So many Greek idylls, so little time – what happens if you turn to artificial intelligence and a little bit of luck?

It’s been a summer of great abundance, on almost everyone’s allotment except mine

It’s damson-scrumping season, which calls for stealth, subterfuge and the utmost secrecy

Not even the most dedicated stand-in carer could understand my plants’ delicate needs

Go on holiday? And leave my chaotic, needy plants to fend for themselves? It’s an impossible choice

Since when were secateurs ‘a bladed weapon in a public space’?

The allotments are drowning in fruit right now, and I will take every apple offered

The literary life can be highly demanding, but the allure of a mystery garden proves an easy distraction

When it rains in Ireland, it really pours, but our columnist had important work to do…

Roses encompassed everything off-putting about gardening. But then an upsetting thing happened… I began to care

I found empty baskets, downed secateurs, and not another living soul

Birds had always been something of a mixed blessing for the writer, until a visit to Australia changed her mind

Our columnist is wooed by the joy of growing tomatoes, the more challenging the variety, the better

The writer’s mixed memories and envious misgivings vanish in west London’s lush green riverside paradise

In the first of her new fortnightly columns, author Charlotte Mendelson gets to grips with the seasonal rush of new growth