Although this is the second article of the autumn issue, the cold nights and mornings this week have felt a little premature. Instagram is already full of images of ‘cozy’ autumn dishes made of pumpkin, potatoes and root vegetables, but I am not ready to turn my back on the produce of summer quite yet. The pumpkins will remain on the vines for another couple of weeks, taking up as much of the remaining sunshine they can. There are many months of roots and brassicas ahead, and I’m in no rush to get there. What we are harvesting and eating right now are considered to be the quintessential summer vegetables – tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, chillis, sweetcorn. Together with the last courgettes and beans, this is the food of this early autumn season.  

When you grow your own food, eating really seasonally sometimes feels out of step with what you see on social media or restaurant menus. Wild garlic in February, broad beans in March, asparagus in April, courgettes and new potatoes in May. But these jumps on the real season are not what is actually happening in most people’s vegetable patches. The very earliest wild garlic comes from the warmer gulfstream-influenced woods of Devon and Cornwall, while the broad beans, asparagus, courgettes and potatoes, even if local and not shipped in from overseas, come from polytunnels that are also in the southernmost parts of England. This can lead to the slightly frustrating feeling that you are behind in your vegetable growing and can lead to you berating your growing abilities or wishing the weeks away. I am not keen on this mad rush to get to the next season and much prefer the gentler bridges between seasons where, facing both backwards and forwards, you can eat the best of each season. Celeriac and spinach alongside the first broad beans, or potatoes and kale with the last tomatoes and first squash.