Eleven GoodGym legends headed over to Hervey Road Sports Field Community Garden last night to help break new ground by planting lavender and with the ground baked dry after the recent weather, it wasn't quite as simple as digging a few holes.

We spent the evening getting diggy with it, carefully planting the lavender before giving every new addition a much-needed drink. Because when in drought, watering is every bit as important as planting, and we made sure the new plants had the best possible start in their new home.

A huge congratulations to Aman on joining the TaskForce, its brilliant to have you taking on this new role. And another big congratulations to Mark for completing his 10th Good Deed!

Thanks to everyone who came along for a lovely evening of gardening, teamwork and plenty of puns courtsey of Aman and Ivar.

Until next time you lavly bunch!

Rachel

If it's possible to have a warm, but cooler evening, then tonight was it - the recent hot weather has certainly re-calibrated the comfort scale, especially when it comes to running.

We all looked forward to a return visit to Wild Green E13, Plaistow's most lovingly cared for community garden, and our host Fleur was on site to welcome us when we arrived - Hilary and Graham had run from our usual meeting spot at Freaks and Geeks, Nick from Plaistow, and Bea arrived in one piece on her bike.

Once we'd got the container unlocked, it was clear this evening's task would be watering to try and keep the young plants, vegetables and all the contents of the wooden planter boxes alive. Our biggest challenge soon proved to be having enough water to get everything done as their giant water butt was running low and it had been a while since there'd been any top up, either via mother nature or from the local fire brigade.

However, low water wasn't going to stop us and we soon had a production line running to get watering cans filled and roots watered as best we could. As Graham stood over the tank eeking out the very last of the drops, it was apparent we had exhausted this particular task, but as always, Fleur was very grateful for our efforts. We'll be back here again in September, by which time there will hopefully have been a rain shower or two to give the plants a drink.

We set off on a cooler run back to our start point, and diverted into the pub for some well earned refreshment - this time not needing to rely on the last drops from a water container to rehydrate us...

Next week we'll be helping out on the planters at Barnard Grove - join us if you can, those plants really need our help!

https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/maintenance-of-planters-on-barnard-grove-19198e61-72a0-4c49-8904-5a150c05553a