It won’t last. The wet weather last year and this is a temporary aberration I learned when visiting the Changing Climate Dome at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.
The scientists from the Met Office, who are available for questions and give talks in this dome, tell me that the lovely wet weather that is essential for good crops on my dry sandy soil is due to La Niña. This is the opposite of El Niño which was apparently responsible for the hot, dry weather in 2006.
They are climatic features in the equatorial regions of the Pacific Ocean off south America that involve oscillations for water temperature with La Niña being associated with colder water and El Niño with warmer. The effects of these are, astonishingly, felt throughout the world.
Worryingly, the Met Office scientists say that although this year will be cooler than 2006 because of La Niña, it will still be one of the warmest years on record. When El Niño comes around again, as it surely will, we can expect heatwaves and excellent tomato and melon crops, but the peas, brassicas and salads will need heavy watering to do well.
I am going back to the flower show today and I will have a lot more questions on climate change for the Met Office people.