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!

With the continuing heatwave Jill and the volunteers are trying to keep the garden alive as best we can. So Stephanie managed to drop off some much needed water to help. Then it was back on task pulling out the brambles who don't seem to die in the heat. So the garden is all ready for some rain when we are lucky enough to get some.

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!

Lucy helped out at the Rose road stall at Wickham festival. It was a very hot but fun day selling flower headbands and 'helping' people make Dreamcatchers. There were lots of lovely friendly people and plenty of chances to enjoy the festival too, the highlight was bouncing around to the Proclaimers!

Three brothers living together asked us for help tending to their overgrown front garden.

While I had never used a lawnmower or a strimmer, it's never too late to learn, so I figured it out and managed to tame the jungle that was their front garden.

( I think one of them found it funny I was watching a YouTube video to figure out how to replace strimmer wire 😅 )

Happy to say they got their front garden tended, and I learned a few new skills!