There was a big group this month for the walk over Horsenden Hill to the Feeding Ealing site. It started out dry and got more wet the closer that the group got to their destination, with umbrellas popping up and waterproofs being worn. Given the threatening grey skies, everyone was happy when Joseph said that they'd be working inside, in the polytunnel. On a day like today, Joseph had no desire to get soaked and he didn't want anyone else to get wet either.

Walking through the site, Joseph pointed out the changes since GoodGym's visit last month, with the Dudhi plants being well established in the muddy holes that were dug last month. Inside the polytunnel, there was a lot of new growth too, with tomatoes, peppers and more shooting up in the raised beds and some exotic beans climbing up the walls.

It was the tomatoes that Joseph needed help with today. As they grew, they needed to each have a bamboo cane that they were tied to for support. Kash, Angela and Maxime grabbed string and scissors, cutting it into lengths for everyone to get tying. Part way through, Joseph came to the team with a with a new task and each person could choose the one they found the most fun:

1. Tying the tomato plants to stakes
2. Dismantling old garden furniture that was inefficiently filling the skip

Maxime, Angela and Delphine found their happiness in placing stakes and binding the tomato plants to them. Steph, Kash, Kaja and Sevan on the other hand went for destruction. They grabbed the wicker chairs out of the skip and got kicking, stamping, twisting, sawing and pick-axing. Anything they could to turn the bad 3D seating into good 2D seating that would neatly stack back in the skip.

With both of Joseph's jobs completed, the rain got heavier and everyone took cover in the polytunnel. While they waited out the heaviest of the rain, Joseph told everyone about last year's harvest and the plans for this year. He encouraged everyone to come back at harvest time to pick some crops and make their stomachs happy. That's the most important thing in life, according to Joseph.

The session wrapped up early and team GoodGym headed home or onto their next tasks. As they left the site, the rain stopped and the sun beamed down... for a few minutes at least, until clouds returned overhead.

It was a double mission for Goodgym as Alan was at Mr G for his shopping and myself for the front garden. Alan and I met at 525 pm to arrive atm Mr G for 530. I was early and waited at the corner. Mr G arrived a from his dentist and spotted me or either the red GG top, but kept looking as thought Alan looked different. When we came in, he apologized for staring which made the 3 of us laugh as Alan and myself clearly dont look alike. Earlier in the day, head office said that Mr G couldn't find his trowel and that he would give me a big spoon to dish out the weeds. My idea was brute force and pull them out. At the end none of this as Mr N purchased a new one on his way back from the dentist at the corner store. The silver trowel!!! I went to tidy the garden whilst Alan was getting his shopping list and then disappeared in the streets on Ealing. I cleared 2 bags of weed, leaves, dead plants and a bit of rubbish. Double victory for Goodgym on a Friday evening.

I arrived at Ms N for some weeding and trimming, but soon found out that the main task was cutting the grass. Went through the house to the back garden and surprisingly the mover was hidden...in on of the bins as Ms N protected the electrical mower from the rain. No rain today so all good. Cut the grass, then did the weeding and trimming. When I went to the far end to remove the weed, there was a strong smell of mint or peppermint. Seems that mint was growing in a specific spot of the garden - it was a very nice smell. Clean cut in the garden - grass was on the move and ended up in bags.

On a pleasant, dry Friday morning, GoodGym Ealing held a special session with an unusually early start at 7:45 am! Harvey, Steph, Sevan and Kash changed their morning routines to make their way to an industrial estate in Acton to visit a vibrant, green oasis hidden between warehouses and repair shops.

Originally, the session was arranged to help the six wildflower beds in Acton survive – and thrive! – during the recent May heatwave. Should it come as a surprise that climate change caused a sudden change in the weather? After the hailstorms, thunderstorms and a decent amount of rain mid-week, watering the beds in the morning was no longer a priority. There was still an impact to be made, though!

The beds, now displaying a range of amazing, colourful flowers and attracting pollinators, could, if left unattended, turn into far less biodiverse ecosystems. That's why we decided to remove the weeds known to be bullies in the plant world, ready to take over space from other species – among them a couple of sycamore saplings - and also tidy up the dead grasses.

Why did we decide to travel to Acton so early, though? We were visited by BBC Radio London reporter Nisha, who had already completed one volunteering session that day – at the Thames beach in Hammersmith. Nisha not only handled a live broadcast and produced material for other platforms but also found time to roll up her sleeves and join our task – one of her five volunteering sessions that day (even our Ealing heroes don't go to such extremes!). How impressive is that!

Four minutes of fame and three sacks of collected weeds later, the team dispersed to run or walk back home, then started the rest of their Fridays with so much already accomplished!

A double GoodGym helping for Mr G today as I turned up to do his shopping at the same time as Steph arrived to tidy up his garden.

A straightforward shop for the items on his continually evolving list. The innovations pioneered by last week's GoodGym team (spinach and ricotta tortellini and cod fillets) made it to a second week of testing.

One modification this time: Mr G had just watched an article on the sugar content of yogurts and was keen to change to a specific new brand - which happily I was able to find on the supermarket shelves.

It was our regular first Friday of the month helping out at the Ealing Mile, just one of the many activities organised by We Run Ealing to help the good people of the borough get active. Steph was super punctual (he's that kinda guy) and helped with the set-up. Harvey was exactly on time (he's that kinda guy) and went round the course practicing the art of drawing arrows with chalk (needs some work!). Tom whisked in on two wheels (he's that kinda guy) ready to be the lead bike for the runners. And a warm welcome was given to the smiling Yonas (he's that kinda guy) on the occasion of his first session.

Our crew marshalled and cheered and clapped as 45 runners got stuck into the 1 mile loop of Lammas Park. One of our regulars was getting back to running so walked the course. In true Tour de France style, Steph and Harvey followed behind to sweep up! Broom broom!

See you next month milers!