Monday 6th July. A very warm and sunny day enjoying a lot of these days lately! I wasn't necessarily looking forward to the 5-mile each way bike ride, as I had been up till 4 watching England win against Mexico, so I wasn't feeling it. Once I get going though, I love it! I arrived at Mrs D's on time. After introducing myself and talking to Mrs D, she is receiving treatment for a heart condition, so she was glad for the help. Mrs D showed me out the back garden, which she wanted mowed and strimmed. It is a big area, so I set up the necessary tools and got started, first trimming some of the long grass back so I was able to mow it, and strim the edges. After getting it raked, cleared, and the waste put in the brown bin, I wheeled the bin round to the front of the house for collection.

I did what I could and guzzlied 2-3 litres of water during! absolutely scorching! It will need another visit and Mrs D was very grateful for my efforts and thanked me, and I made a slower ride home, getting a coffee on the way to break things up.

This Tuesday, five GoodGymers arrived at Carriers of Hope for our regular monthly visit. We were warmly greeted by the lovely Gloria. It was good to see Natalia coming again on her first visit to the Carriers of Hope !

It was a very hot day, with temperatures soaring, but we got stuck in straight away. There have been lots of generous donations recently, which is fantastic, but it has created a new challenge — finding space to store everything! Our main task was to take all the sleeping bags down from the shelves, rearrange them, and create as much space as possible. We also tidied up and organised all the crates.

I cycled 3 miles and arrived at Mrs V’s at 7pm on another lovely warm, sunny evening — not too hot and perfect for a bit of weeding. I met Mrs V and introduced myself. She said “Jim?”, to which I replied “James”. She laughed and told me that when she spoke to GoodGym on the phone she thought I was a gardener called “Good Jim”! We both had a good laugh.

Mrs V showed me where the tools were kept round the back of the house. I brought them to the front garden, which was in need of weeding. She told me to do as much as I could and that she really appreciated the help. She kindly offered me tea, coffee or water, but I had brought my own drinks. She then offered some melon — knowing she was a definitely a feeder, I accepted and said I’d have some when I’d finished. I got stuck in, digging out weeds, removing roots, and clearing around the roses. Once finished, I swept up, returned the bin, and put all the tools back. I managed to get the front piece cleared and it was looking a lot tidier.

Mrs V had prepared the melon for me, it is Piel de Sapo Spanish for “Skin of the Toad”). Mrs V told me and I was glad I had accepted the melon offer It was delicious 😋 She also offered me a cherry which were very sweet I accepted, and it was so good !

While I was eating, Mrs V shared some lovely stories about her life. She told me about her husband, a wonderful Italian man she was married to for 64 years . . She also mentioned her own work as a translator for Spanish, Italian and French. ! I was very grateful for the refreshment and the lovely conversation. A wonderful evening task all round 🙏

Seven Coventry Goodgymers walked, ran and cycled to the Food Union Allotment to support with the general upkeep of the site that provides the Pod cafe with ingredients to make their lovely vegan menu!

For this task, we split into two groups, one group collected water from the river to water all of the thirsty plants (although it did try to rain whilst we were there), whilst the other group weeded around the courgettes and squash, carefully avoiding the cape gooseberry and cosmos that had seeded themselves! An excellent job well done and in a lovely location too - well done everyone!

I cycled approximately 2.5 miles and arrived at Mrs M’s at 7pm on a beautiful, warm and sunny Wednesday evening. I had a lovely chat with Mary, a delightful Irish lady. She had all the tools laid out and ready to go. It was immediately clear there was a lot of work to do — far too much to complete in one visit. I had visited previously for this task, but Mary had decided to order a skip for all the trimmings. Although the garden was quite overgrown, it was absolutely beautiful and bursting with amazing colour. It almost felt a shame to cut it back! I started by mowing the lawn and collecting all the clippings into the skip. I then moved on to the heavier work, using shears and loppers to cut back the bigger plants and shrubs. The back area was particularly overgrown and spilling over the wall, so I went around behind the back wall to access and tidy it properly. Next, I trimmed the hedge and bushes along the front, cutting them down to fence height and giving them a much-needed tidy-up. Even after an hour and a half of, I had only completed about a third of the job. This garden will need at least a couple more visits to finish properly. I packed up the tools, said goodbye to Mary, and cycled home.

Nigel 👍 assisted 4 members of springboard at this session During a week of extreme heat, todays cooler weather allowed for vital crop care. We deep-watered greenhouse tomatoes and chillies, as well as other plant's, and irrigated outdoor squash, leeks, and sweetcorn. Additionally, we potted up plants into larger containers with fresh compost, successfully reducing plant stress and promoting healthy root growth. https://www.goodgym.org/v3/profile/nigel-62158405-47ff-496f-b3ee-0a9b9f279b2c