Snipping the brambles into shape

"Welcome to the local branch of the Garden of Eden" - said Trevor of the Ealing Transition initiative at the sight of seven GoodGymers.

Trevor's community group takes on the challenge of climate change on a local level by installing solar panels at schools, beekeeping and planting orchards. One such orchard was located in Lammas Enclosure, not far from Ealing Broadway, and was amongst the favourite spots for GoodGym Ealing group runs. Last Sunday, the orchard saw a different group of volunteers, including children, at the working party. The residents who joined the event left the place with more cardboard and mulch under the trees and fewer brambles around them. Would that mean there was nothing to do for GoodGymers? No way!

Sevan led tonight's run to the task and helped Trevor oversee and support the GoodGymers in activities that needed an extra pair of hands at a time. Milly, as usual, could be seen with a watering can, at the raised beds inside and outside the orchards and at the frog pond. It was a scorching day, so plants needed urgent watering. Chris and Mike had a good chance to catch up and chat while enjoying a shovel-and-mulch workout. Who needs an indoor gym to do that? Beata and Steph were driving the wheelbarrows filled by Chris and Mike into the orchard and dropping the mulch around the fruit trees, which the Sunday group hadn't got the time to tackle. One of the trees needed extra attention - its branches were tangled by unforgiving brambles. Kash dived under the tree and snipped away the thorny stems at the bottom.

"Never walk past a bramble without snipping it. I may go for your neck!" - Trevor.

Steph, who made a wise decision to bring his thick gardening gloves, collected the prickly trimmings and ended up avoiding the scratches pretty well, despite wearing a running vest.

The last task to address was turning the soil in the raised bed, which was taken care of by Beata and Sevan. The gang finished off ahead of time, making Trevor very happy about the state of the orchard. When outside the enclosed area, the GoodGymers started looking around for the candidates for future tasks. Someone suggested trimming the hedge at the boundary of the orchard, however, Trevor was reluctant to make any drastic cuts.

"A hedge is a multi-storey space for living things" - Trevor.

We left the orchard ensured by Trevor that the brambles would inevitably grow back and generate more maintenance work for us in the future months.

While we are waiting for the brambles to strike back, next week we are running to help the William Hobbayne Community Centre in Hanwell, where we are going to stay for a GoodGym Ealing birthday party. 🎂🥳🎊