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'allotment bodging'.In fact, he almost takes too much pride in it and is liable to get rather carried away in the perfection of projects. He also gets frustrated by Lizzy's and my attitude of "oh, that'll do."Paul is of the school that 'if a job's worth doing

the bushes when we first took on the allotment three years ago so they're only really getting productive now. But the amount of fruit they produced last season took us well and truly by surprise - I still have a freezer drawer full of mixed fruit summer

I'm not a great one for growing flowers on my plot. Maybe I shy away from raising flowering plants on the allotment because I grow so many in my main job (as head gardener at The Bath Priory Hotel). I've grown marigolds as companion plants

and mushy – especially on the allotment. Overnight my nasturtiums, courgettes, squashes and pumpkins perished. Their remains looked messy and certainly didn’t reflect my autumnal efforts at weeding and tidying. Poor Ron next door has lost his rows of cutting

next year. So here are my allotment New Year resolutions for 2009:I must grow crops that don't require regular picking as I don't live close enough to the plot to get there more than a couple of times a week. That's just not enough to harvest runner

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

on the train.Not one to miss an opportunity, I decided this might be a good time to 'share' the management of the whole allotment and make him a co-director. He was thrilled."I don't suppose you want to bother with borlotti beans", I ventured. What followed