With a brisk breeze blowing and the omnipresent sun shining, this evening we journeyed to Kennington to tackle a bit more ragwort.

Kennington Memorial Fields is a gorgeous nature space on the edge of Radley and Bagley woods and is used for grazing. Ragwort is great for butterflies and caterpillars but can be deadly if eaten by cattle and horses.

Armed with ragwort forks and shears we got to work hoiking out the, now rather crispy, plants and trying not to spread too many of the seeds. Our other jobs involved removing ivy from the gateways and memorial plaques (thank you Chris) and giving the anthills a bit of a haircut to remove some very prickly thistles. We also cleared up a bit of garden rubbish that seemed to have made its way into the meadow.....

Ragwort pulling is a little like litterpicking in a way - sponsored by the phrase "oh but theres a bit more over there!!".

Splendid work as ever team!!

This evening we returned to the magical space that is Marston Forest Garden. We were greeted by Isobel who gave a pitted history of the site for our newbies and outlined the tasks. The name of the game today was gentle movement. Gardening in 30 degree heat and all that!!

We split into 3 groups. One tackled brambles in the herb circle, one hoiked out armfuls of Michaelmas Daisies from around some rayher drought-stricken raspberries, and Joel and Muireann chopped and sieved compost ready for use!

Watermelon from Isobel was a welcome and refreshing addition to the task!

We'll be back here for a weekend session on 9th August so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Welcome to David and Matthew. Thank you for joining us this evening!