Summer of 2017 might be described as fleeting, at best, so here are my suggestions for making the best of this weather if you’re a gardener.
1) Create outdoor rooms; areas in the garden fully set up for taking your indoor activities outside at the first sign of a break in the rain. Sadly these might need to be covered or partially covered. All the same time spent outside reading or relaxing is precious. Cooking or eating a meal outside makes the event memorable. It’s all much easier if you’re set up and ready to burst into the outdoor world at a moment’s notice.
2) Build a path or walkway that will remain dry underfoot. Paving is less than environmentally PC these days unless you can manage the drained water well but a raised gravel walkway, stepping stones, even a sheltered terrace can allow you to escape from the house. The Victorians were keen on the idea of creating walks that would enable ladies in long skirts to “take a turn about the garden”. We no longer have that problem to contend with but walking in a quagmire isn’t much fun and yet even a brief airing makes the world feel a better place.
3) This might be the moment to consider investing in a shed, and if you already have one then how about putting a stove into it and continuing to use it through out the winter. It might feel a little “70s allotment” but it means you’re poised and ready to tackle the garden given even half a chance. It can also create a brilliant space in which to dream, plan or just chill out. Plus ensuring that you at least get to see your corner of the world outside the house. Just please ensure you fit your stove safely and with adequate ventilation
4).If you have watched your prize plants floating down the garden path this summer then perhaps a pottager garden is an idea for next year. Pottager gardens, like raised beds, allow you to have a great deal more control over the soil and drainage, useful in damp and predominantly acidic conditions, and probably the only way of growing lime lovers like lavender. While watering them can be hard work in drier areas I think we can safely say we have that problem solved here.
5). If you are very short of space and still desperate for a chance to exercise your green fingers then a bottle garden is a great idea. All you need is a frame, some plastic bottles and compost and away you go. They look stunning and take up so little room. It should even be possible to rig a shelter over one if the weather deteriorates any further and children adore the idea.
6) In extremis and if the drains simply aren’t coping then adopt the approach of bending with the wind as it were - water gardens were wildly fashionable in the 80s and 90s and this might be just the right time to revive the idea. Formal, naturalistic, oriental, environmentally friendly or even accidental - there is no shortage of options.
7) If none of the above will work for you then bring the outdoors in. Succulents and terrariums are popular at present but as Hygge devotees will testify there are all sorts of options for houseplants and even bunches of cut flowers can brighten your day and that of everyone in the house.
8) I disagree with the maxim that there is no such thing as the wrong weather, only the wrong clothing, some activities simply can’t be enjoyed in a downpoor. However there are some which are possibly even enhanced by it. Visiting what is described as the Scottish rainforest, the layered and canopied woodlands that are so wonderfully preserved in places such as Glen Nant, is a great experience whatever the weather. I confess to a purely personal love of the sound of rain dripping onto foliage, it’s a very soothing sound
9) If all of the above have failed, you can’t bear the thought of another soaking or face putting on a drysuit simply to go outdoors, then give in, pretend it’s winter and banish that discontented feeling that somehow we’re missing out on the sunshine that should be rightfully ours. Winter after all has it’s compensations.
