This evening we headed back to a cooler Aldermoor Farm for a mammoth weeding session amongst the leeks, carrots and pathways.

The hour flew by as we worked our way through what felt like an endless supply of unwanted greenery. We were a keen team and so we stayed on for a bit of overtime, determined to make as much of a dent in the task as possible. As Philip very wisely pointed out, "With weeding, you can spend five minutes or you can spend five hours!" Tonight definitely felt closer to the latter.

We welcomed Matthew to his first GoodGym task. Between pulling weeds, he shared his thoughts on healthier pastry-making for pies, proving that GoodGym tasks are great for baking advice as well as getting jobs done.

We also unearthed two rogue self-seeded spring onions and three radishes, which went home with Sarah, though i think after the uphill cycle home she may wish we had unearthed a pie.

By the end of the evening we'd shifted a huge amount of weeds and left the growing beds and paths looking much tidier. There was still plenty left for another day, but eventually we had to admit defeat and call it a night. Some tasks are just bigger than a single session!

Good gym southampton carried out a waterside bat survey, as part of a national survey during august for the Bat conservation trust. This was a later task than normal, starting just after sunset. We followed the river for a kilometre, stopping every 100m to count bats We spotted close to 100 bats, so it was very successful! Just as excitingly, we also spotted a badger and an otter! We'll be back in a couple of weeks for the follow up survey, fingers crossed for more wildlife next time too!

A new task at Aldermoor - the GoodGym crew set about reclaiming the paths around Polytunnel 3 from the weeds that had taken over. Bindweed, thistles, stinging nettles and long grass were all cleared away, getting the paths back and making the area much easier to get around. We also gave the potato patch a tidy-up and spent some time inside the polytunnel weeding around the cucumbers.

It was great to welcome Amy to her first Southampton GoodGym task. Its lovely to have you on board and look forward to seeing you at another task soon.

A big well done to Beth for successfully making it to the right farm this week 🤣 And hats off to Laura for climbing onto the compost heap to stomp it down a bit..... brave considering the stinky stuff we had uncovered (though not sure she had seen that bit).

Awesome job team!

Lots to do at City farm this evening, getting ready for the open day this weekend! We split into groups to get everything done, including moving a huge pile of wood chips across the farm, creating wildlife booklets and filling hundreds of bags of hay. We also met the friendliest kitten in the world, who was very involved in everything. Half the group met up to run to the task, others cycled in and Beth added a little extra adventure by going to the wrong farm first!

Our final balsam bash of the 2026 season included a mega litter-pick and too many nettle stings to count! At first it looked like there wasn't much balsam to pick but once you spotted one plant there was always more to follow. There were lots of smaller ones coming back through and a few flowering, but fortunately still no seeds ready to pop. The undergrowth had us going on a right adventure clambering over fallen trees and skirting around nettles. I wasn't sure if everyone would find their way back out at the end! A head count revealed we hadn't lost anyone and had gained many bug bites along the way! We'll see you same time, same place next year :)