After Steph came a few weeks ago to tidy up Mr M's garden, 2 more GoodGymers were dispatched to tidy up the side passage and the main section of Mr M's back garden. Mr M was well known to Kash and Sevan as they had been working on his garden for the last 4 years.

Kash knew where Mr M's gardening equipment was stored and how best to use is, so she put together a plan. It was too dry to dig out any weeds, so first the plan was to pull out all of the tall weeds and bindweed, then use Mr M's highly effective mower to cut everything down to ground level. The pair ripped as many weeds out as they could before Kash moved onto mowing.

Sevan headed for the side passage to pull out more weeds. Weeds growing out of the drains. Weeds growing out of the neighbouring wall. Weeds growing out of Mr M's building. They were well established and Sevan thought that they were bigger and stronger than they were last year. It was detail oriented work, trying to move quickly and at the same time, be through.

While Sevan was crouched down pulling roots from paving, Kash made a surprising discovery. A key that looked like it was for a door lock. Kash asked if it was Mr M's and it wasn't. Mr M considered throwing it away so that he didn't have to worry about it, then he changed his mind and put it on his table. It would be something to ponder over later.

Kash and Sevan wrapped up leaving Mr M much happier with the appearance of his garden for now. The grass and weeds will be back in a few months, so there'll be another chance to catch up with Mr M later in the year.

Mr M had been living in his flat in Shepherd's Bush for sixty years, but the last year had been very different. Since he lost his wife, life had become lonely, and there was no one to look after the big back garden quite as well as Mrs M did.

"She was good with those things," Mr M said to the two volunteers who visited him on a Sunday afternoon, looking at an overgrown climbing plant.

The older gentleman asked Sevan and Kash to trim the plant, which Sevan identified as wisteria. Mr M was also hoping the two would have time to tidy up the area around a small wooden box by the fence. The mysterious box, now empty, was supposed to be home to Mr M's friend, who had lived in the garden for 54 years! Kash couldn't quite believe that the companion really existed, but the garden was vast and full of hideaways, so the GoodGymers agreed to watch where they stepped.

Sevan volunteered to take care of the wisteria, which he was able to tackle without using a step ladder. Kash joined him, but only until Mr M mentioned his strimmer.

"My daughter messed it up," he confessed.

Defunct strimmer? Kash is your woman!

"Let's have a look!" Kash said.

She quickly turned the tool around and discovered it was missing a spool. Sevan joined the investigation and found a new strimmer line in the shed, but not the mechanism needed to attach it. Then Mr M appeared with the missing spool, which still had plenty of line on it.

"Good news! The strimmer is working now," Kash announced triumphantly, having plugged in and tested the tool.

Mr M was delighted to hear that. The grass didn't need strimming at the moment, though, so Kash bagged some of the wisteria cuttings before venturing to the back of the garden in search of weeds to eliminate. By then, Sevan was making good progress with the trimming and no longer needed any help.

At the back, Kash encountered the Big Bad Bramble. Before chopping it down, the GoodGymers enjoyed their modest share of sweet blackberries. Kash began cutting the bramble stems, but suddenly paused.

"Sevan, he's here!"

Clearing the bramble revealed the shape of an ancient creature, half the size of a rugby ball and encased in a hard, brown shell. The volunteers looked at the tortoise with awe, full of respect for this individual who had been slowly walking the Earth for much longer than they had!

Kash gently cut away the rest of the Big Bad Bramble, careful not to drop any cuttings on the tortoise, which wouldn't have been nice even though he wore solid protection on his back. The expression on the reptile's face hinted at slight disapproval, as if he were upset about losing his shady hiding spot.

While bagging the thorny brambles, Kash devised a cunning scheme to wrap them in the bindweed she was pulling from the ground at the same time. Meanwhile, Sevan cut back a few self-seeded sycamores and embarked on a bonus task of trimming an overgrown rose bush, far too tall to be considered easy to maintain.

Ninety minutes flew by, and five black bags were soon filled with cuttings. Mr M praised the volunteers for their good work, then said he could do with some rest, so it was the perfect time for Sevan and Kash to wrap up and walk to another mission in Shepherd's Bush that day.

On a summer Sunday morning, six GoodGymers joined Ben Morris from Clean Up River Brent for a very strange burial. Instead of mourning the dead, we were celebrating life. Instead of saying goodbye, we were welcoming a new beginning for the River Brent.

It wasn't a complete beginning, to be frank. The fourth GoodGym visit this year to Sixty Trees Way in Gurnell was all about planting. Ben brought the leftover hemp agrimony we hadn't finished planting last time, along with some new, lesser-known plugs. A totally new addition was a coir mat with a layer of water-loving grass growing on it.

"We are going to dig a shallow grave here," Ben announced, having chosen a fitting spot on a terraced riverbank.

But before its burial, the mat had to undergo a bit of ritual soaking. The GoodGymers gently placed it in the shallow water at the river's edge and got to work digging and turning the soil. With only one shovel, Kash became the chief gravedigger, while James - a GoodGymer and Himalayan balsam basher in one - diligently broke up the soil with a fork. Scott and Sevan loosened the soil with forks to prepare it for the smaller plugs, while Steph Ducat trimmed the dried reed stems to encourage fresh growth. Meanwhile, Ed ventured into the river to fill a bucket and water the previously planted juncus and iris.

