Right now in the garden

l Use edible flowers (rose petals, pot marigolds, starry blue and white borage) to make an ice-bowl, a pretty way to bring the garden into the kitchen and to serve chilled foods such as homemade ice-cream or sorbet. For detailed instructions, see marthastewart.com

2 Speaking of borage (Borago officinalis), there’s still time to plant it in the garden, with young container-grown plants available in most good garden centres. Once you’ve grown it once, this decorative, annual herb will happily re-seed itself year after year.

3 Continue to keep a watchful eye on container grown plants, which can quickly dry out at this time of year, even in wet weather.

4 Now’s the time to plant out young sweet corn, squash and pumpkin plants before they start to get pot-bound; all need a fertile, weed-free soil in full sun with protection from cold winds.

5 Add some fiery colour to your kitchen garden or allotment by sowing some fast-growing, long-flowering, edible nasturtiums. Varieties to look out for include ‘Blue Pepe’ and ‘Empress of India’.