Traditionally, gardeners look for landscaping designs that allow gardens to thrive in wet weather, create solid spaces to stand and sit without the risk of subsidence, and provide enough shelter to at least step out during spring and summer showers.
In recent years, however, the opposite is taking place, ashuge heatwaves cause gardens designed with relatively mild conditions to get scorched and even die.
As heatwaves become more common in Surrey, it is time to explore ways in which you can design a garden to survive and thrive in hotter conditions, as well as provide a comfortable space to lounge in the shade during languid summer days.
Can you create a garden designed to endure hotter temperatures? Here are some top tips and strategies that can help your garden survive a heatwave.
Why Does Shade Matter In Your Garden?
One important golden rule of heat, light and gardening is that they are all relative toshade levels in your garden, and whilst one part of your garden could be over 30 degrees Celsius or more in direct sunlight, another more shaded area could be significantly cooler.
Shade gardening can be as simple as moving some of your plants to natural shaded places in your garden, such as next to fences or hedges, or it can involve the use of shade netting, parasols and cloches to filter the light and heat reaching your plants.
How Can You Water Your Garden During A Hosepipe Ban?
A huge consideration during a heatwave is watering, both in how to do it and how to minimise your use of water when it can sometimes be in limited supply.
An optimal solution is to build your garden aroundrainwater collection; water butts can be decorative in design, water barrels often add a rustic appeal to a garden, and you can design buildings and landscapes to help channel water towards collection.
All of this is important becausehosepipe bans and non-essential use bans (NEUBs) are often in place during heatwaves to reduce demand and ensure that there is enough water for people to drink.
What also matters is how you water; rather than frequent light showers that can quickly evaporate, water in the morning or late evening every couple of days.
Rainwater is better for this due to the lack of chlorine content.
Should You Let Your Lawn Grow?
Many people like to have a freshly mown lawn, but in a heatwave, the stress this can cause can lead to grass quickly dying and can have negative effects on the topsoil underneath.
Long grass provides shade for your soil, which keeps water cool enough to soak into your grass rather than be evaporated away, whilst avoiding cutting it reduces the stress on the grass and allows it to retain moisture more easily.
Do You Need To Make Mulch In Your Garden?
Mulch is an exceptionally important natural shade and source of nutrients, which in a heatwave helps to protect plants and soil by ensuring it can retain moisture as much as possible.
Whilst you can buymulch, it can be a beautiful aesthetic and practical choice to have a dedicated area in your garden to produce it and access it when you want to tend to your plants over the summer.