Did I mention that it was Ed's very first GoodGym task? Curious about river conservation and balsam bashing, he showed up bright and early to experience the campaign against invasive species first-hand. Digging, planting, watering, clearing up, and untying bindweed from the reeds gave him a good taste of what Clean Up River Brent is all about. Well, apart from the famed Himalayan balsam bashing. Welcome, Ed! We hope there'll be a next time, and you'll get to find your balsam - although we've been pretty happy to see it's been kept at bay this year!

Once the coir mat's roots had absorbed enough water from the river, Steph and Ed carried it to the terrace, laid it in the shallow grave, covered the edges with soil, and then pinned it down with metal poles to stop it slipping into the river.

Post-burial, the final half-hour of the session was dedicated entirely to planting and watering. Ealing hadn't seen proper rain for almost four weeks, so the new plants were in desperate need of moisture, especially with the forecast for the coming week offering little hope.

Not many burials end with everyone hoping that what's in the grave grows as quickly as possible, but this one certainly did. Now all that's left is for the rain to play its part - or for keen volunteers with buckets and wellies to give the new plants a helping hand.

Like many gardens around London, Ms C's was looking thirsty. If you'd seen Sirat in the cinema recently, the scene was similar. A parched mini-desert with a thumping dance music soundtrack, courtesy of a festival in Boston Manor Park half a kilometer away.

Ms C asked the GoodGymers to water all of the plants in her garden. She especially prizes her roses and today, her fern and tomato plants were also important to hydrate.

"My plants will love you because you're feeding them" - Ms C
"I hope they remember it" - Sevan
"They will. Once you do a good turn, it comes back to you in buckets" - Ms C

The buckets worked in 2 directions. Kash and Sevan were emptying them to water the plants and in return, they were being refilled with good vibes.

With the watering completed, the second task was to trim some of the roses back as they'd grown too tall. Secateurs and loppers were used by the pair as they tried and failed to avoid getting hooked on the thorns. Eventually, they managed to unhook themselves and complete the cutting back to Ms C's standards.

There was a side quest with Ms C's airer. The lines were tangled, so Kash and Sevan straighted them out. Next, it wouldn't lock in place in its open position. The second problem the GoodGymers couldn't solve, so it might be time for Ms C to invest in a new one.

The end result was a well watered and much neater garden, which, with the rain forecast on Sunday, should keep Ms C enjoying her outdoor space for a few weeks.

As the theme tune says 'Come out to play in Waterman's Park', and for that the stage needs setting up!

In its fifth consecutive year, The Friends of Watermans Park organised a summer bandstand every Saturday of July for local legends/residents (your pick) to come and play.

A mighty crew was assembled this Saturday made of Brenda, Emma, Kash, Sevan, Kymm and Gus.

Gazebos and shade were setup in no time. Bunting creativity was at its pick and seat arrangements have been so inviting.

After a job well done, it was time for a few Goodgymers to enjoy the fruit of their labour and stay for the show!

Captain's Log, Stardate 4623.7.

GoodGym arrived at Grove Farm on the very edge of Ealing space. Not a single raindrop has been seen here for weeks. It's now the third month Admiral Mike has been stuck in the dry Costons Ditch in search of Japanese knotweed, an invader from a faraway land, threatening the fragile Ealing ecosystem.

Having chopped, trimmed, sawed and broken their way through the dense vegetation, the landing party, instead of knotweed, encountered ruins unlike any we had seen before. The settlement included a makeshift table, a birdcage, and a baby cot wedged into the ditch.

"It's kind of creepy to see this here," commented Medical Officer Gus, who joined the research party from faraway GG Hounslow to study the impacts of nettle stings on blood circulation.

No one had a hypothesis for why the colony had been abandoned, since the wild fruit and traces of water in the ditch suggested the location could sustain life.

Officers Afshin and Steph pressed forward with their hedge trimmers set to kill any bramble and hawthorn on their way. The tricorder pulled out by Science Officer Sevan to perform environmental scans started recording inexplicable readings. The officer figured out the GG Ealing crew was approaching the Harrow Neutral Zone.

Uncertain whether a potential violation of Harrow space could be interpreted as an act of war, the crew quickly collected samples from the ancient civilisation and evacuated the site. They carried with them the birdcage, the table and the baby cot, along with an oversized crowbar, a pallet, a bathroom tile and a variety of ancient glass vessels.

Among the artefacts was a mysterious Żywiec Trade crate, which only Captain Kash could identify. She hailed from an entirely different galaxy, in fact, from one of the moons of Planet Żywiec, whose inhabitants reached the pinnacle of civilisation, having developed industrial beer production and shipped their crates with goods all the way to the Ealing system.

Although the landing party had to beam themselves out of Grove Farm, Admiral Mike will closely monitor the location and dispatch another expedition of redshirts there in August. If you want to enlist for that voyage, watch this space for a new mission next month!

15 minutes wondering round the garden revealed 1 butterfly. Fewer than I've seen on other occasions, but perhaps started a little late in the day. Sammy (my dog) clearly thought I'd gone crazy, and was much relieved when I stopped staring at the undergrowth and recorded my grand total. A quick and easy thing to do - I've now added the app, so will probably count butterflies again!