This evening we were officially paired with the garden at Meadow Ward on the Warneford Hospital site.

This garden offers a therapeutic and peaceful space for patients to enjoy and it needed a bit of TLC.

Armed with a variety of tools and some good old fashioned determination we set to work tackling weeds and invasive plants that had got all too comfortable within the flower beds. Comments of "is this intentional grass or weedy grass??" and "is this a pretty thistle or a pesky one?" could be heard and apps were consulted so we didn't uproot precious plants.

After an hour of focused activity we had filled 2 tonne bags, put the world to rights and somehow managed to dodge the rain!

Good work team! And welcome along Jenny, thank you so much for joining us!

This evening we returned to the Warneford Hospital site to do some more work on their anniversary garden installation.

More compost was poured into the huge metal planters, more gambions were filled with stones and pinecones (pretty sure we could all have a crack at dry stone walling now!) and we were able to congratulate Anwen, Fred and Andy on their cracking performances at the Oxford Half Marathon!

Working quickly to race the sunset and dying light (said in my best Michael Sheen voice) we achieved a brilliant amount. Can't wait to see the finished result!

A few of us then went for a run, where I inflicted an intervals session on the group, SORRY!!!!

Until next week......... xoxo

Warneford Hospital is creating a new garden on the front lawn to mark the 200th anniversary of the site next year. It's a big undertaking, with an avenue of trees, and a series of huge planters made from curved corrugated steel sheets for the different wards to take ownership of.

Last night we were filling the gabion baskets which surround the planters for the trees. They were filled with a combination of recycled rubble and pine cones from the mature trees around the lawn. It was quite a creative process! We also shifted twenty large pallets into the bottoms of the 7 huge raised bed planters, and started filling them with a combination of woodchip and top soil. It was a race against the sunset, but we made good progress.

We'll be back next week for more of the same!

Thank you Vicky for the report title.

This evening we returned to the Warneford Hospital site to flashmob some of their flower beds.

The flower beds in the aptly named Meadow ward had got quite over-grown and needed a good weed, a food water and some general TLC.

After crowning Ellie for achieving her 100th Good deed and enjoying some Celebrations, we set to work.

Thistles, lots of grass and some pesky dandelions were removed, a wild patch preserved to protect a hedgehog house, and the best Celebration thoroughly debated. I'm team Bounty - possibly in the 1% minority of the population!

Watering cans were emptied and woodchip spread to hopefully ensure that the beds stay happy!

Good work team.

Double points if you can name the musical reference in the title.....,

Yes I do indeed know a smattering of Shakespeare!

Academic boasts aside, tonight was a lovely task. The chilly wind that had been whipping around Oxford earlier died down just in time for our quintet of Goodgymers to do some gardening.

When we arrived at the Warneford site, Laura the gardener for the area, gave us a couple of options for tasks. We plumped for clearing, pruning and reviving some rose bushes around one of the entrances.

The roses had got rather choked by weeds and brambles and also just needed a good trim and tidy - a springtime haircut if you will! We all set to work and in true Goodgym style managed to blitz a large area and create a large compost pile. What we didn't get to this time hopefully we'll manage to finish off on our next visit in a few weeks.

Post task a few of us headed off for a run, chatting about parkrun tourism, and rewarded ourselves with a go on the zip wire in Southpark for managing to slog up the big hill!

This evening we returned to the Warneford Hospital site, this time to help with their orchard - and to spruce up a few shrubs too - a double task!

Once we had weeded around a few shrubs in the main body of the site we ventured over to the orchard - some of us feeling rather relived to have chosen wellies as footwear! We were tasked with de-mulching some young trees to avoid rot, and gathering and picking lots of apples to be sent off to make delicious fresh apple juice.

We soon discovered that the vast majority of apples were REALLY high up! Apple picking baskets and Shati and Georgia's climbing skills to the rescue!!

It was a bit of a race against time with the evening drawing in but we managed to gather a considerable amount of apples, and maybe even nibble a few!

Welcome to Goodgym Georgia - thank you gor bringing your tree climbing skills!!