There was a new task waiting for Kash and Sevan in Mrs K's front garden after last week's mission trimming roses and over other overgrown plants in the back. The path to the front door and pavement in front of the house were being taken over with Mrs K's shrubs, bushes and trees. Mrs K was also worried about damaging her car on them when she opened the door.

Tools were sourced from Mrs K's garage and most importantly, Mrs K's dog, T, again came to say hello to the GoodGymers 🐕. Once T was happy, she went back inside and Kash and Sevan could get started cutting things back. Like their mission earlier in the day, this one had it's own scent too, of rosemary not cat poo this time, which was much more pleasant.

Mrs K had specifically told the pair not to cut back her lavender too much, so Kash and Sevan tried to find the line between freeing up more of the path and leaving enough of the plants that they'd still look pleasing to Mrs K, her neighbours and T. With most of them, they cut back pretty harshly knowing that they'd survive and grow back strong. Sevan went easier on the lavender, leaving a bend in the line that took over more of the path.

After a bit of weeding, the front garden was complete and it was onto the back, where Kash and Sevan continued the job of removing brambles that Kash had started the week before. Sevan cut vines near to the ground and Kash chopped them into little pieces then bagged them. With the time they had left, the largest flowerbed was almost freed of brambles, at least on the surface.

With time up, T came to inspect the progress and give the GoodGymers a happy, licky send off. Just as importantly, Mrs K was happy with the progress too and that she wouldn't damage her car on the lavender (or more likely other shrubs). She stopped short of licking Kash and Sevan, expressing her thanks with words instead.

Today's mission for Ms P had 3 key elements. Weeds, pears and poo. Only 2 of them could be squeezed into the pun in the report title though.

GoodGymers had been to help Ms P in the past, including Kash and Sevan a few years ago. Kash remembered that the garden looked simple, just 2 long flowerbeds at the sides and slabs in the middle, but it was deceptively time consuming to tidy up. She had a good memory 🧠.

There were a lot of weeds in the first flowerbed and at least they were easy to pull out. There was also a lingering scent of Eau de Catlogne, even if whatever the cats (or foxes) had done wasn't very visible. As they worked, Kash and Sevan chatted to Ms P, who was feeling a bit lonely as her son wasn't able to visit. Soon enough, they'd cleared the flowerbed and the slabs around it, so it was onto the next area.

It was on the other side of the back garden where the GoodGymers found the source of the eau-dor in the second flowerbed. Kash spent most of the time on this side scooping things out of the giant litter tray. The weeds in this bed were much deeper rooted, so more digging and time was needed to clear the same amount of space. The neighbour's pear tree also hung over the flowerbed, so there were semi-rotten pears to be speared with forks and disposed of with the weeds. Surprisingly, there were 2 undamaged pears that Ms P said that she wouldn't eat herself, so she offered them to Kash and Sevan at the end of the mission. Pearfect 👌.

A week ago, GoodGym Ealing celebrated winning the Team of the Year award from Southall Community Alliance, the organisation behind the Western Road Urban Garden. This Saturday morning was the perfect opportunity to live up to that title!

We arrived as a team of six, ready to take direction from Ash, who never disappoints when it comes to sharing a clear vision for what we want to achieve. The community day was also a chance to meet Natalie from SCA, who normally leads some of the mid-week sessions at the garden, and Harry, a new volunteer she recruited.

We also welcomed a new GoodGymer, Nadia, who chose Western Road as her first GoodGym experience. Great choice and fantastic work, Nadia!

Ash's vision today was to move the outer border of the veg patches further out to expand the growing space. The job included:

1. Clearing the nettles alongside the hedge along the fence
2. Removing the paving grids and the membrane underneath them
3. Tipping, raking and stomping on soil (donated by the police!) to raise the plot borders
4. Laying and pegging down a Terram membrane (apparently much more effective than the old one)
5. Laying the grids on top of the Terram

We managed to transform the border on two sides of the growing area and made a start on the third, which was a result worthy of the Team of the Year! By the way, Kash brought the trophy to Southall to present it to the wider team helping at WRUG, as this had been 100% a team achievement.

By the end of the session, Ash was pleased to list three outcomes that the dream team had completed:

1. Delineating the new border of the plots
   
2. Making the outer hedge more manageable
   
3. Expanding the food-growing space

It was a lovely day of teamwork and doing something good for the Southall community.

We're at Western Road again very soon – check out the sessions and come along: Community garden day - Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon!

After few weeks of missing the weekly shopping for Mr G, I faced a change in Sainsbury's layout and realised I'm not such an expert in Mr G's groceries anymore. The majority of his list hasn't changed though, so after learning how to navigate the updated store route, I could walk it with my eyes closed.

The shortage of baby potatoes didn't go unnoticed, but I was able to buy what British call "baking potatoes" - basically, larger potatoes. I also picked up a bigger bottle of milk for Mr G, which should last Mr G for a week, unspoilt.

I headed to checkout, where I dished out 40 pounds in coins. The till didn't choke even once. They must have improved the machines.

Back at Mr G's, the gentleman praised the new volunteer David, who had done a couple of shopping missions in my absence. Before heading back home, I revealed that the shopping visit to Chiswick Sainsbury's is always an opportunity for me to buy cheddar mini muffins, not available to me locally. I bragged about their irresistible flavour so much that I offered to share one with Mr G. He agreed it's a delightful light snack, so you may see it on his list next time!