They say one swallow doesn’t make a summer, the same can also be said about  weather. (Yes, I know. Here I go again.) One week in  March and another at the end of May, which were warm and sunny, doesn’t constitute summer in my book.

The last few days in particular have been very windy, and before that very wet, and yet here in Lincolnshire we still have a hosepipe ban. You couldn’t make it up.

As a result the garden is a mess. The peas, which are supposed to be able to climb up their sticks unaided, are horizontal. I spent yesterday evening tying them up. At least they’re pointing in the right direction now, but not a pretty sight.

Amazingly the broad beans seem to have survived the onslaught unscathed, but even they are suffering from the cold. The potatoes seem OK on the surface, but who knows what is going on below ground. Everything, plants, flowers, vegetables and me, need some warmth.

I did manage to get the grass cut yesterday, it seems to be the only thing that’s thriving, along with the weeds of course and the mouse that’s chomping his way through the rubber hoses in my car’s engine!

Last September I sowed 48 ‘Lucifer’ seeds and finally ended up with 12 plants. As I like Lucifer a lot I decided to sow some more a few weeks ago, a better time of year you would have thought. Result? Not one germination out of 24 seeds.

To pass the time I’ve been decorating the bedrooms, but what I really want is to get out into the garden with the sun on my back (or front).

Where is summer?