rain rain and more rain

I think we all expected a hot summer like last year, I'm considering gardening in the rain in a packamac! lol and trying to get my carbon emissions down , global warming is beginning to bite and children and grandchildren won't thank us if we let it get worse. There is a theory that all the melting ice will cause the gulf stream to change course and that is what keeps us warm, without the gulf stream we could get siberian weather, that should make for challenging gardening. Hope the weekend is not too bad for you all up there

Oh, Holly, I'm so sorry to hear your woes - especially your daughter's. I can't imagine what people are going through in the floods. We are vulnerable, with a stream in the garden, our hamlet has been flooded in the past with our lane impassable After heavy rain, the stream rises alarmingly and we all keep a close watch on it with fingers crossed. We haven't had as much rain as you up there, as yet. Thinking about you.

Sorry to hear about your daughter I think the whole country is so shocked at how this weather has hit so fast. Gardeners are always dealing with the elements but this has suprised so many. I garden on clay and am watching all my top soil wash away but it will pick up again, I hope your daughter is back on her feet soon and not too much damage.

I'm so sorry to hear about all the flood damage in your areas - and i moan about it raining too often and being cold, so that my plants are all still green leaves and nothing much else! I planned my whole gardening year round the constant media statements that we were in for a hotter summer than last year - when will this happen? I am sure that, unless several major countries change their policies soon, seasonal gardening and horticultural advice books, magazines, etc, will have to be rewritten. We can no longer do tasks month-by-month,as we are taught, and have to rely more and more on our own observations and intuition. For instance, in recent times we were being advised to grow Mediterranean plant schemes for our hotter, dryer climate - how would such schemes look now with all this miserable weather? Hope everyone who has had a personal disaster has the strength and will to start again. We need our own green spaces more than ever nowadays.

Holly, I am so sorry to hear about your daughter's house, the scenes of Sheffield on the news look dreadful. The weather here has been "bad" with quite a bit of rain but seeing what others are having to cope with really puts it into perspective. I hope your garden and daughter's house are able to return to normal very soon.

For those of you that are concerned about climate change the government has a new website that can help with ideas on how to reduce your household CO2 emissions http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/index.html

Peter, you really are a wizard when it comes to providing useful websites, right down to the very addresses we need. Many thanx for that one, am going right now to look at that one. PS. Our Lobelia "Ruby Sl;ippers" have been ordered, thanx 2u!

How are things now, Holly, especially for your daughter? Did you do her any more tubs or is her plight too serious for that?