Plot to beat the drought The flower garden is densely planted, and by the end of April little soil shows, so evaporation is minimal. Salvias, penstemons and cosmos - all with a Mexican heritage - extended the season. Roses and peonies thrived, helped by the preceding cold winter. Woody plants seem able to bear a dry season. In the vegetable garden, too, different plants have evolved with different water requirements, so when planning this year's crops, it is helpful to look back at the survivors and casualties of last year's dry weather. This has taught me a great deal - patience and stoicism apart. Drought-proof veg Cabbages were winners. Well-grown plants raised in modular trays of 24, one plant per cell, went out in early May. They were dropped into water-filled holes on a dry, warm day - an ancient technique known as puddling-in. This was their only water, and yet they sprang out of the blocks whether they were brussels sprouts, kale or purple sprouting, producing sturdy plants that never looked back. Brassicas (all the cabbage family) have evolved from plants found on thin soil close to the coast, so their ancestors were used to drought. They were happy last summer and we were munching them all winter. Puddling-in is to be recommended when planting anything. Beets and spinach, also coastal plants, did well although my beetroot (once an Egyptian speciality grown on the banks of the Nile) produced small roots. Leeks were treated in a similar way, grown in modules and then dropped into water-filled holes, one plant per hole, when they were the thickness of a pencil. Planted in late May, they were watered twice in summer, but they didn't plump up until the September rains arrived. We have just finished eating the last of 'Oarsman" F1, and they were tender and tasty. Leeks came with the Romans, probably via Mesopotamia. They almost certainly evolved in drier, warmer climes than ours . It seems they are able to bide their time until rain arrives. Carrots and parsnips were also winners. These umbellifers enjoy poor, sandy soil in the wild. This has allowed them to develop long tap roots, which have been selectively bred over many years. Umbellifer seeds need warmth to germinate, so last year's mild April helped to produce full rows, although the parsnips still took their full 30 days to germinate. Our sowing technique, of creating a 4in-wide drill and soaking it before sprinkling the seeds and covering them up, got them off to a good start. Each drill is protected with chicken wire, to deter birds and cats. The theory behind using a wide drill is that the seedlings need not be disturbed by thinning. I hope this might stop carrot fly from finding the plants, although this is conjecture. We are still harvesting parsnip 'Gladiator" F1, although roots vary in size more than usual. Carrots were abundant, but the best of all was 'Purple Haze. The shiny, purple-skinned carrot adored by my grandchildren produced full and large roots. Carrots come in all colours, but the wild purple population comes from Turkey, where summers are hot and dry, so 'Purple Haze" does well in drought. Anything with a tap root, from an oriental poppy to a verbascum, will survive drought. Apples did well and 'D'Arcy Spice" and 'Pitmaston Pine Apple" kept us in fruit until Christmas despite being planted only five years ago. Redcurrants also thrived, producing large, glassy strings. Winter squashes were successful, and the grey-skinned Hubbard type 'Crown Prince" keeps well into April in a frost-free place, so we are still eating chestnut-flavoured squash. Perhaps the greatest benefit of the dry summer was that there was no potato blight on the allotment. Cara," which is resistant to blight, is our mainstay. It started to succumb to some leaf blight in recent years, but not in 2011, and the tubers were a good size. Potatoes generally thrived, although earlies (such as 'Foremost") yielded less in weight. Watering strategy Not everything in the vegetable garden coped well, and this year some of the thirstier crops will require extra watering. I fill watering cans and stand them about the garden, and I have a golden rule: if you empty a can, you fill it up straight away. Tap water warmed by the sun and allowed to stand so the chlorine evaporates is much kinder to plants. I shall invest in more water butts. I will also save grey water from vegetable preparation and washing-up, to be tipped on to the compost heap, which will be covered with cardboard or tarpaulin to keep moisture in. Last year's compost was too dry and it remained twiggy and hard. Adding organic matter is vital to conserve moisture in soil, so this is a new resolution. The drought casualties Onions, garlics and shallots, despite being part of the allium family just like leeks, fared very differently. My shallots were tiny and failed to cluster up into sevens and nines as they should. My onions were watered too late, and the basal plate, which contains the roots, split badly, allowing fungal diseases to enter. Red Baron" onions, which tend to prefer warmer weather, were much smaller than usual. The wild ancestors of these crops hail from high, mountainous areas in Asia, where snow falls in winter. The snow melt deluges the bulbs, prompting them into rapid growth, and a hot summer follows. As a result, the roots are typically shallow, stumpy affairs and they hated last year's warm, dry April. If this April is equally warm, I shall be watering onions, garlic and shallots twice a week from the start. Demanding plants like these need water in the early stages: they don't recover if they don't get established early on. Sweetcorn 'Lark," too, suffered from not being watered early on, and it stayed knee-high. Courgettes and cucumbers failed with not a one, so these must be thirstier than squashes. Among the fruit trees, pears were less successful than apples, and our crop of 'Tomcot" apricots dropped just before it was ripe, so water will be needed for both this year. Blackcurrants are thirstier than redcurrants, but we did pick plenty of them and gooseberries. Summer-fruiting raspberries were sparse, whereas 'Autumn Bliss" cropped well, but earlier. Partially rotted grass clippings, once they turn brown, make a good mulch for these woody plants (although our brown lawn needed little mowing). My low point came when I read Telegraph letters about abundant runner bean crops that people couldn't cope with. I failed to pick one. But all was not lost. The white-flowered runners and all my French beans proved drought-tolerant. My star performer was 'Moonlight," the first cross between a runner and a French bean. The climbing beans 'Blauhilde" and 'Cobra" did little in the summer, then cropped in September - but not soon enough to make me feel better. Now that seven water companies have imposed a hosepipe ban, that must surely be like a red rag to the bullish weather gods. So I suggest we all follow the mantra on my mug: keep calm and pop the kettle on - whatever the weather.