wrote.
How come your soil is so "swampy"? Moist soil is good, but you suggest
that yours is too wet to plant. I thought we had a drought?!

I live just north of Manchester. It's hardly stopped raining since last
November (when I got my allotment). On the days that it's not rained it's
been cold and the ground has been frozen. My patch is fairly wet anyway
which I'm hoping will be to my advantage in summer, but at the moment I
literally sink up to my knees in mud (I almost lost my wellies last week).

Regards.