The Gardening Project is wet. Very wet. It’s hard to look at it now and recall the dry rainless summer we had last year, when we were scraping out the bottom of our water barrels to give the plants a drink. We have just had the wettest February on record: Ciara, Dennis and Jorge have each left their mark and the ground (heavy clay) has become soggy, squelchy and completely sodden. Even the raised areas which are usually free draining are currently waterlogged.

Some of our plans for the spring have had to be put on hold. We have been awarded funding to plant fruit trees, but even if we could dig planting holes in the mire, the young trees would be at a high risk of rotting. Clearing new patches of ground to cultivate this year has also had to wait.

Thankfully we have the polytunnel to retreat to, where we have been busy sowing seeds for the coming season. As well as traditional flowers and vegetables we have been planting water mint, holy grass and other water loving plants to grow by our newly lined pond. Hopefully the ground will be a bit drier by the time we need to plant our seedlings out.