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in their gardens or on their allotments. The results will help them in their assessment for the prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM). The first 200 people to register will receive one packet each of 'Oregon Sugar Pod' mangetout seeds and 'Sugar Ann' sugar snap

benefit from extra water when in flower. This time is known as the 'critical watering period'.My colleague Anna also has an allotment and is very particular about critical watering periods. She's been talking about her peas all week, how the swelling pods

It's been very dry lately, so I've had to water my crops on a daily basis. The poor plants need every drop they can get as my allotment has turned into a dustbowl.Despite the dry conditions, my strawberries have been fantastic this year. I've got

will admit to sneaking the odd strawberry when I'm picking.Anna, my assistant at work and fellow allotment holder, is a Grazer. As soon as a tomato turns even vaguely red she starts giving it a sly squeeze to see if it's ripe. She munched her way through her

down, completely rearranged the layout and changed all the lighting. It will be lovely when it's done. Anyway, all this activity has disturbed my routine, and the allotment is decidedly on the backburner.Having said that, the calm and serene quiet

I'm delighted to tell you that my main crop potatoes look absolutely fine and dandy. The tops were completely dead from blight - they were as lush and lovely as anything a fortnight ago - but I've got the spuds out before they were affected. Hooray!Now I'm busily into planting up...

It suddenly feels like summer is gone! The days are shorter almost overnight and there's that autumnal nip in the air of a morning, which is making me think that my summer harvests are going to start drawing to a close very quickly. There was even a frost here the other day - wel...

I can't believe it's September already! There's even a hint of autumn in the air, the holly berries are starting to turn and there have been heavy dewfalls overnight as well. Still at least the dew has saved me from rushing up to the plot and watering too often!It's all starting ...

I'm always rather staggered by Jerusalem artichokes. Firstly, by their impressive and evocative name; it makes me think of exotic locations with correspondingly interesting cuisine and highly sought-after seasonal foods of subtle flavour. Secondly by their sheer size! Jerusalem a...

After a seemingly endless period of dismal drear (probably only a few days in reality but it felt like it went on for a decade), we finally made it to the plot on a cold, crisp frosty day. Everything crunched underfoot rather beautifully and woolly hat and socks were de rigueur f...