RHS water expert to help drought-proof gardens

THE Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is hiring a specialist to teach gardeners to “drought-proof” their gardens during hot summers.

Questions from gardeners asking how to save their dry gardens increased by 26 per cent this year, with the organisation expecting this number to rise as the heatwave continues and gardens feel the full force of the drought.

To minimise the impact on gardens, the RHS is working with Cranfield University to recruit and train the UK’S first garden water scientist.

The specialist will explore ways to improve water provision in gardens by adopting new technologies, developing management strategies and encouraging behavioural change among gardeners. Everything the expert finds out will be released to gardeners online, for free.

Limited water supply during the heatwave has meant plants have struggled to grow, and the hot weather has meant the life cycle of garden pests has sped up. Periods without rain can also have a negative effect on soil and result in soil erosion, which is bad for plants in the long term.

The Royal Horticultural Society is hiring a specialist to teach the British to “droughtproof ” their gardens for future hot summers. It’s good to heed the expert, but to change strategy could be quite wrong-headed. Of course a lovely garden can be made with South African species and attractive stones. But visits to Mediterranean climes on holiday have shown the British that the rose blushes more softly at home and that florists in the hot south lack the blossoms that brighten the merest cottage garden of our temperate islands. The real problem is not to drought-proof gardens but to avoid reliance on half-hardy foreign borrowings. The olive trees now tended in so many an urban yard may not outlast the next extended frost. Meanwhile let the lawn go brown; it’ll spring again when the rain begins to fall properly once more.