Alexandra Oakley 
April always seems to be the month when the garden decides it wants everything from you at once. There are seedlings to plant out, supports to sort, weeds to tackle, roses to get in and a general sense that you need to be everywhere at the same time.
I have been planting out larkspur, delphiniums and far too many snapdragons, and I finally got Peach Melba into the ground too. There is real momentum now, even if it comes with a slightly frantic edge.
The ranunculus have surprised me by looking far more hopeful than they did earlier in the year, which is a relief after all my moaning about them. Sometimes they really do make you wait.
I have also reached that annual stage of imagining garden tables, benches and evenings outside before the weather has quite caught up with the vision, but I like to think that counts as optimism.
