What Survives When the Rain Stops?

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We’ve just returned from two weeks away, camping in the Netherlands. We had an absolutely glorious time. In part because the sun shone the whole time (apart from one rain shower when we were on a ferry crossing north of Amsterdam - we all just stood there getting soaked to the core and loving the feeling of the wet on our skin) because, as anyone who camps will know, a rainy camping holiday is not often a fun camping holiday.

The Netherlands in comparison to the UK is still looking lush and green and as we cycled the canals I felt envious of their access to so much water. Every garden we passed had a hose in the canal to allow them to draw up the water to keep their plants and lawns alive.

It is the total opposite here in the UK, where we are in the South West and have had no significant rainfall since early June. We have been under a hose pipe ban for a month now and whilst I try to avoid using tap water to water the garden all of our own water sources have long since dried up.

So after another few weeks of high temperatures and intense sun, I was anxious about what we would return home to after our trip away. I had Alan, my allotment neighbour, doing what he could on my plot and the people looking after our house were also tasked with the odd bit of watering, but it’s a big ask of someone to traipse up and down with a watering can for a couple of hours a day.

And to say the ground is parched is an understatement. The burial hole we dug for our sweet dog Tina a few weeks ago went down at least a metre. There was no sign of water that far down so it is no wonder the trees and shrubs are really beginning to show the signs of stress.

On Sunday afternoon I returned from the beach with my son to the sight of five firetrucks stationed along our road. They remained there for most of the afternoon and evening, making trips back and forth to the crossroads to fill their trucks with more water. Battling against low water pressure in the system because yet another water leak had sprung up in the roads surrounding us.

It wasn’t until the next morning that we discovered what had happened. A cigarette had been flicked into a fire pit in a nearby garden. That had set fire to the remains of the wood in the fire pit, which in turn sent sparks flying, quickly igniting the parched ground. Those flames came in contact with a gas canister and three hours later six acres of land across multiple gardens had been burned to the ground.

It was so close to home and it really made my husband and I think about our garden and the fire risks that are present here. We had only just been barbecuing on our wooden decking to the front of our house on the Saturday night. The thought of what could have happened if a spark had flown into the garden and onto the parched wildflower patch doesn’t bear thinking about.

It really hit home to us just how serious this drought is and how careful we all need to be in our spaces. But also it bought into light how this drought is about so much more than whether the plants in our gardens are going to survive. It’s about the saving of our wild spaces and the impact on our food sources. It’s about wildlife and how they are coping as huge areas of their homes are destroyed in just a few hours. And when it comes down to it, it’s about our future survival and how we all need to adapt to this new world that we are inhabiting.

Whilst the picture is so much bigger than my garden and the survival of my plants, this is a space where I can make a difference.

And so I have been taking lots and lots of notes as to those plants that are in my garden and able to cope with periods of drought and heat. I wrote here about how I plan to nurture the garden moving forward and this following section shares with you, those plants that I will be growing more of next year in anticipation of what is to come.