Dig for victory over drought by catching rain, gardeners urged
THE Royal Horticultural Society has advised gardeners to dig trenches around their plants to capture rainwater during this week’s thunderstorms to avoid flooding.
The RHS said “digging out a hollow, dip, or even just a dish-like shallow ring” would trap water around plants and give soil time to absorb it. “With the ground baked hard after two months of near-drought, heavy downpours could result in significant runoff which may not reach plants and could result in localised flooding,” the society said.
It came as the Met Office placed much of the UK under yellow thunderstorm warnings. Scotland and Northern Ireland were put on alert from noon today and much of England and Wales will join them from tomorrow morning.
Jason Kelly, the Met Office’s deputy chief meteorologist, said: “The warnings highlight the chance of some places seeing about 50mm of rain in a three-hour period in the North, with some areas further south possibly seeing about 30mm in a three-hour period.
“Hail and frequent lightning are also possible as part of these downpours and represent an additional hazard.”
Despite the storms, experts warned that the rain was not the type needed to bring much relief from the drought.
Soils hardened by dry, hot weather will struggle to absorb the sudden downpours brought by the storms.
Water is likely to run off the soil, potentially contributing to flash floods.
Simon King, a BBC weather presenter and meteorologist, said: “The ‘right’ kind of rain we need is from the more persistent and steady type.
“This gives the parched ground more time to soak up the rainfall before it disappears into the nearest drain or river.” Robert Thompson, a professor of meteorology at the University of Reading, told the BBC: “The ground has effectively become like urban concrete.”
He had earlier posted a popular video to social media showing how slowly dried-out ground absorbs water compared with normal soil.
Despite the sudden shift in the weather, John Curtin, executive director for local operations for the Environment Agency, said drought “will probably be an issue for months ahead depending how the winter goes”.
Parts of the country have experienced the driest July since records began in 1836, while last month multiple parts of the country breached the 40C mark for the first time.
As well as advising gardeners to dig trenches around plants, the RHS said they should spike lawns to allow them to better absorb water, pushing 10cm deep every 10-15cm with a pitchfork, and install water butts to future-proof against Britain’s changing weather.
It also called for the public to ditch hard surfaces in their gardens and plant shrubs, trees and hedges to help reduce flooding. Leigh Hunt, principal advisor at the RHS, added: “This summer has undoubtedly proved an endurance test for plants and the 30million gardeners who tend to them.”