I just made myself the most delicious quick lunch using some "wild" rocket from the garden.

Cook some pasta, drain it and put it back in the pan with a handful of rocket, a spoonful of pesto and about a third of a tin of chopped tomatoes. Stir it all up and cook over a low heat until the tomatoes are heated through.

You could of course use fresh tomatoes but that would make it slightly less quick and easy, wouldn't it?

The sun is shining and the smell of incinerated sausage hangs over the suburbs: yes, barbecue season is upon us! Sadly the prospect of a barbecue is often less enthralling for vegetarians than it is for our carnivorous friends. While they're gorging on hunks of charred flesh we'll most likely be chewing some bland imitation meat product or other. But with a bit of imagination we can share in the thrill of outdoor cookery. I spent a sun-drenched weekend drinking beer in the garden while testing these ideas for al fresco cuisine to delight vegetarians and vegetable lovers alike. Oh, the sacrifices I make!

• Those big breakfast mushrooms are a great alternative to the dreaded soya burger. Buy the biggest ones you can find because they will shrink quite a lot when cooked. Marinate them in barbecue sauce for a few hours before putting them on the barbecue, and apply liberal quantities of sauce while cooking. If you can be bothered to peel them before marinating they will absorb more flavour. Serve in a bap with the usual burger trimmings.
• Vegetable kebabs are an old favourite. You can just put a load of veg in a bowl and provide skewers for people to make their own. I recommend large chunks of red onion, peppers and courgette and whole mushrooms. Good with salad and pitta bread.
• Aubergines are just crying out to be barbecued. Cut an aubergine lengthways into slices about a centimetre thick. Rub a little olive oil into each side and sprinkle with coarsely ground salt and pepper. Cook until they are golden brown and have those lovely black lines on both sides. Eat just as they are or in a ciabatta roll with some salad and mayonnaise. Heavenly.
• It may not be the healthiest option, but barbecued halloumi is to die for. Halloumi is the ultimate grilling cheese: it will hold its shape and cooking really brings out it's flavour. I used to add chunks of it to kebabs but it often splits on the skewer and ends up in the flames: it's much easier to just cut it into slices and put it straight on the grill. Cook each side until golden-brown. You don't need to add anything to it, though a splash of balsamic vinegar goes nicely.

It may just be the effect of the glorious sunshine but this afternoon I am feeling good about my vegetable garden again after several days of slug-induced negativity. Everything seemed to be going great thanks to the warm spring until last Monday when I arrived home from a weekend away to find my entire first and second plantings of oakleaf lettuce had been munched. One lonely plant remained but did not last much longer. I felt my loss more keenly for seeing how much they had shot up in the three days I had been away. I don't begrudge the slimy gits a nibble but the loss of an entire crop brought down the red mist.

Out came the yoghurt pots, out came the beer. The beer went into the yoghurt pots and the yoghurt pots into the ground around my vegetable patch. Judging by the number of decomposing slugs I have slung onto the compost heap today they are working. I did feel a twinge of vegetarian guilt, but this is my salad they're competing for, and I haven't tasted oakleaf for months.

Here's a tidbit on slug traps I picked up from a forgotten source: leave a centimetre or so between the top of the soil and the top of the trap. This prevents our chums the earthworms from haplessly falling in. It doesn't stop the slugs from slithering to their doom, I can vouch for that.

Yesterday I was starting to think growing veg was not for me after all. When my family visited at the weekend we sampled the first fruits of my labour in the form of a handful of mizuna leaves mixed in with lettuce from the supermarket. This moment should have been joyful, but the bounty was too meagre to give me much cheer. I wondered if my kitchen garden would ever amount to more than a garnish. But it seems there has been a growth spurt in the few hours I was away from the house this morning. I can see at least one decent salad out there, perhaps two. The sun is shining and there's planting to be done!