An additional category for this year is Best Community Project. Judges will be looking at sites which serve the interests of the community. For example, some sites grow shared produce by groups of gardeners in order to grow crops in a co-operative way. Other examples may be providing a place for local school pupils, or those with special needs to learn about the joys of gardening or for growing crops for the housebound elderly. Maybe your site has set aside an area for wildlife, and encourages the local population to come along and enjoy the delights of your wildlife pond or sanctuary. It is essential that any project is run in conjunction with the allotmenteers themselves, and not by a third party, the local authority etc.

All shortlisted entries receive a visit from the judges and a certificate.

STORY EXTRACT

The Garden Party
"She's got to learn," said his daughter, wrestling unsuccessfully with the three-year-old bundle of fury. "It's Charlie's day, not hers." The child slithered out of her mother's arms and onto the scorching patio.
"Come to Grandad, little one," said Bill, but the expression on her face said that she hated the entire world and everyone in it.
He pretended not to notice while she scaled the side of his wheelchair. The August sun forced him to squint but he could just discern the swaying yellow blob of the bouncy castle at the end of the garden. Nearby the men stood in a circle, cans in hand and legs apart. A tortoiseshell butterfly settled on the potted marigold.
Then with a thump she landed on his lap. She giggled, showing small white teeth, until she remembered she was supposed to be sad.
The child kneeled up on Bill's lap - a tricky manoeuvre on the bony blanketed legs - and cupped his face with determined little hands. "It's not fair. Why do I have to wait for my birthday and Charlie doesn't?" Bill picked off the tomato pips and curls of hair soldered to her cheeks.
"Rotten when it's someone else's birthday, ain't it?" he said. She put her hand into his jacket pocket and produced an apple. "I want it," she said.
Bill cut into the glossy peel with his penknife, and slowly rotated both apple and blade against each other in perfect synchronicity. She stared at the demonstration, giving little exclamations of wonder as the peel coiled downwards.
"I'll hold it for you, Grandad," she said solemnly, and put out both hands to catch the juicy, spiralling snake. She wrapped it from wrist to elbow, and then held up her forearm to admire it.
"I’m going to show Charlie my bracelet,” she said.

HOMEOWNERS TURN TO GROW-YOUR-OWN
More homeowners are focusing on health by planting their own vegetable gardens this year, rejecting the rising cost of food and fuel, and pesticide-laden produce most often found in supermarkets.

Just about every environmental group in the United States, Canada and Europe warns that store-bought produce is loaded with petro-chemical pesticides that build up in the human body. These chemicals are being blamed for many illnesses. Consider the following:

* Potatoes, lettuce and cucumbers have the highest concentration of pesticides, according to the United States Department of Agriculturists’ annual crop report.

* A major study by the New York State Department of Health directly links pesticides to diabetes, now one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the United States.

* The environmental group Global Pesticide Campaign warns that glyphosate used in Roundup causes auto-immune deficiencies in children and the elderly.

* Purdue University warns "weed and feed" type lawn chemicals have caused bladder cancer in dogs. An Ohio K-9 corps reports several of their dogs developed cancer after coming into contact with chemical fertilizers around their dog pens. Consequently, the federal government is urging vets to report all cancer in animals as an early warning sign for man.

Growing your own pesticide-free food is easy and there's nothing healthier and as good tasting as produce picked at maturity right in your back yard. Using organic methods, follow these few simple steps.