Flower power beats the gym

Anyone who has ever cleared an overgrown allotment or tried double-digging clay soil knows that gardening is not for wimps.

It involves mental preparation (ideally in an armchair with a pile of gardening books and a glass or two of wine), supreme fitness - all athletes look the same but shape, size and grey hair are no indication of a gardener's physical condition - and dedication to the goal, which those of us who work the soil have in spades. It's just a mystery why gardening hasn't been in the Olympics from the off.

Athletes get the glory but gardeners work every muscle group too. Think of the physical exertion that goes into hoiking the runner bean scaffolding upright after the foxes have knocked it flat.

Similarly with sowing seed: unless you have good hand-eye coordination, a supple torso and knees of steel, future parsnips or broad beans will never get off the ground.

And just like 100-metre finalists, canny gardeners know they must husband their reserves for the final push - leaving the cabbages unfleeced or the raspberries unpruned means waiting until the next growing season comes around before you can have another go.

Take gardening seriously and, whatever your age, in years to come you could be mounting that podium. There again, you might just put your back out.