Waiting on buzz of summer

IN rural areas at times of unseasonally cold weather like we’ve been having of late, you’ll hear people say, ‘there are no midges around’. Neither are we likely to hear bees.

The bumblebee, so critical to the growth of plants, doesn’t seem to have yet emerged from hibernation. At least we haven’t heard it. It normally comes out in the spring when plants begin to flower. But then, we haven’t seen much flowering, or even grass growth.

Vegetable garden planting is also being delayed as the ground in many areas is still wet and cold after a long, miserable winter. Which again leads us to question the wisdom of the old tradition that early, sprouting potatoes should be in the ridges by St Patrick’s Day. Yours truly faithfully follows that rule but, in future, it might be better to wait for more clement growing conditions.