Borrowed from Gill

I really enjoyed this gentle year in the life of an allotment gardener and the people around him.  The other characters are brought to life vividly and with an excellent bitter-sweetness, and we join with Victor in willing on his fruit and vegetables, agonising over a wasp problem, worrying about vandals and preparing for the big event of the year – the show and competition.

The only thing that spoiled this for me was the really clunky language – someone must have told him not to use shortenings, so it’s all "I decided I would do this…" "I will look at pruning" and it just started to grate after a while – the subject matter was quite personal and casual so why not let some I’d and I’ll in there?