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The weeds are growing like mad this year. They seem to love the combination of spring showers and sunshine we've been having lately. Sadly, the fine weather is having as positive effect on the weeds as it is on me.Speedwell is one of the moist

It's been difficult to choose my 2009 weed of the year. Butercups and daisies continue to compete with grass in my lawn, as do those lovely rosettes of plantain. Then there are the dandelions. Oh dear, this isn't making my lawn sound very good is it

as the books say it should be.So what goes wrong with the compost on the plot? The answer is simple: lack of variety.The compost I make at work has grass clippings, weeds, herbaceous stems, annual plants, the odd barrowful of spent compost from pots

I'm gradually filling up the beds on the allotment. Last week I planted main crop potatoes – a variety called Picasso, which doesn't seem too prone to slugs, and one called Cara, which is cited in catalogues as 'the allotment favourite'. I

a few baby vegetables. Baby beets and parsnips are just lovely. Besides, now the soil has warmed up and the evenings have got a bit lighter, my crops could well catch up with those on neighbouring plots.After all the weeding I've been doing recently

At this time of year, gardeners and plot holders take advantage of any dry, sunny weather to improve the soil and get their beds ready for planting. My neighbours on the allotment have been doing just that - everywhere I look there are freshly

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

problems on the plot in the past couple of years. They make their nests down the side of my raised beds which means I get attacked and bitten when I'm weeding. I know an ant bite isn't much to whinge about, but there are an awful lot of them and they seem

I was pleased with this year's Christmas harvest – much of our Christmas dinner was allotment produce. King Edward potatoes from the garage were roasted, Charlotte new potatoes from store were steamed. Greens took the form of braised leeks and

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