We were back helping HANGOT this morning at their Elthorne Triangle orchard, an area we know well as it's right next to the tool container that we use in Elthorne Park. Kash, Anuj and Sevan ran to the site in shorts and t-shirt as it was another warm, sunny day. They soon saw that the other volunteers were all wearing trousers as today's task was to clear hemlock, burdock and lots of nettles from around the trees.

The GoodGym trio took what they thought was the simplest task, to clear everything from around a heritage fruit tree that HANGOT had adopted and was believed to be over 100 years old! There was no need to decided what to cut, everything had to be cleared in a big ring around the tree.

When the got closer, they saw that there was a huge patch of nettles growing around the tree. Not great if you're in running shorts. The team bravely got stuck in to the task, helped by one of the HANGOT volunteers who cleared the way with a wickedly sharp scythe. They then raked and bagged the waste, adding it to a huge pile of cuttings to decompose.

With such a large group of volunteers, the session finished up early, allowing some to leave and enjoy today's Hanwell Hootie.

We'll have another session with HANGOT scheduled for one of their June events.

HANGOT's first work evening of the year brought Ealing GoodGymers out on Monday, which was unusual, with a quick run along a sunny canal to reach the task. They took a short walk with the HANGOT volunteers to the closest orchard to their base, the Piggeries, so named because pigs used to be reared there.

There were lots of general maintenance tasks to get on with. Kash and Christos started by chopping the weeds growing around the trunks of the fruit trees, preparing them to be mulched in the coming weeks. Sevan meanwhile, as the tallest of the group, chose to lop the tall branches of the back hedge to let the sunlight in, with Kash and Christos soon joining him in trimming the face of the hedge.

Everywhere Kash went, birdsong followed. Unlike the flower planting task in Walpole Park at the weekend, it wasn't a robin following her around. She had squeaky shears, which did a surprisingly good impression of a song bird 🐦

The final jobs of the session involved brambles, which weren't as troublesome as you might think. The brambles running through the back hedge were to be left as they apparently produce very sweet blackberries in the summer. Everyone looked forward to sampling those. The darker side of brambles lay on the ground. The trio were asked to trim any cute baby brambles that they could find. They knew why... like Gremlins, they had to stop the cute leaves from turning into out of control monsters come the summer.

The GoodGymers left the orchard and walked back along the canal as sunset neared, happy with a job well done. Our next session helping HANGOT will be at their Orchard Love day on the 11th of May.

After the earlier downpour, 5 GoodGymers met at Bodyline Studio for their group run to help HANGOT in Elthorne Park. They welcomed Ijo on her first group run, as well as Christos and Helene rejoining us after shorter breaks. In Hanwell, Bryon made a surprise appearance and, as the group walked towards the container past a group of scouts with head torches, there was a taller scout lurking behind them who turned out to be Milly!

With the super team of 8 complete, Sevan had to open the equipment container for the first time in the dark. No pressure 😅! Luckily or skillfully, he managed to open it to find only 3 wheelbarrows, which was a bit disappointing. The wheelbarrows, shovels and rakes were grabbed and a long, muddy walk to Osterley Lock began.

The team split between wood chip shovellers, barrowers and rakers. The wheelbarrows had to cross a bridge to get to the orchard which had a giant puddle on the far side. Different techniques were tried to keep shoes clean, but they mostly ended up wet and muddy by the end.

Madhan took charge of the shovelling station, Steph Ducat led the department of transport and Bryon directed incoming wheelbarrows towards the trees in need, helping Ijo with smoothing the mulch around the base of the trees. Apple, cherry, plum trees and more that we couldn't identify were given a thick layer of mulch, helping to keep them healthy through the spring.

Madhan was a surprise volunteer this morning, joining Kash and Sevan at Hobbayne Community Gardens after signing up late. This was the first time they'd seen in daylight the area that they cleared for Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trail (HANGOT) back in January.

Welcoming HANGOT

HANGOT are coming up for 10 years old and have adopted public green spaces along the Grand Union Canal. They plant fruit trees which will mature and allow the public to forage the fruit that grows. Their leader, Mirjam, explained that they have many contacts, including park rangers, who let them know about pockets of land that they can move on to. As part of their work, they also cut back grass and brambles, encouraging wild flowers to grow in the orchards which increases biodiversity in these green spaces.

The start of today's session was all about welcoming the HANGOT volunteers to their new nursery. As part of this, June from the William Hobbayne Charity gave GoodGym a big shout out for our efforts to prepare the nursery 🙌, which made Madhan and Sevan feel like they'd earned a slice of cake. Yes, as with all good celebrations, there was cake and apparently a master baker in the HANGOT group! 😋

ℹ️ Fun Fact 1: Fruit trees are grafted together. The bottom half is strong root stock and the top half is chosen to provide plentiful fruit. When planting them, the graft needs to be above the soil, otherwise the top part will also take root

Tree-nsportation

Soon, the group of around 12 volunteers moved on to the task. Nine trees were loaded from the nursery onto wheelbarrows and pushed along the canal tow path. The group stopped by Elthorne Park for a discussion on how to divide the trees and other equipment, blocking the towpath for a good 5 minutes (see photo). Eventually, half of the group went to Elthorne Park, near our beloved container and the others further along the towpath to Osterley Lock.

Kash and Madhan had transported a weighty post driver along to the further site, Osterley Lock. Sevan was in charge of one of the wheelbarrows heading to Elthorne Park. With 4 trees onboard, he had to reverse his way up a steep slope onto Trumpers Way. It turned out that reversing a wheelbarrow in a narrow space was just as difficult as with a car. There's a gap in the market for wheelbarrow reversing cameras if anyone has dreams of being on Dragon's Den.

Round Roots in Square Holes

ℹ️ Fun Fact 2: Elthorne Park used to be a refuse site

Madhan and Sevan were tasked with hole digging and planting, while Kash was wheelbarrowing mulch. Strangely, square holes for circular root systems is the way to go as this apparently gives trees a better chance of survival or is a gardening myth 🤷. Digging was challenging as there were plenty of stones in the way. Sevan and his digging partner pulled bricks, bags and a rubble sack containing a 40cm wide boulder out of one hole that they dug! Madhan was finding it equally difficult at Osterley Lock with plenty of bricks there too.

The Fruits of Our Labour

Over the course of 90 minutes, all 9 trees were planted and mulched, with apple, pear, cherry and quince trees finding new homes. It'll take a bit longer to get any edible fruits, so for now, a visit to the supermarket is still on the cards.

The GoodGymers also saw some of the mature trees that HANGOT had planted up to 7 years ago. Something for our saplings to look up to. Hopefully they will be as big and strong one day 🌳