I am very proud to say that I am now a member of the Broadstone Horticultural Society.

I loved all the produce proudly displayed at their summer show and it’s not just fruit, vegetables and flowers but there are categories for baked goods and preserves, if you are a dab hand in the kitchen.

The class, which interests me, is the photography category. I am not sure if there are any other professional photographers who are members, so I may stand a chance of winning something, as I think I will find it hard to compete in the vegetable classes, against all those gardeners with many more years experience than me.

But it’s the taking part that’s more important than winning – right?

I have a sneaking suspicion that I am going to enter into a very competitive environment and as I am not very competitive by nature; this may bring out a side of me, which I haven’t seen before.

Win or not I am very excited to be part of this club and I have my eye on possibly 3 categories to enter at my first meeting in September.

The recent rains have bought a welcome relief to our dry gardens. I am just a little worried about blight hitting my outdoor tomatoes, which are supposed to be blight resistant but this weather still makes me nervous.

I have cut off lots of leaves from my tomatoes, to expose the fruits to the sunshine to help to ripen them off, when the sunshine decides to return to our skies.

I have nearly picked enough raspberries to make my first batch of jam. Ooh perhaps I could enter my jam into the table competition at my first meeting. I know there will be stiff opposition in this category and what is good enough for me to spread on home made bread, might not be good enough for the exacting standards of the judges.

Oh well nothing ventured, nothing gained. I’ll let you know if I have any successes in a few weeks.