Having cleared the planters in town for summer bedding last month, they were now needing a little TLC to keep them going until Autumn. We deadheaded, weeded and de-littered while putting the world to rights. Top litter find was a Tursday night beverage for Frazer and Ray was glad this task involved a little less Spidermanesque maneuvers than the last one in town...

6 GoodGymers met 4 Colchester in Bloomers on a sunny Tuesday evening to prepare the planters along the high street for their summer bedding.

The task seemed simple to start with... primulas and pansy in a bag for replanting elsewhere, curry plants retained in planters, pretty greeny pink plant to be dug up but kept, weeds and dead ivy dug out and chucked....between us I think we understood most of the instructions, and then it turned out Haithm had gardening expertise which he put to good use!

The real challenge of the evening was removing the dead ivy from the top layer without damaging the planters or the special fabric in the bottom which distributed the water....with hefty roots in rock hard soil Ray, Haithm and Jack got their workouts completed for the evening!

Looking forward to seeing the plants that go in tomorrow next time I'm in town.

5 GoodGymers met in town on a surprisingly pleasant May evening and removed old plants from the towers by the bus station. Following weeks of no rain the soil was dried solid, but we found it quite therapeutic breaking it up over a good chinwag.

Before long the boxes were free from plants, weeds and litter, and full of soft soil ready for a team of volunteer gardeners to come in and plant up new flowers.

We will be repeating this task along the High Street on the 2nd June, ready for more new planting the following day. Sign up if you can help out as with 10 large boxes spread out it will be useful to have a big group!

6 GoodGymers plus Pam completed a day's work in one hour at the allotment. We pruned, strimmed, weeded, planted, munched, watered and more, very quickly leaving Colchester in Bloom's allotment in a much better shape.

With spring hitting, it is a busy time in the gardening world and so we will be back in two weeks to help out again.

Oh and the run title....I'm trying to get to grips with What Three Words to help new GoodGymers find us more easily, and this is the location of the shed at the allotment!

4 GoodGymers met with 4 Colchester in Bloom volunteers to add some spring colour to the planters in town.

We were tasked with removing litter and weeds, then adding some new flowers into the boxes at the top of the high street, so be sure to admire them next time you go past.

After a conversation about mine, and AI's inability to come up with puns, and also whether Jonny Cash sang a version of The Gambler (he did) I'm afraid the title is the best I could come up with!

We noted the large amount of litter around the high street while doing the planting and so next week's task is to help remove some of it around town. Sign up to help us if you can!

2 GoodGymers met Pam from Colchester in Bloom to help tidy up the planters along the high street. Despite our best efforts to change the soil and remove weeds in the autumn, some resilient weeds had come back with a vengeance and took a lot of effort to detangle their roots from the plants. There was also the usual litter from people mistaking the planters for ash trays/gum bins, but after an hour's hard work removing litter, dead heads and weeds the planters were in a much better shape to welcome in the new growth spring brings!

Sorting the planters in town is always a great opportunity for a chinwag with Pam/fellow GoodGymers, and to be entertained by the random comments of passerbys (asking whether we're digging up buried treasure seems to be a common one!).

All in all, a successful evening!