, dandelions and plantains in the lawn in preparation for mowing later in the week.

Look out for a special Jubilee Three Pigeons Mission on the morning of Thursday 2 June and also the monthly Richmond GG Group Run to The Three Pigeons Plot and The Arcade in Buccleuch. Gardens, Richmond on the second Monday every month.

Evening shift at City Harvest. Mainly working in the chiller sorting and crating, including adding a bonus half dozen lettuces to each veg crate from our iceberg lettuce mountain.

Outside the warehouse there was an evening tidy to be done including disposing of a pallet of fermenting croissant dough. Slowly expanding in the sunshine, it had started to burst out of it’s packaging and take on the appearance of something from Ghostbusters.

Cycling along The Thames Path , I stopped in Buccleuch Gardens to admire the work done on Monday’s Richmond GG Group Mission and found myself unable to resist the urge to do a bit of weeding, mainly pulling out plantains along the edge of the lawn by The Arcade.

A stint de-bagging and quality controlling sweating root vegetables only yielded pretty standard parsnips but someone else had discovered this gem. I find it a bit disturbing- It reminds me of sinister things like Hans Belmer’s ‘poupees’ , mandrake roots and Sarah Lucas’ soft sculpture ‘Bunny gets Snookered’.

A long Tuesday night shift at City Harvest in Ealing as there is a huge amount of donated food coming into the warehouse at the moment. I stayed on a bit to help finish crating the fruit and veg from a huge evening Amazon delivery. I also helped with the evening tidy-up, date-sorted bread, crated a palet of assorted donations and did

Jack The Weed Slayer

Luckily for GoodGym Richmond and the human race, Jack during his 100th Good Deed, failed to open a portal between our realm and a race of giants and thus averted rekindling an ancient war. Phew!

What Jack did magnificently (in a fetching pair of celebratory gold wings) was to help slay the weeds at The Arcade Rockery and The Three Pigeons Plot, aided and abetted by Sam, Stella, Maena, Adam, Jenny, Africa, Cathy, Teresa, JP, Monika, Jack, Harry and Anita.

Gardening Tasks completed tonight:

· A 10 minute ‘Plantain Challenge’, with everyone helping to remove lawn plantains from the lawn by the Arcade. · Weed-slaying · Loads of Watering · Planting 18 blue Aubretia plug plants (sent by J Parkers to replace sickly plants provided earlier in the year) · Edging one of the lawns by the Arcade · Wiring a terracotta pot, donated by Cathy, into the Three Pigeons Insect Hotel. Hopefully securing it will deter theft/vandalism which has been a problem in the past.

Congratulations Jack and thank you everyone.

Anytime Watering and weeding sessions at The Arcade and Three Pigeons Plot.

Our sponsored flower beds in Buccleuch Gardens always benefit from weeding and (in dry weather) watering. If you are able to drop by and help with either of these tasks, please do take a selfie and record a self logged mission.

If you are watering you’ll need to bring your own trug or watering can and get water from the Thames from the steps beside The Three Pigeons plot. Do ensure you wash or sanitise your hands afterwards and be careful on the lowest steps as they can be slippery.

If you are running and can’t carry watering equipment, maybe bring a cutlery knife and carry on tackling the plantains in the lawns in front of the Arcade. Any weeds dug out can just be added to the compost heap to the left of the Arcade.

Thank you!

Tuesday evening shift at City Harvest at Acton Park. Forgot my phone so no photo. The evening Amazon shift was delayed so I spent the shift crating fruit, tidying up the warehouse and dealing with the food waste which included vast quantities of sprouting broccoli stalks.