Growing plants in Britain’s home gardens has recently become much more challenging, since the traditional varieties and cultivars that gardeners have grown for many centuries are often less likely to flourish in the way they have in the past. But the reason for this is unlikely to be from a lack of horticultural skills in modern times, but instead, the atypical environmental conditions that soils and plants are being exposed to nowadays. Atypical environmental conditions that over recent years have been causing an unprecedented increase in ECEs – ‘Extreme Climatic Events’. Events that are unsuited not only to Britain’s traditional growing systems, but also to the country’s resident nature which has evolved and existed over millions of years within a temperate climate zone.
But although it’s true to say that ECEs have always occurred every so often, such as the severe winter of 1963, the summer drought of 1976 and the great storm of 1987, they have never been a protracted trend in the way that climatical events have become nowadays. This trend has now triggered alarm bells, as it’s verified by numerous research studies that irrefutably show that Earth’s climate has significantly changed over recent years and that it’s continuing to change because of what is now termed ‘Global Warming’. And to put this simply, Britain and the rest of the world is becoming hotter.
“Gardening struggles today are unlikely to come from a lack of horticultural skill, but from the atypical environmental conditions our soils and plants are now being exposed to.”
Here in Britain until 2026, the five warmest years on record (based on average annual means), were 2014, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. But 2026 has been a real wake-up call, showing us what could be the norm for Britain’s summers in a changing climate, where heatwave follows heatwave after heatwave, regularly producing temperatures in the mid-30s°C and leaving huge swaths of the country without rain for weeks on end.
The detrimental effects of this across Britain have been immense, producing tinder-dry landscapes where horrendous wildfires have then ravaged through our pristine forests, heathlands and even our treasured biodiverse nature reserves. And with water reserves falling to worryingly low levels, ponds and rivers drying up, the need to reduce our water consumption during these torrid conditions is essential.
As far as our home gardens are concerned, regular extreme summer heatwaves and droughts, are inevitably going to change the way we have to manage our gardens. Because, unlike our lawns, that we know will rapidly recover when the rain returns, tender home grown produce and drought-intolerant plants such as hydrangeas, will not fare well and easily wither and die without regular watering. Something that many people who live busy lives will find hard to keep on top of, particularly when hosepipe bans are in place.
So, what should people be doing to protect their gardens if extended periods of drought and regular summer heatwaves are to become more frequent each year? Well, maybe we should start growing sub-tropical plant varieties that favour a hot, dry environment, perhaps those plants that survive in southern Europe and around the Mediterranean basin? However, it’s not going to be as simple as that, since extreme climatical events caused by climate change won’t just occur during the summer months but could be experienced throughout winter too. And so, a severe winter with weeks of prolonged sub-zero temperatures, would undoubtedly be lethal to the sub-tropical plants.
“2026 has been a real wake-up call, showing us what could be the norm for Britain’s summers in a changing climate.”
So, with the possibility of widely differing climatical conditions becoming more frequent from now on, ranging from extremely hot, dry summers to extremely cold winters, what should gardeners do to try and mitigate plant damage from these unpredictable extreme events? Well, it certainly makes sense for gardeners to start making some changes to how and where they grow their plants. Ensuring, for example, that the more delicate plants are only grown in locations that offer protection from direct sun in the summer and from the icy northerly winds during winter. And, perhaps making use of dripper lines that can be connected to water butts and laid around the garden where drought intolerant plants are growing, to be turned on as and when required. But with the real possibility that prolonged periods of drought will become more regular, it’s important that we should be trying to conserve the water content in our garden soils, not only for the benefit of the plants, but for the immense amount of life that lives within the soil, nature’s recyclers, who consume and digest dead organic matter and recycle its nutrients back to the plants.
One of the most effective ways we can reduce water evaporation from soil is by applying a high quality organic-rich mulch, spreading it over the garden borders, layering it on top of exposed soil and around the base of plants. And the best time to do this will be when the water content of the soil is relatively high, either mid to late spring or during the autumn when the plants are preparing for winter.
What is a mulch and what does it do?
Whilst many different materials could be used as a mulch to layer on top of garden soil, such as grit, wood chippings and grass cuttings, they won’t always be as multi-functional as a high quality, organic digestate mulch, which can provide a number of highly important benefits to a garden.
Primarily, a thick layer of organic PlantGrow mulch spread on top of the soil and around the base of plants will significantly reduce water evaporation from the soil. This mulch layer will also suppress weed growth and provide an organic-rich habitat for numerous beneficial soil-dwelling creatures to thrive within, such as carabid beetles and centipedes that predate on small slugs and snails.
“The soil’s microbiome directly regulates the richness of the soil, which in turn enhances a plant’s ability to take up water and nutrients through its roots.”
This organic fibre will also host a vast community of detritivores, the creatures that feed amongst the mulch, gradually pulling it down and, over time, incorporating it into the soil where the nutrient-rich mulch will enhance the growing medium for the benefit of the plants. A good quality mulch will also be populated with natural microbes, the fungi and bacteria that together form the soil’s microbiome, an essential component of healthy soil within which the microbiome further breaks down organic matter to release natural nutrients. In fact, the soil’s microbiome directly regulates the richness of the soil, which then subsequently enhances the plant’s ability to acquire water and nutrients through its roots. This will be essential if our gardens are to have the best opportunity to thrive within a changing climate and cope with the new pressures that extreme climatic events, heatwaves and droughts will cause the varieties of plants that gardeners and growers have been cultivating for food and pleasure within Britain for centuries.
The benefits of no-dig gardening with PlantGrow
- Stronger plants: Leaving the soil undisturbed protects the organisms living in it, helping plants grow stronger.
- Earlier harvests: Undisturbed soil warms up faster in spring, so you can start sowing and planting sooner.
- No synthetic fertilisers or weedkillers: PlantGrow feeds the soil naturally, so there’s no need for synthetic chemicals.
- Healthier soil: No-dig gardening preserves beneficial fungal networks and boosts natural bacterial activity, improving the soil microbiome.
- Carbon storage: Keeping the soil undisturbed helps lock carbon into the ground, helping in the fight against climate change.
- Fewer weeds: Digging brings buried weed seeds and roots to the surface where they can germinate – no-dig keeps them where they belong.
- Better water retention: PlantGrow improves drainage and helps soil hold on to moisture, saving water during warmer months. It’s even endorsed by Anglian Water.
