Let’s welcome the warmer days with an earthy harvest table; celebrate the new season with bountiful recipes and throw an effortless party that will impress all of your guests!

THE TABLE

1. Instead of going the usual flower route, why not pop some veggies with their leaves still attached in glass vases to use as fun centrepieces? Try carrots, beetroot or even a bunch of radishes for a lovely pop of colour.
2. Using a big piece of old-fashioned brown paper as a table cloth will bring a rustic feel to your table setting and a hessian runner will complement it perfectly.
3. Take advantage of nature’s regrowth by binding twigs and summer herbs in bunches to hang above the table or scatter around your home. The herbs’ sweet scent will make your house smell like spring.
4. Decorate the table with fresh, wild flowers from your garden and pitchers of fruit- and blossom-infused waters.
5. Roll up linen napkins and tie with twine for instant dinner table flair.

THE FOOD

1. Think bright and fresh salads. A strawberry salad with goat’s cheese croutons is a yummy combo of sweet, crunchy and creamy.
2. Stuffed veggies are super simple to prepare and fun to eat. Trade winter’s heartier squashes for tomatoes and fill them to the brim with fragrant pesto, avo and ricotta.
3. Although it’s starting to heat up, a spring minestrone with chicken meatballs will add a hot element to the table..
4. If you need an extra side, a bright veg and barley salad will make for a toothsome and delicious addition to the meal.
5. No dinner party is complete without a touch of sweet decadence. Serve up a bananas, berries, lemon curd and meringue cases for a build-your-own pavlova station.

AS A SIDENOTE

Pick produce at its seasonal best; it will be in abundance, the flavour will be perfect and it will be more cost-efficient. Gooseberries, mulberries and strawberries are lovely in a smashed berry spritzer or a strawberry margarita while peas and broad beans make delicious dips for broccoli, cauliflower and roasted asparagus spears. And all of these are in season in spring. Eat up!