There can be few events in the world of landscaping that bring more gardeners closer to tears than them discovering that their garden has been flooded. This can occur on two timescales with one being a slow realisation that water is rising within your garden, and you are seemingly helpless to do anything to stop it. The other is where it occurs suddenly where your garden has gone from your own little paradise, to what seems like a watery hell, overnight.

The first question most gardeners ask at this point is ‘Why me?’, and all we can do to answer that is say do not take it personally. In other words, whatever powers are at play with regards to the flooding, it was not aimed directly at you. Instead, and on a more practical level, your questions should be, ‘What is the cause?’, followed by, ‘How do I rectify it?’

We first want to point out that although in many areas excessive rainfall can be a contributory factor, that is not going to apply to everyone, especially those who live in areas that have low rain fall. Also, downpours of rain tend to be sporadic, and so, if your garden is flooding when there is no rain, or the rainfall is what might be considered ‘normal’, then there is something else that is causing the issue.

Landscaping experts tell us that one of the most common reasons that a landscape garden might flood is that the drainage process below the surface is poor, and thus water levels underground is rising to the point of flooding on the surface. The causes of poor drainage can vary, and it may be a case of you doing some detective work to discover the primary cause.

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