Seeds, yes... plant labels, yes... new hose, yes... When I got the allotment, I did expect to have to buy some items - but fabric to make a coat for Dr Samuel Johnson (yes, the writer, traveller, wit, author of the first English dictionary) wasn't on the list.

However, the allotment committee announced a scarecrow competition and we wanted to make something a little more challenging than your usual common-or-garden man on a stick. Inspiration was slow to come, but finally, I had it! : Dr Johnson used to visit the village where I live, and wrote one of his poems beneath a lilac tree in the garden that backs on to mine. All the locals know about the connection because there's a plaque on a wall.

So I popped along to nearby Berwick St in Soho and asked for the cheapest grey, black or brown fabric. Three pounds a metre? That'll do.

I 'designed' the coat after a quick search for men's fashions of the 1770s, and made my pattern by folding the £3-a-metre fabric lengthways, lying on it, and drawing a rough outline of body and sleeves. I sewed up the side seams, leaving the underside of the sleeves to stitch together on the body of the scarecrow, and added some large-flapped pockets.

All it needs now is a long line of buttons, a fabric flap underneath the coat for a waistcoat, and a white dishcloth tied around the neck for a stock. And the rest of the costume? The white periwig is from a fancy dress shop; the cropped black trousers are mine, as are the white hose, and the black shoes are my OH's, with foil silver buckles added. Finishing touches: a 'dictionary' and a quill pen. My OH is in charge of making the scarecrow's body, and it will all be assembled on our plot in time for judging at 3pm on Sunday.

So far the whole endeavour has taken about an hour - I wish the veg grew that quickly!

If you'd like a scarecrow of your own, here's how