Seasons appear askew and out of sorts

THERE’S an old saying about people whose word is dodgy — that they’d promise you blackberries for Christmas.

However, with unseasonal plant growth and a climate that has become ever more unpredictable, the idea of blackberries growing in December might no longer seem farfetched.

After all, daffodils were being picked in some parts of Ireland, on December 31. I had good daffodils shoots up in the festive season and rhubarb had sprung up in the vegetable patch. The lawn is, at present, well due to be mown, but it can’t be touched because the ground is still saturated.