Earth of Glass

Upon arrival, we caught sight of an Ealing Riding School trailer with manure delivery for Western Road Urban Garden. Ash, the engineering mind behind the WRUG design, said that the manure needs to mature for several weeks, so shovelling wasn't our job for today. Phew!

"Have you ever tried a manure dive, Kash?" - Ash
"Haha, not today, Ash. I'm visiting older people that need help in the afternoon." - Kash

Janpal, the director of Southall Community Alliance, welcomed Roberta and Bal, the first-timers at WRUG, and gave them a short history talk about the place. Sevan and Kash had heard the story several times by now, and each time, they enjoyed the inspiring tale of the incredible transformation they had taken part in, digging, moving logs and helping set up a polytunnel. Janpal was very proud of the polytunnel, which now had plants growing inside. It was also a place that made everyone appreciate the temperature outside on sweltering days like today.

"Just go inside for a couple of minutes, then go out. Yesterday it was over fifty degrees in there!" - Janpal

The other sources of pride at Western Road were flowers, the fruit orchard and the community allotment plots. Not all of the plots had been ready for planting.

"We ran out of space here. The children from the local school don't have more plots for growing vegetables."

Today's job was to remove the weeds from the allotment plots to allow the kids and volunteers to continue planting. Bal, Roberta, Sevan and Kash grabbed forks and joined volunteer Jeff, who was a real weeding machine and shared a few gardening tricks with the GoodGymers. The soil was very dry and hard, and the roots were long, so the job turned out more challenging than expected. There was still a lot of glass buried in the earth, so removing the pieces took extra time.

On such a scorcher, the plants desperately needed water, so Roberta decided to help Janpal water runner beans, potatoes, tomatoes and other vegetables, and - occasionally - people.

Halfway through the three-hour session everyone stopped for a break and enjoyed the ice-cold water and samosas Janpal had supplied. Ash and Jeff opted for tea, claiming that a hot drink, counterintuitively, makes you feel cooler.

Despite being lower in numbers than usual, the team cleared two plots to make further community planting possible, and saved the day by watering the plots already in use - well done, Roberta!

We are back to the Western Road very soon, so make sure you sign up for the next session in two weeks!