Each year, the organisers of the British Food Fortnight remind me that now is the time to champion British food. I reply – as I have replied ever since 2002 when the fortnight was launched – by stating that I promote British food throughout the year.

I accept that flagging up British food during the autumn, to coincide with Harvest Festival, is a positive thing to do, but for me, every season is important.

This year, British Food Fortnight runs from Saturday until October 4.

Organisers say that focusing effort on a particular date gives people involved in the food business something specific to aim for and helps concentrate their efforts. Restaurants can cook special dishes created from British products, schools can stage food events for pupils and shops can create window displays and promote special offers. Two weeks ago I attended one of the first harvest open days in Oxfordshire. Though it happened outside Food Fortnight dates, it proved such a terrific harvest celebration that I think my mentioning it will give the event a great kick-start. It was Worton Organic Garden’s Harvest Open Day. This delightful Oxfordshire garden, run by the Australian gardener David Blake and his wife Anneke, is midway between Cassington and Yarnton. I arrived on the dot of 10am, assuming I’d be early enough to spend a few moments speaking with David and Anneke before their visitors arrived. I should have known I was being over-optimistic. By the time my friend and I had parked, this seven-acre plot, was absolutely buzzing and a large queue of food lovers had already formed in the shop, where the most splendid assortment of freshly-harvested fruits, vegetables and flowers were on sale. I managed to speak to the couple briefly to ask if they could provide me with a list of the various fruits and vegetables they were harvesting during autumn. “Where shall I start?” said Anneke as she walked me around the shop and pointed out: artichokes, borolo and saurian beans, neo di Toscane Portugese cabbage, Chinese cucumbers, crystal apple cucumbers, Paris white cucumbers, gherkins, black, purple, yellow, orange, white, pink and green heritage tomatoes, sweetcorn, chocolate-coloured peppers, white and striped aubergines, endives, radicchio, lettuce, chicory, potatoes and nine different varieties of winter squash. She then stopped to take breath before pointing out the apples, pears and other fruits and the lovely variety of autumn flowers. It was a superb display. I have written about the Worton Organic Garden before, having visited in May 2006. What impressed me then was the way David cares for the land. He believes in giving nature its head. He was not opening it to the public then, as there was still much to be done to pull the whole thing together. His main aim in opening it now is to show just how far the garden has developed and offer us a chance to see how the earth responds to kindness. David is a gardener who really cares for the creatures that share his plot. He is particularly proud of the number of earthworms that now fill his soil. He told me then that good soil contains at least 20 earthworms per square foot. He then scooped up a handful of soil to show me the many worms wriggling through his fingers. At the time, he had explained that they are essential as they help him fertilise the soil. “By taking everything that falls on to the surface down into the soil, the worms do a great job. I throw straw on the soil and the worms take it in, doing my work for me,” he said. To ensure good crops of vegetables such as sweetcorn, David scatters three times as many seeds as are necessary. He accepts that this is a costly exercise but explains that it means the birds can have their share and still leave enough seeds to germinate. Companion planting is important, too, which is why you will find so many flowers among the crops. Flowers such as nasturtiums attract the pests, leaving the main crop untouched. They make for a colourful garden too. Since my last visit three-and-a-half years ago, the couple have installed a large greenhouse where grapes, heritage tomatoes and chillies flourish. They have also erected a poly tunnel in which herbs and salad vegetables can be found. Chickens and guinea fowl still roam free among the trees at the bottom of the garden, and an abundance of bees can be seen darting from one flower to another. David sells his produce at Wolvercote Farmers’ Market every Sunday and from his farm shop on Thursday (until October), Friday and Saturday throughout the year. I can’t think of a better way of flagging up British Food Fortnight than mentioning this remarkable organic garden once again.