The blossom is as good as I have known it. The tulips have stayed much longer than last year, overlapping the alliums and the hawthorn. We did not cut our first asparagus until 10 May, but it is now growing like demon shoots. It is as though all the spring experiences are being compressed and expanded to fill every inch of the time available. They like a rich soil with good drainage.
Most lettuce is best sown in drills about in deep as thinly as possible.
Water the drill before you sow the seed. Flick the soil back over the sown drill and mark it. Thin as soon as the seeds can be handled, leaving an initial inch between seeds, then use the young lettuce alternately until the final crop has 4in space between each plant.