Blackberries are everywhere now, and if you pick them from the hedgerows they're completely free. I made some of Delia's Blackberry Jelly a couple of weeks ago with some that I'm ashamed to say came from my overgrown garden! I really need to do some weeding, although at least these ones gave me some lovely jam. It is absolutely yummy spread on some super light home made scones. Don't think you'll wait until September before you go blackberry picking, whenever I've done that I usually find there's none left!

Courgettes and aubergines are still plentiful, which are great in roasted vegetable lasagne or ratatouille.   There should still be plenty of tomatoes for a good few weeks yet. Don't worry if you grow your own and still have lost of green ones. We have a great recipe for Green Tomato Chutney which will keep for ages.

Runner beans,  I could never understand what my mum saw in runner beans when I was a child, we always seemed to have tonnes of them grown by various relatives and I was not a big fan. It must be an age thing because now I love them and make a point of only buying them in the summer when they are in season rather than settling for the inferior flavour and texture of the imports available all year round. There are hundreds of recipes but I love them left plain and gently steamed.

Cobnuts (a type of hazelnuts grown in Kent) are out from now until October, toast them and use them in everything from salads to crumble. 

Herbs such as tarragon, mint and oregano should be in plentiful supply just now, they're really easy to grow even if you only have a window box. And you'll save a fortune not buying fresh herbs from the supermarket. Make the most of the chance to get English cucumbers, crunchy and full of flavour. 

Other fruit in season just now include strawberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants, peaches, apricots, melon (don't forget to serve it at room temperature if you want to get the best flavour)

Seasonal meat and fish are trout, sardines, sole, herring, brown crab.

The quantities for this are really up to you. I've never weighed or measured when making this, I just throw in what I have to hand. You probably know how much sauce you need to make a lasagne in your usual dish so just do what feels right. 

Ingredients:

• Vegetables for roasting: Courgettes, Aubergines, Onions, Peppers (you can include other things such as carrots too, but remember that they take longer to cook so make the pieces smaller than the rest of the softer vegetables.


• Olive Oil


• Garlic


• Rosemary


• Passata


• Béchamel Sauce


• Dried Lasagne Sheets


• Parmesan Cheese


• Salt & Pepper


• Nutmeg

What to do:

1. Cut the vegetables into even sized pieces, not too small but small enough that when you eat the resulting lasagne you will have a couple of different veggies in each forkful.


2. Place the vegetables in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with the crushed garlic and rosemary.


3. Roast in the oven at around 180 to 200°c until soft and starting to darken and go crisp around the edges (usually about 25-30 minutes)


4. Now make the béchamel sauce (if you don't know how, all recipe books will tell you, but there's no need to go to all the trouble of infusing the milk etc, a basic white sauce will do fine!)


5. Remove the vegetables from the oven, pour in the passata, season with salt and pepper and mix well. There's no need to cook the sauce further, that's it!


6. Now arrange into your lasagne dish, starting with a layer of vegetable sauce, next some white sauce and then the lasagne sheets on top, repeating until the dish is full and finishing with a white sauce layer. Don't be too generous with the sauce in each layer or you'll never fit in enough lasagne sheets and it will be too sloppy to serve easily.


7. Grate some parmesan and some nutmeg over the top and it's then ready to go in the oven. You could keep it in the fridge until you're ready to cook it, or just bake straight away.


8. When you're ready, bake it the oven at 180°c until browned on the top and looking like a tasty lasagne. Probably about 35 - 40minutes.


9. Serve with green salad.

Some of the best UK farmers markets according to the foodie award givers are:

St Giles Farmers' Market in Kent was listed as one of the Top 12 UK farmers' markets by Times Online earlier this year. Its home is an 11th century church in the village centre of Shipbourne and offers everything you'd expect from a good food market as well as Chinese and far-eastern basics; condiment sauces; fruit juices; honey, jam and preserves; and organic, additive-free meat and sausages. This market has a very supportive community who help to create a fantastic sociable atmosphere every weekend.

Stroud Farmers' Market in Gloucestershire was recently voted FARMA Certified Farmers' Market of the Year 2008. It has also won the Cotswold Life Magazine's Best Farmers' Market award three times. Stroud's charming winding streets fill with market stalls and the market café in Cornhill Market Place becomes the town's social centre. You can buy organic burgers, gluten-free sausages, Thai food and smoked garlic - all to the tunes of local musicians. The community's energy and enthusiasm for this market make it a lively day out.

Wirral Farmers' Market in New Ferry, Merseyside was voted Britain's Best Farmers' market in the 2007 BBC Food and Farming awards. This market has a strong recycling policy, is volunteer run and all profits go towards local community projects. With everything from ostrich and buffalo meat, to hand made chocolates, marinated olives, chilli growing kits and locally brewed beers, brews and bitters this is a market with variety.

If you think your local farmers' market is worth shouting about do let us know where it is and why you love it so.

Asparagus is coming to the end for this year, so if you love it make something with it now. Gorgeous sweet new organic carrots are now in; why not try them out in my recipe for Organic Carrot and Coriander Soup? Fresh peas are a wonderfully sweet in healthy salads, and courgettes are a really versatile addition to your summer kitchen, use them in salads, roasted or grilled on the barbecue. Tomatoes are just at the start of their glorious summer season. If you’re growing your own they’re probably not ready yet, but when they are remember to eat them as soon as you can after picking them for the best flavour and don’t refrigerate them, it seems to spoil the texture. Make some Bruschetta if you need to use them up. Globe artichokes and new potatoes are around now too.

Yummy British strawberries are in season, but try to find some of the more interesting varieties such as Florence or Symphony rather than Elsanta which is grown for supermarkets demanding durability over flavour. Farmers markets or pick your own farms are your best bet if you’re looking for different varieties and you’ll be supporting a small local business if you shop there too. English cherries have a very short season from June to August, so grab them while you can, washed and eaten just as they are for the healthy option or combined with cream and chocolate in a gloriously gluttonous dessert if your conscience will let you! Gooseberries have a very short season, just from now until August so make something with them while you can. I have a small gooseberry bush at home that’s looking great, I hope I manage to use the fruits before the snails strip the poor thing bare as they have done every other year!