Once again Coldplay took over the city, and transport started to move backwards.....Even Michael struggled to get to the start location on time for todays group activity.

Due to the concert some of our regulars couldn't make it into the City but we are goodgym and will not let a little thing like 70,000 people get in our way!

So to the task.......

We had received an email towards the end of last week from our friends at Cwtch Together - they had spotted some new plant popping up, and after some investigation discovered that it could be toxic for the children. After a few questions, Michael offered to bring to group to go on a plant hunt.

First - the health and safety - nothing without gloves today people.....and we will be fine, no eating the plants, they are not lovely berries!

Emma, Michael and Andrew were on spotting duty, with Emma and Andrew then getting 'deep deep down' as they dug up the plants, and as many of the bulbs as possible.

Martin and Nathan were on grass duty, cutting and strimming, with Llion weeding along the way.

And finally Emma.....

The Fire Starter

The job here, to use the weed device that heats the plants within the cracks of the pavement - stopping the plants growing. (Not quite as intense as the GIF)

It's Learning TIME

Common name Lords-and-ladies, cuckoo pint

Botanical name Arum maculatum

Areas affected Shady or woodland edge beds and borders, uncultivated ground

Main causes Self-seeding and distribution of rhizome fragments

Timing Leaves and flower spathes from spring and berries in the autumn, but tubers persist in the soil year-round

Plants can spread quickly by self-seeding and the unintentional distribution of rhizome fragments around the garden, for example in home compost. The deep rooting tubers multiply each year and are difficult to remove entirely, with fragments left behind in the soil regenerating quickly.

Tubers are swollen, usually underground, parts of a stem or root used to store food by the plant. They have buds that can produce new plants. Examples are tuberous begonia, cyclamen, dahlia and potato.

Two start locations again tonight, our newest start option at the Daffodil in the City Centre where seven plucky goodgymers met. We left at 18:30 for a nice pleasant jog through the park and over to what used to be our start location - Sport Wales National Centre, where we picked up another 2 goodgymers. Our final two for the evening where to meet us at the task, so no time to waste chatting - lets continue the walk / jog and get to Samye.

We arrived at the Samye Foundation with plenty of time to spare, which was good as tonight was the registration for the VERY popular Cosmeston Relay Race (Sells out within 30 minutes!)

Our first few minutes were spent clicking away online, hoping to get through in time, as ALL joggers and runners in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan tried to do the same.

TENSE

At last, everyone was in and it was time to get to our task for the evening. Tonight was going to be some hard volunteering.

• The old path slabs were to be removed, so that some new fruit trees could be planted
• The Soil that used to house all the shrubs needed some heavy digging and leveling
• There was compost to carry from the front of the building to the back
• An array of plant pots needed to be filled with the compost
• Some of the remaining shrubs needed a heavy prune

The task was a good old workout, all in aid of the upcoming open day that they will be having at Samye later in the year. A new double width path will be laid on all of our hard work, accessible to wheelchairs, planting with new fruit trees and some smaller plants to help bring in those pollinators and look spectacular.

After all that volunteering, the soup and sandwiches that the lovely lot had put on were a much welcome sight. I'm sure we will be back soon to help out with more, this seems like a big job.

Until next time.....