The drought put considerable stress on trees over the past year and so they didn't grow much.

Some trees put on a small burst of growth in response to warmer temperatures in spring and, with the continuing dry, then went into summer dormancy.

Other trees simply didn't come out of their winter dormancy.

With the recent rains, the dormancy ended and growth started again.

The flower buds on some trees, particularly apples, received a signal to start growth, and thinking it was spring, finished developing and flowered, even though the flowers from spring had already developed into fruit.

Any fruit that forms from these out-of-season flowers won't mature this summer and the flowering won't damage the tree or affect next spring's flowering or crop significantly.

To prevent this happening, you need to maintain an even moisture level in the soil, although that is easier said than done with level 5 water restrictions and the horrendous seasons of 2019!

If you are mowing your lawn, don't mow it too short in hot weather as this can expose the roots and the lawn can become susceptible to heat stress, especially as the roots are only just recovering from the long dry.

The grass clippings can be left on the ground as long as they are not too thick, or used to start a new compost heap.

Humans have been eating apples for thousands of years. At the Sammardenchia-Cueis site near Udine in north-eastern Italy, seeds from some form of apples have been found in material carbon dated to around 4000 BCE. It is uncertain whether such ancient apples were wild Malus Sylvestris or Malus Domesticus.