Right now in the garden

There’s still time to sow seed of kohlrabi, a colourful, fast-growing vegetable whose swollen root stems are delicious when steamed, sautéed or grated into a salad. Sow seed into modules now, to transplant out in mid-July, spacing 30cm apart. Seed is available from Klaus Laitenberger’s Green Vegetable Seed (greenvegetableseeds.com)

Keep picking sweet pea flowers to encourage the plant to produce more.

Shaken, not stirred . . . Use a handful of juicy home-grown strawberries and fresh mint leaves from the garden to make a mouth-wateringly fruity strawberry martini. See jamieoliver.com

In the mixed border, smaller plants can quickly become smothered by their more vigorous neighbours. Stake large sprawling plants, using a secateurs to gently prune back unwanted growth.

At this time of year garden ponds can quickly become infested by blanket weed, a slimy looking plant that floats on the top of the water and smothers other growth. Remove it by twisting it around a bamboo cane, then leave it by the side of the pond overnight to allow any pond wildlife to escape back into the water.