The Radstock Mayor writes:

I love this time of the year. With a good many of one's acquaintances away on holiday there is nevertheless the annual glut of courgettes, runner beans and summer cabbage, although these latter have by now been colonised by caterpillars and look more like the victims of a firing squad.

This year I was deputed to tend my brother-in-law's patch the other side of Stratton. Being ex-army, his veg were all standing neatly to attention and would have saluted when watered had they possessed working limbs. Disaster struck some four weeks ago when a surprise gale wrecked the courgettes, rendered the sweet corn supine and blew awry the automatic ventilation on the greenhouse. A temporary polytunnel clad in a plastic sheet held down by cords was blown off completely and I found it cowering under a hedge the following morning.

Yet the garden has been hugely productive and I have given impressive quantities of vegetables to the needy whilst the heady perfume of sweet peas greets my nostrils when I return home to a well-packed fridge.

Despite the vicissitudes of the weather, gardening can be so enjoyable and the rewards for perseverance immeasurable. It is always a pleasure to see the allotments at Haydon and Writhington and I trust their stewards are now reaping where they have sown.