I know what you’re going to say: what is she talking about gardening for when my garden is a swamp? I have been telling people, and myself, that this will all end and that we must look forward and onwards.

And so we must, for gardeners are nothing if not optimists. But I need to talk to you about the soil.

Put simply: stay off. Even if surface water has drained and you are able to get out to do a bit of digging over, be aware that your weight, combined with retained water, will lead to compaction.

There is going to be a problem with the lack of oxygen in the soil and you standing all over it will not help.

If you want to do some digging, work off boards. I suggest you cover them in chicken-wire, stapled into place, to avoid slipping off.

The other thing is to make sure that, if you are using a spade, you do not create solid sides or bottoms to holes. Always use a fork to make sure they are broken up.

Stay off the lawn, too. I daresay it will be growing, but walking all over it and dragging a lawnmower on it is doing damage. Patience!

Earthworms that are so important in creating a decent soil will have had a tough time. They go deeper down when soil is frozen or wet, but the problem has been that water has probably gone so far down as to drown them. I hope not.

Concentrate efforts on things you can do rather than fretting about those you can’t yet. If you have plants that are permanently in containers, it would be good to gear yourself up to repotting.

Remember that if you have used a John Innes No. 3 compost, there will have been enough food in it for about six months. Peat-based and peat-free composts only have enough food for six weeks so you see the problem.

Should you have used the wrong type – for example planting a camellia or azalea in ordinary rather than ericaceous – they will be struggling. Whatever you grow in pots, they will benefit from slow-release pelleted fertiliser mixed in every spring. If you are unable to take the whole plant out of the pot because it is compacted, you have two options: smash the pot and release the poor thing into something bigger or scrape off the top few inches of old compost and add new.

This will only be a temporary measure and the pot-smashing will have to follow.

Talking of pot-smashing, I have had a few people in with tales of woe. They bought lovely pots of beautiful but impractical shape; the ones that look like Ali-Baba pots. These are a disaster if you put compost in and directly plant something. The trick is to plunge-plant. You plant into a plastic pot that can be put in and lifted out of the show-pot, then fill the big pot with rubble or polystyrene and sit the plastic pot on top. Top up with mini-bark chips and no one will know.