From hot, dry summers to mild, wet winters, increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather poses a challenge for gardeners – but we can all take simple, sustainable actions to help our outdoor spaces flourish.
The gold medal-winning WaterAid Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 demonstrates how, with careful planning and water management, resilient, beautiful gardens can thrive – even in the face of an unpredictable future.
The Garden includes elements that can be adapted to use at home, and here co-designer Tom Massey shares his top tips:
Water scarcity and insecurity is becoming more commonplace – but we can all do things to help mitigate climate change.
Tom Massey, garden co-designer
Nurture your soil
Start from the ground up by cultivating healthy soil – the best foundation for creating a thriving, climate-resilient garden.
Adding a layer of mulch helps to improve the soil, locking in moisture and nutrients, and protecting it against erosion. You can use organic mulches like composted bark or homemade compost (which has the added benefit of being a cost-effective nutrient booster), or inorganic mineral materials such as gravel.
Collect and store rain
The WaterAid Garden features an innovative and unique take on a rainwater harvesting system – but collecting and storing rain is as straightforward as installing a simple water butt to gather run-off from garden buildings or downpipes.
Make sure there’s an overflow pipe to redirect any excess to areas that require more water, like ponds or thirsty vegetable patches, to reduce waste (and your water bills!).
Slow the flow
Thinking about how it moves through the landscape is key to managing the flow of surface water.
If your space is prone to flooding, introduce natural swales or channels to help store water and redirect it from areas you don’t want to become waterlogged.
There are plenty of options that thrive in the resulting boggy areas – plus, you’ll be creating seasonal habitats for invertebrates and amphibians, helping to boost biodiversity and create a haven for wildlife too.
Choose the right plant for the right place
Boost your garden’s resilience by choosing plants that thrive naturally in its specific conditions.
Working with a windy, exposed site? Look for hardy specimens that can tolerate a battering from wind and rain. Live in an area prone to flooding? Choose trees and plants that love wet, boggy conditions.
A plant for every plot
The WaterAid Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 showcases over 100 plants and trees that thrive in a variety of conditions – from ponds and wetlands, to permanently dry upland areas.
Explore The WaterAid Garden for inspiration, and check out the full plant list for details of all the specimens we used.
With thanks to award-winning garden designer Tom Massey.
Main image: Mayaman Melle waters an onion crop in the community garden, Tigama, Mali, using water from a recently-installed borehole. Our work here was made possible thanks to players of People's Postcode Lottery.