Peter Dowdall: Let's adapt our gardens to thrive in all conditions

We’re gardening in a time of change and extremes, but here are practical ways to prepare our plants to cope in both drought and deluge

Mediterranean plants, such as lavender, pictured, will shrug off dry spells in Irish gardens, but they’ll sulk or die if left in wet ground over winter. File picture

I’m not sure if the weather statisticians will back me up, but I feel like this summer has been, thus far, officially “a good one”. Perhaps not one that they will be writing about for years to come, like 1976 and 1984, but still, we have enjoyed some lovely sunny and warm weather.

It can be hard to know what an Irish summer will bring to the garden, whether we should be reaching for the watering can or the wellies. One week, the soil can be cracked and parched under an unforgiving sun, and the next, it’s a bog, holding water as though it’s never seen a dry day.