WELL, at the moment it seems as if the old adage, “Ash before Oak and we shall have a soak” has been correct, writes Hazel Wedlake.

Although we had an unexpected heatwave mid May, which I think worked well for farmers who made a good load of silage and hay whilst the hot and dry period lasted , and then had some good steady rain to replenish the grass. However, not so good for our village fete which was subjected to strong winds and rain. Still I expect some wildlife will be benefiting from the varying weathers with birds able to access the ground easy enough, and lots of midges dancing in the air.

I saw a Mayfly trying to land on a puddle on the tarmac, presumably to lay her eggs, so she was a bit of course with the stream and lily pool just nearby. Lots of damselflies and dragon flies with stripy bodies of various hues. Large brown winged female Demoiselles and blue winged males in abundance.

A friend managed to rescue a buff-tailed bumble bee’s nest, revealed when a piece of timber was lifted in a garden during renovations. Wearing a bee suit of course, she managed to dig it out of the soil and re house it in a container in her orchard, where she was pleased to see regular activity continuing.

Garden flowers had a confusing time. Getting scorched in the extreme heat, then going back to being chilly and wet. Gardeners World advised that tomatoes like a nice steady heat. Well, they’ll be lucky, the weather goes from one extreme to the other. I was pleased though to plant my tomatoes and cucumber in the greenhouse at last , and the runner beans in their foxglove lined avenue of sticks. Foxgloves are toxic of course, so now they have flowered I thought it wise to remove them from beside a crop we were hoping to consume.

A lot of people have reported poor germination of seeds, even courgette which are usually pretty reliable. Gardener’s World again, suggested that continuous heat of the same temperature could inhibit germination of seeds from the Northern hemisphere, and a fluctuation of temperature to mimic our normal spring might stimulate germination, so to move them about.

Also, standing seed trays or pots in a tray of water to draw roots down, rather than sprinkling lightly on top of seedlings, was a better method. I know I’ve lost seedlings myself when I couldn’t be bothered to set a tray of water up, and in a hurry tried to water between the seedlings, only to knock several down which then never recovered.

Such is gardening - a season of success and failures, but occasionally we have a success like my first harvest of Broad Beans which makes it all worth while.

An unexpected surprise in mid May, friends heard a cuckoo and I heard it again now in mid June. Haven’t heard one for years!