Bee-Have

Last weekend we went to the allotment for the sole purpose of watering ...in April ...no showers ...behave yourself, it cannot be true. The hottest April since records began, I think. We were delighted to find our orchard had burst into blossom and even more exciting than that, a fellow allotmenteer and bee-keeper (two plots down) had left a pot of honeycomb for me to show my school children and you guys. He was relieved that the hive had over-wintered successfully, despite the cold winter conditions. Great news for us as that means more chance of a good apple crop this year. My son ...M for short...potential engineer .....is concerned that the branches won't hold the weight. That will give him something to calculate for his A level Maths! We have two varieties of apple ...Elstar and Cox's, both are required for successful pollination. These are all grafted trees and, I think have the potential of growing to 25 ft high ..mmmmm ....must read that RHS pruning book this Summer!