On 24/03/2014 21:29, Martin Brown wrote:

The weirdest thing I have in flower at the moment is a bright red
papaver somniferum flower in amongst the daffodils. Insanely early!

It was looking a bit scrappy this morning after the hard frost


I've got apples on one of my appletrees.

Admittedly, yes, they are from last year. I usually leave a load on for
the birds who seem to relish them in a harsh winter - but this year they
are virtually untouched.

It is a *very* late maturing cropper. Seem best in late
November/December although very heavy frosts do result in some
marking/brown spotting. No idea of the variety but it produces masses
of small to medium fruit - very green cookers but fairly sweet for
cookers. I think its probably quite an old variety and I guess the tree
must be over 50 years old.

And they have even stayed on during its late winter haircut last month.

I guess if I could be bothered to thin it more than I do, the fruit
would be larger, but there are just so many...

Having just tasted last Autumn's rather delicious cider, I think the
birds will get a lot less next year.

--
regards andy