May bloom a little late this year

MAY is sometimes called the month that begins in spring and ends in summer.

It has certainly been like that this year. The first few weeks of the month were cold and rather wet with unpleasant north easterly winds. But in the past week things are starting to improve.

I live in a cold part of the country and I had to delay taking plants like runner beans and courgettes out of the greenhouse and planting them in the garden because of the danger of night frosts. Now when I’m digging out the planting holes I can feel on the back of my hands that the soil is gradually warming up. It also has a good moisture content because of all the rain earlier in the month. The result is a sudden explosion of growth, not just in the garden but also in the surrounding countryside.