Doesn’t anyone else have a slight feeling of dread?

[DiddlyWiddly]

I’m in the south east, the weather recently has been odd, in my opinion anyway.

We had a few days of alternating snow and sunshine, literally sunshine pouring down followed by snow then back to sunshine.

Now we are nearing the end of April and maybe it’s just me, but it seems unusually hot and dry?
My garden was very thoroughly drenched with the hose just a few days ago and although the more shaded parts are absolutely fine, the soil in the more exposed, sunny portion is already baked dust dry.
Desert dry.
Some of the plants are wilting and in need of water again and we are only in April.
We haven’t even reached proper summer yet.

I’m feeling a little nervous for the future, if it’s like that here in April, what is it going to be like in the peak of summer?
What is it like in traditionally hotter countries?
How will the farmers cope?
How will we find sufficient water?
Ornamental flowers are one thing but fruit and vegetables need water to grow, quite a lot of water for certain edibles.

And another thing I noticed yesterday, admittedly a lot of my ‘fail safes’ like Buddleja and open roses and snapdragons are not flowering yet but I haven’t seen many bees around, even on sunny days and when I have, I have witnessed them landing then leaving plants I have bought that allegedly they like!
The bees I have seen have only really been on my dandelions, my bird cherry and I saw one bee on a hyacinth.
I have seen barely any butterflies, just one peacock butterfly.
Hardly any insects anywhere.

Not just in my garden but in the surrounding area.

Is anyone else feeling a bit antsy?

Thank you very much @Whatthechicken. I'll keep watering my veggies and keep an eye on everything else. I feel more encouraged about my tree but will have a chat with her tomorrow. Leaves would be nice . Thank you both.

I have 27 apple trees and they all blossom at slightly different times (not sure if this is position or variety...I think though it’s variety It's variety mainly - all varieties have a "pollination group" which is a number indicating when they flower. You need a tree of a different variety to pollinate your apple, so you choose two which are in the same pollination group so they're open at the same time.

Oak and ash are both late and irregular in coming into leaf, hence the rhyme "oak before the ash, we shall have a splash, ash before the oak, we shall have a soak".

Sunshine I don't water things in the ground unless the leaves are beginning to droop a bit - the plants natural response to not enough water. Water early in the morning or in the evening, to lose less though evaporation. Give a lot of water (2 gallons per square metre) so that it soaks in - worth checking the soil an inch or so below the surface to see if you're watered enough - then don't water again till you have to. Mulch your soil to raise the humus content and thus the water holding abilities.

I wish I had a proper greenhouse with heating. It's getting a bit tedious bringing everything in at night.

Temperatures expected to drop to -2 here for at least the next few nights. The only things I've dared plant outside this year with any confidence are some replacement aubrieta in a wall where there were some gaps due to a naughty sheep and a few lupins.

I made the mistake of putting some dahlia and gladioli in the ground a few weeks ago when it was warm as the dahlias had started sprouting in their wintering box. I've been covering up the earth where they are with fleece at night but in my head I've written them off.

I took the week off work this week ages ago and in more recent weeks had been planning a lovely week creating hanging baskets and doing pots for the front patio.

Grr

In better news, at least it's rained. Even if it is going to freeze tonight.