Gardeners offered advice on how to keep their garden looking good during drought

Gardening expert Toby Buckland has offered advice on how gardeners can keep their garden looking good during drought. His advice comes after it was reported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), that drought would be hitting some parts of the UK.

Amongst Toby’s top tips, which were published in a blog by RatedPeople.com, were protecting soil, collecting water, prioritising new plants and taking care of lawns.

“The first thing to do is to protect the water in your soil by mulching – shovelling a thick (5cm or so) layer of home-made compost, leafmould or council-bought green-waste compost onto the soil,” Toby advised.

“Mulching will keep roots cool and as it breaks down and is incorporated by worms, it becomes a sponge of water-retaining humus.”

He added: “There may not be much rain falling, but you don’t want to waste a drop. I collect my rainwater in an old wooden whisky barrel that’s connected to the downpipe on my house so the rain that falls onto the roof gets funnelled straight into the butt.”

According to Toby, an old lawn will “bounce back after a drought” but added that gardeners can keep it green for longer by “cutting less frequently and raising the blades on the mower.”