According to the Met Office forecast, we’ve had a dry but cloudy morning here in Norwich. When I venture outside, however, fine but steady rain is falling and has been since shortly after 9 o’clock this morning.

I mustn’t complain; Norwich normally has dry weather, often sunny but sometimes just dry and cloudy. When the weather is coming from the west, forecast rain frequently fizzles out before it reaches us. We frequently go for weeks with no significant rainfall. But sometimes, like today, rain comes in from the North Sea and catches us all out, including the weather forecasters.

The soil in our garden and on our allotment is dry and sandy and there is often a layer of dust on the surface. This means I have to water shallow-rooted seedlings, though the dust actually acts as a natural mulch and protects plants with deeper roots.

At the moment, however, the allotment soil looks lovely – dark, fertile and rich. The vegetables, fruit and flowers on the allotment are growing well in these conditions, as are poppies and oxeye daisies in the wildflower meadow in the back garden.

Poppies and oxeye daisies