Our second round of clean up at the Glebelands Open Space started and ended in the same place as last week - around the Albanians Association Football Club. While the area looked a lot better than last week, there was still a huge amount to do.

Unfortunately, the Council hadn't managed to find last week's haul, so the first job was to re-bag what the foxes had opened, then carry everything up to Summers Lane. Luckily, the Lesser-Spotted Steve was there to help. Then we got stuck into the verges around the clubhouse, pulling out old plastics, fast food, cans.

Along the fence against the David Lloyd car park we found even more nitrous canisters, and by the end of our collection we must have gathered close to 40 of the things. We carried the whole stash up the lane and reported it, but there's still more along the way. We'll do one more session on the morning of the community event on 14 June, so everyone can enjoy the green space and the area's a bit safer for wildlife.

Following our energetic group session last Tuesday to Stephens House and Gardens, Helen, our wonderful host there, invited us to join her for another project she helps with at St Mary's. As part of the church's London Festival of Architecture Week, they hosted a community gardening session, clearing parts of the graveyard and tidying gravestones.

Jacqui arrived first and, given a choice between gardening alone in damp weather or going on a tour of the church, she went on the tour. Then I arrived, with Filip and Chloe (who'll soon be earning their first t-shirts!), and we met Helen with a wheelbarrow and got stuck in, coppicing some of the smaller trees, digging up alkanet and then dragging ivy back from the graves. Chloe found and relocated a toad to one of the quieter parts of the grave. We all found lots and lots of snails.

A couple of local volunteers cleared and tidied some of the old graves. Many are too worn to read, but we found a few from around two hundred years ago. Helen told us that one we were working around had actually vanished into the undergrowth. They found its location from old site maps, and rescued it.

Richard then arrived from his training (he's doing a marathon hike next weekend!), grabbed gloves and then grabbed up great fistfuls of ivy. And Jacqui waved hello as the church tour led her through the graveyard. Understandably, she couldn't tear herself away from the tour, the church is a real historical gem for Finchley and always open if you fancy a visit.

Following an amazing donation of free plants from the Finchley Pollinators, a handful of Goodgymmers joined the Friends of Warnham Green to help start their wildflower patch.

We had around 40 plants in all - 25 from the Finchley Pollinators and the rest from neighbours. We set to clearing the brambles and nettles coming back after our earlier weeding session, then, with a bit of training from our conservationists, we starting digging. After adding a quick mix of soil conditioner and root grow, we tamped in the plants, and after they were all placed, we mulched around the more delicate flowers. Fortunately with all the rain this weekend, we didn't need to water the plants in afterwards, so a quick tidy up and litter pick, and we were done.

Despite the wild weather - on-off rain, sun, storms, gales - six sturdy Goodgymmers made it to tonight's mission. It was damp, but we were undeterred, and gathered at the Phoenix for our warm up - Beattie and Rachel first to arrive as usual, before hot-footing it to Stephens House. Sheela took our opening photographs, while Richard promised to do a better job of backmarking than recent reports suggest an unnamed individual delivered.

On site we were met by Theodore and our inimitable host, Helen, who laid out the task. 100m of fencing, with overgrowth poking through. How much could we clear in the next 45min? Well, we got stuck in secateurs and loppers, tearing and cutting, until, boom! We did about a quarter of the lengthy job, well above expectations and well worked out!

After a quick tidy up, we dragged the sacks of green waste to the north gate and set off back to the Phoenix for a celebratory pot of popcorn and chat, where Theo kindly gave us a demo of his (too small for him, but too-large for most of us!) barefoot running shoes.

Great work, though we'll undoubtedly need to go back and finish the job, hopefully before the summer growth hides our great work.