It’s impossible to predict how the gardening year will go. For the last two years, we’ve had warming, dullish, wettish, sluggish weather through the spring with mostly cloudy skies with lots of snails. Seedlings sulked, and coaxing plants to grow in the uninspiring weather was tiring. Suddenly, this year we’re into a hot dry spring and the major challenge is not the gastropods but drought. And keeping up with the plants which having been growing very quickly – including eating quantities of mizuna greens.

This was the edible plot yesterday. The fruit trees have blossomed and come quickly into leaf after I pruned them hard in February. Green fly is a bit of a problem. It always is, but there’s plenty of evidence of hungry harlequin ladybirds.

In addition to our Sarpo Mira potato plot underneath the apple trees, we have a rogue potato or two in the central bed as we always seem to, despite careful harvesting of the previous year’s crop. Courgettes are trying to hold their own, and the young climbing beans haven’t been savaged by snails. Yay!

Strawberries are doing their thing with little help from us: what a wonderful plant. However, the moment they turn red, all the other denizens of the garden will be after them. And our salad planters have done really well but a bit too quickly. The radishes are getting out of hand!

Yesterday, I planted some remaindered climbing beans and purple sprouting broccoli seedlings. I also divided up and transplanted the beetroot seedlings: they don’t look very strong yet but fingers crossed … The bed underneath the wall has been thoroughly watered and mulched with bark chips, and the green fertiliser (phacelia and rye grass) was dug in back in March.

The red stemmed rhubarb planted back in April has been visited by snails but it’s still growing. Once established, it should flourish. Fingers crossed …