OUR Facebook followers in the Stroud farmers market group will have seen the photograph announcing the fact we had watermelon at the market; grown at Hotch Potch Organic.

This is their second year of trying and this year they have been successful. It is a funny time of year for watermelon; you’d normally expect to eat them when it’s hot but, nevertheless, they were delicious and will be available again this week.

As we go into autumn proper, the summer veg have tailed off at Hotch Potch with sweetcorn, lettuce and beans all finished; but now the autumn greens have come into their own. Broccoli/calabrese is at its best, true spinach is coming back in and the oriental greens are looking good, especially tatsoi (a dark green relative of pak choi but with more flavour and more tenderer) and shungiku (an edible chrysanthemum), both of which have a strong tradition in Japanese cooking.

They also grow a range of heritage Italian brassicas. As well as the now widely known Cavolo Nero and Romanescos (not a type of cauliflower, although it has similarities), they grow Spigarello, (from the Napoli area) a leafy ancestor of broccoli and Cavolo Broccolo Friulano. From the Dolomites, this looks a bit like spring greens and a bit like pak choi and has tender green leaves with thick, pale succulent stems. Leeks have arrived and roots are good with carrots and beetroot still available, parsnips coming in and celeriac sizing up.

They will also still have wallflowers. It’s not too late for gardeners to plant these for colour and scent next spring, but it’s not a job that should be put off much longer. On Gardeners’ Question Time on the radio they were criticising the low quality of wallflower transplants available from garden centre chains, and recommending gardeners look for field grown ones like those at Hotch Potch.

Elsewhere this week we have the return to the market of Horton’s Bees and Trees with a range of honeys and woodwork. It has been a poor year for the bees once again with the wrong weather happening at the wrong times of the year for the second year running although Horton’s should be able to keep us supplied until the end of the year.