WATER butts have been empty for weeks and the few light showers that have fallen on the plot have barely moistened the soil.

Evening or early morning watering has become essential for vulnerable plants such as cucumbers, tomatoes and the plants in flower such as courgettes and French beans, as well as newly sown or transplanted crops.

I read in a national newspaper that it would take five inches of rain to replenish the soil, which is unlikely to happen in this area, but it is not all gloom and doom. We have been eating spinach since the beginning of June and the salad crops, new potatoes and peas have done well.

Garden Organic (the charity devoted to organic gardening) advises adding a ten centimetre layer of mulch to beds to cut down evaporation and to limit watering, once you have given plants a really thorough soaking. This maximises the water holding capacity of the soil and should also help stop annual weeds, which seem to thrive, whatever the weather. It also reinforces that it is better to water less frequently, but more thoroughly, thereby encouraging roots to travel downwards.

If you are going on holiday over the summer, keep your fingers crossed for the odd shower or two while you are away, or ask a friend or family member to water selected crops in return for picking the bounty. Courgettes can quickly turn to marrows if not picked regularly, and French beans can get stringy if not cropped.

And if it does rain heavily, everyone will be on potato and tomato blight alert.

But it’s worth it, once you have tasted your first new potato, sprinkled with mint or chives, there is no going back.