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of the unbelievable quantities of rain that are making it impossible to garden, and in some instances positively treacherous to even walk.I skidded for over a metre across some wet grass the other week. My neck still clunks every time I turn my head, as if I had

I know that gardeners in other areas of the country have been blessed with proper, sustained downpours, but no such luck here. My only experience of rain in recent weeks was during a (very enjoyable) visit to Garden Show Ireland at Hillsborough

garden to look good, and for neighbouring plants to complement one another.Walking through my garden this week I was struck by its freshness following a shower. Doesn't rain transform the colour and vigour of plants in a way simply watering by hand never

What a spring we're having. Provisional Met Office reports suggest April was the warmest on record. It was also the 11th driest, based on average rainfall across the UK. Scotland's rainfall has been 110% above normal levels, while the South-East has

. The soil is saturated in many areas and, with rain continuing to fall, the air is pretty damp, too.So, what can I do about it? Well, forking in the surface covering of algae on the soil will do the trick there. The algae on the trees I can ignore. (People

in urban areas where parking spaces are at a premium and there's a lack of availability of public transport. The popularity of low-maintenance gardens among the time-poor is also a factor. The RHS estimates around 12 square miles of London are lost

the weather forecast to see what's in store for later in the week, but with Wimbledon in full swing surely we can expect rain!But if rain doesn't arrive it really is done to the gardener to make up for the shortfall. A friend of mine took on an allotment

's not just about fruit harvests, pumpkins and squashes, but also rust fungi.But here's the problem: rust fungi thrive when there's a lot of surface moisture about, and it hasn't rained for ages. The only moisture on the grass is from the morning dew. So can

Do you have an autumn clear-up in your garden? Do you cut down all your herbaceous stuff so that everything is tidy for the winter or do you leave everything until the new year? Most people nowadays leave it until later to give food for small birds

the station on some evenings I found myself battling through torrential rain, only to get home and find my garden was still bone dry. And there I was wishfully thinking I'd have an evening off from my summer watering routine!But back to the clover. Perhaps