THIS Saturday is going to be fun!

As it is the Stroud Fringe Festival this weekend and the Cornhill will become a stage for the event as soon as we have packed the market away, the whole market square will be covered this Saturday as the Fringe crew are erecting the canopy on Friday.

It will be an interesting atmosphere and the soundscape in the square will be totally different.

Talking of soundscapes, we also have a special Fringe busking session outside the Square on the busking spot with five acts that are also performing at the event playing busking sets throughout the morning.

On the food front we have a new soup stall, Nature’s Kitchen, starting at the market.

Lynne of Nature’s Kitchen has been making and selling cold soups to reheat for a while and has brought forward her intended time to start doing markets due to the extended absence of the old soup man. Her soups are said to be delicious.

We’ll find out on Saturday!

After last week’s spigarello introduction I have further news from Hotch Potch organic vegetables this week, they will have choy sum; often thought of as the flowering broccoli-type version of pak choi it is tastier, juicier and tenderer; tomatillos, introduced last year, are an essential ingredient of authentic salsa verde and other Latin American cuisine.

This tangy vegetable is not just a green tomato, although part of the same family. It has a tart taste of its own and adds a distinctive bite to recipes.

Finally, while we enjoy the back end of summer, it’s time for gardeners to think ahead and plant for colour in the spring.

Wallflowers and Sweet Williams are popular and you can get these plants in pots from garden centre outlets, or you can go for the more traditional and much cheaper option (as recommended by Radio 4 Gardeners’ Question Time experts last year) and get bare-root transplants from a local nursery or market gardener.

They will have these for the next few weeks too.

lHave you got a favourite seasonal recipe perfect for late summer? Share it at stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk