In the garden this week: Grow Zones, plus water butts

Love thy neighbour If you're daunted by your garden, sharing the task makes it manageable and fun. A great new resource for small-scale community gardening has been launched: Grow Zones is a nationwide project setting up small, neighbourhood groups to help each other out with reciprocal visits. The £25 starter pack gives guidelines on organisation and growing, and covers the group for insurance; go to growzones.com for more information. No butts Once, you could fill your water butts in spring and use them into summer, but this spring has been dry and parched, and the last couple of summers damp and cool. These flood and drought conditions make it essential that you have adequate water storage. If you don't have a water butt, buy one. If you have one, buy another two.