Can your garden recover after the hot weather?

For many of us, one look out of our windows at home and there may well be a heartfelt sigh over our gardens, now with dry, brown lawns and wilting flowers.

Can they recover? Especially with hosepipe bans in place for thousands of households and only small amounts of rain expected in the next week or so.

With three heatwaves already this summer, a number of areas of the UK, including the West Midlands, East Anglia and Hertfordshire, have been edging towards drought conditions, according to the National Drought Group - and drought status was triggered this week in parts of Wales.

So for many lawns, the outlook appears bleak - but the word from experts is do not be discouraged: "It will recover when the rain returns".

That's the view of John Cushing, who owns Goldstone Hall Hotel & Gardens in Shropshire, home of an award-winning garden.

"Grass is remarkably resilient and won't die because of a period of drought," he smiled.

Darren Rudge, a BBC radio broadcaster who is known as the Laughing Gardener, said lawns were asleep rather than dead.

"The roots are alive, it's totally OK and you do not need to worry about your lawn," he said from Bloxwich.

Cushing added: "My advice is simple: do nothing.

"If you have some wild grasses going to seed, you can trim the seed heads to prevent them spreading, but otherwise leave the lawn alone.

"Let nature take its course. Once the rain arrives, you'll be surprised how quickly your lawn recovers.

One way to help your lawn in the future is to rake or scarify it which makes a "significant difference", Daniel Puicar, the head gardener at Middleton Hall and Gardens, near Tamworth, said.

Using a rake or scarifier in a criss-cross pattern across the lawn removes moss and dead grass and breaks up the soil crust, he added.

"The jagged edges of the broken soil crust will decrease water run-off, allowing more of the water to seep into the soil."