Flooding in Dallas, they got an entire summers worth of rain in a day.

Sometimes it rains in big, heavy drops that hit my plants like a boxer. It blows in sometimes and is as fine as sugar that has been sieved. Sometimes, streaks of sideways wind move across the panes. Sometimes, it will just stop falling from the sky. It’s what our small island is all about and what we talk about every day when we walk in the front door. As an island, there are many things that make us different, but one thing brings us all together: rain.

Most of the time, the word “rain” is used in a bad way. We mutter, “Oh, it’s raining again,” as we slip out the door for our daily commute. The bad news is that there will be more rain, and weather forecasters with sad faces shake their heads to say sorry. We all seem to be afraid of the weather, as shown by birthday parties that get rained out and football games that get soaked. The summer of 2018 has been wet, as it always is. The amount of rain that fell in the UK in June was 139% more than usual.

As a gardener, I’ve tried to change how I think about all the rain we’ve been getting. It might not be easy. At times, it’s hard for me to think of the rain as anything but a bother. My favourite thing is the sun. I like cosy things a lot. I like to lay on the grass and look up at the sky. And yes, my plants also like the sun. But there is one thing that all plants need to stay alive, and that is water. Britain is lush and beautiful because it rains a lot.

It’s easy to forget how important water is and how lucky we are to live in a place where there is plenty of it. Even though Tim Peake’s pictures of Earth from space show a lot of blue, only 2.5% of the water on Earth is fresh. If you live in the United Kingdom, this number might be hard to believe. The truth is that a lot of people don’t have access to clean water to drink. Despite the floods, we are lucky.

Even in the West, there can be disagreements about water. California, which is on the west coast of the U.S., has been in a drought for a long time. As crops dry up, trees die, reservoirs run dry, and farmers have to rely on water from the ground. With all of this going on, the dark clouds that often roll in from the Atlantic Ocean and cover the UK may seem like a blessing.

Every plant in a garden needs water to live. When I don’t water my garden for a long time, the plants start to sag and bend. It doesn’t matter if it rains and clouds over for a few weeks. 

After a period of very hot weather, it is likely to rain again. Some of my rose flowers are having trouble opening because there is too much moisture. I also need to stake a few delphiniums that are lying down outside. I know it’s because of the rain, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.