Well, we might have known what would happen, and it did. After enduring the wettest winter and early spring on record it has now been followed by the driest late spring and early summer on record.

Bone dry

At least it has been like that in the eastern half of the country. At the time of writing, it is halfway through May and is bone dry here. I was keen to get the wuzzel seed drilled and was waiting for a bit of wet before I worked the plot. After waiting and waiting no rain fell, so I took the plunge and made a start. I ploughed, power harrowed and rolled all in one day so as not to lose the bit of moisture that was there.

It was queer, I was ploughing over deep ruts created where I had driven with the loaded muck spreader in winter. Back then the tractor and spreader wheels had sunk into the waterlogged silt and left huge troughs which soon filled up with the constant rain. They were now baked into solid ridges and as they turned over with the plough, I could see there