I love making ‘fresh’ cordials with herbs and flowers from my garden. Lemon balm is an all time favourite, with mint being a close second, and of course elderflower and honeysuckle is delicious. Even the ‘weed’ cleavers (also called Sticky Willy) will subtly flavour water. But recently I got a little over- excited to discover Mr Fitzpatrick’s Vintage cordials.

There are several ‘ranges’ including Fruits and Flowers, with my favourite being Blood tonic with a combination of rosehips and nettles, Lemon, Yuzu and Turmeric and Sour Cherry, Red Grape and Hibiscus – all of which have added health benefits.

Under ‘Roots and Spices’ you’ll include old fashioned favourites like Dandelion and Burdock, Root Beer, Sarsaparilla, Iron Brew and Cream Soda – all of which will take you back to your childhood quicker than a visit to ‘Jehu’s’ in Crickhowell.

All the cordials are made ‘posher’ by adding sparkling water and can be made with hot water too. It actually makes me look forward to those cold winter months! And if that’s not enough to tempt you, you can also cook and bake with them and use them to make cocktails, jellies, smoothies and iced lollies. They have also encouraged me to drink more through the day and therefore stay hydrated. I never thought I would get quite so excited about ‘squash’ but with flavours like Rhubarb and Rosehip and Raspberry and Lavender, why wouldn’t you.

With June about to pull into the station, we now have all the weather statistics for the driest spring since goodness knows when and the sunniest May since around then too – oh and the warmest start to the year since anything began. I am a bit sceptical about all the hoo haa around these figures but what I do know is that we need rain. Even though we had a ‘token gesture’ for the Bank Holiday and half term – that’s a given. So please make sure that there is fresh water out for birds and other wildlife and keep watering pots, containers and vulnerable veg.

To quote Elvis Costello, ‘It’s a good year for the roses’, with buds and blooms a plenty, but the flowers just won’t last unless the roses are well watered. I really think that top of the list of things to do, for all keen gardeners, should be to install some form of irrigation system, preferably hooked up to a ‘collected’ water source. Leaky pipe if used correctly is the most efficient form of additional watering and should be used on a timer. My water butts ran dry weeks ago and as well as obviously being reluctant to use a hosepipe, you really can’t beat good old-fashioned rainwater for the garden. At this rate rainwater may well become ‘old fashioned’, along with green shield stamps and 2 * petrol.

Gardening folklore for June includes cutting your thistles before St. John’s Day (June 24), otherwise you will have ‘two instead of one’. A neighbour has a great method of doing this in his pony paddocks by knocking them off with a golf club. He says he not only gets to practise his swing but it’s a great stress reliever too.

Folklore also warns that a dry May will be followed by a wet June but I wouldn’t be putting any money on that! And if you enjoy wild blackberries, then keep an eye on the weather at the start of next week as it is said that if it rains for the first three days of June(y), the blackberries will be puny. But should the blackberries be bad, take heart, Mr Fitzgerald does a wonderful blackcurrant and Liquorice cordial.