I dare not predict the weather. It’s looking good at the moment and the barbeques are running well but I don’t have the resources of the Met Office or the BBC, or even an old strand of sea weed, so I will resist the temptation of putting my head on the block and say what a great summer we are going to have because it could all change in the next month or so. We live on an island. Surrounded by water, much affected by tides and in the northern hemisphere. That means the weather can be changeable to say the least. In the centre of continental Europe the challenge is less as weather systems tend to be more stable and more predictable. Actually weather charts recently have been quite encouraging, nice area of high pressure over our bit and a dirty great smear of rain bearing cloud from Germany down to the South of France. Gardening at this time of the year is absolutely wonderful; you can hear things growing. I look at my vegetable patch and I can see the difference from day to day and that gives me a real boost especially as it seems to have been such a long time and has involved so much effort in actually producing anything remotely edible. I blame the late frosts and the cold winter but the soil did seem to take a long time to warm up and some of the early sowings were less than productive.

I have managed to get out and about a bit and am not long back from a late spring trip to visit my expatriated brother-in-law in the Czech Republic; fascinating country and still has much of the elements of its communist past still in place. Severe, gaunt grey buildings and rather dismal residential areas. There are some very beautiful historic buildings and dramatic castles that have been brought back to life. It’s a habit that I probably share with other gardeners, but I always like to have a look at what other peoples gardeners are like. Food in Czech Republic is not as varied as Dorset and garden produce seems to be mostly potatoes, onions and broad beans. It’s too cold to overwinter brassica crops so if you grow dense white cabbages you have to harvest and store before mid November. Salad crops seemed to be a rarity but it might be that they hadn’t sown them yet although the tomatoes were well up and planted out. There was a definite change since our last visit with evidence of new buildings in the villages and more ornamental gardens. Fruit trees still line the roads leading to the village; in the old days villagers ask the village organising committee if they could look after a particular tree [all numbered] and harvest the crop. That would be an excellent scheme here I think and a worthwhile extension of the allotment system.