Climate change is playing havoc with my cabbages

MAYBE there is something in this climate change business after all.

I’m not the most fervent eco-warrior of my generation, but the weather lately makes you wonder.

The driest, coldest April gave way to the wettest May and that morphed into a hot, dry June. No significant rainfall so far this month and the ground is gasping.

The soil on my allotment is hard and cracked, my water butts are fast emptying.

Amid historic warnings that the entire

North of England could become a desert by 2035, Yorkshire Water is already encouraging businesses to use less. No leaky loos or dripping taps!

Last year, the privatised utility asked us to turn off the tap while brushing our teeth and have a four-minute shower instead of a bath. And fill a watering-can while waiting for it to warm up.

Not so much “Save water – shower with a friend” as “Yes, you watering-can!”

And it’s not even proper summer yet, not for another fortnight, on what was to have been Freedom Day.

The way things are going, if the heavens don’t open up soon, that nice Mr Whitty won’t be urging “Wash Your Hands” because we’ll need the water to brush our teeth. Tell me: why do vegetables wilt and fail in the heat, while flowers soldier on as if nothing is happening? Next door’s poppies are blooming magnificent, and my hollyhocks are thriving.

The marigolds and carnations from the Co-op are starting well in the old stone sink and the irises look healthy.

Meanwhile, only the broad beans cock a snook at the drought. If only I could persuade Mrs R to eat them, that would be some compensation for lost cabbages.