Climate change is starting to affect gardens in many ways, but the forthcoming death of the lawn which you may have read about in less reputable newspapers than The Herald is not one of them. Gardening in a Changing Climate, a report prepared by the Royal Horticultural Society and researchers at Reading University, predicts gardeners in East Anglia will struggle to produce decent lawns, not gardeners the length and breadth of the UK, as falsely reported elsewhere.

Rather than hot and dry, summers in future are likely to be cool and wet.

Met Office data show how widely rainfall levels vary throughout the UK, and even north of the Border west and central Scotland are much wetter than the east coast. The gulf between Lanark and arid Lincoln, however, would make you doubt they’re in the same country. Between 1981 and 2010, annual summer rainfall was 300-400mm in west and central Scotland, in contrast to levels of 150-250mm in south-east England.

According to climate change predictions, these differences are set to intensify. So, even more of the gardening advice from the south may have to be treated with caution if you’re from Dunoon or Troon. You’ll be planning for drookit times and our lawns will face very different challenges to those in East Anglia.

Waterlogging from heavy rain that fails to drain away exacerbated by runoff from paths and other surfaces is likely to be our problem.

Waterlogging happens when the surface of a lawn is badly compacted. Over the years, the soil forms a solid crust preventing water from escaping. The gardens of new-build houses often have turf laid on top of a stony, clay subsoil, forming an impenetrable barrier.

You can break this up by spiking the lawn with a fork. Drive it into the ground and ease the shaft slightly towards you. Move over the grass, repeating the process to create lots of drainage holes.

With a severe drainage problem, you may need to contact an expert who’ll install a set of drainage pipes. But this is a last resort as it’s expensive and very disruptive.

A less drastic solution is to install a soakaway. This entails digging a 75cm deep hole, one metre square, on a spot where water collects. Fill it with gravel and, if you like, cover with turf or a slab containing drainage holes. The water gradually disperses deeper in the soil.

Increasingly wet summers might require gardeners to change or modify the grass mixes they use, as some are more robust than others.

Many people want a perfect green sward, worthy of a bowling green, but that may be less feasible in wet conditions. The usual lawn mix contains fine fescue and bent species that grow slowly and survive frequent onslaughts from a low-set lawnmower. But, most importantly, there’s no dwarf perennial ryegrass in the mix as it’s too rough for that type of lawn.

Ryegrass has a deep root system that helps drainage, so it's perfectly equipped to cope with long, wet summers. This seed is an ingredient of standard grass mixes and perfect for the gardener who wants grass that needs an occasional cut.

Grass naturally occurs in dry, sunny, prairie-like places, which means shade can be challenging, but breeders have been developing mixes for most environments. Provided it’s not too shady, a mix containing hard fescue, strong and slender creeping red fescue and browntop bent may be your best bet.