Pick of the Crop

Yesterday's catch: a quick growing courgette, half a dozen spring onions, a handful of basil, a dwarf carrot and a couple of sprigs of mint. Against the glass, plump green tomatoes make shapes like the folds of a fat man's stomach. Aubergine plants with chewed-up leaves grow slowly in the late-summer heat. The runner beans - neglected for too long? - wither on the fence.