THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Flooding (Part 2)
To prevent future flooding there is a need to manage the land in a different way. The dredging of rivers will do nothing but speed up the flow of water to ‘pinch points’ further upstream. The use of sandbags is a measure provided too late, when normal life has been halted by water flowing into homes.
Natural Flood Management (or NFM’s) must now be considered a major part of flood prevention. The critical factor of NFM measures? The planting of trees to slow down running water.
By planting trees near headwaters they act as a buffer to hold up rainwater runoff. Planting woodlands near streams works in exactly the same way, slowing down the water. Debris from the trees can also fall into the river, creating dams that hold back excess water. These ‘timber flow interventions’ can even be man-made, by laying fallen tree trunks into the stream. These are far cheaper measures than building bigger walls to protect towns.
Trees also help water percolate into the soil (60 times faster in some research) although infiltration will be reduced if the land is already saturated. If this is the case, what options do we have then? Short-term, we are back to the sandbags. Long-term though, we lessen rainwater runoff rates from poorly managed land. How do we do that?
Treat our soil better.
We could stop winter sowing of crops. This leaves the soil bare for months. With nothing to bind it together it turns into mud when wet and leads to land erosion. The sowing of a winter ground cover would benefit the soil as much as preventing flood damage.
Stop compacting the soil with heavy machinery and too many animals walking over it. Compacted land works the same as any impermeable surface – it cannot take the water, so the water must just run off and down streets and into homes.
Add organic matter to the soils. They will hold more water, yet won’t become waterlogged.
Is there anything else we can do?
Don’t build houses on floodplains. This may alleviate housing shortages in the short-term, giving whichever Government bragging rights over what they have achieved while in power, but the problems will arrive later on… and money will still have to be spent on rebuilding, on rehousing, on healthcare for people who are having to live with stagnant water around their ankles. The costs will always catch up with us in one form or another.
Concrete and dredging are all very well – but we need to slow water down, and give it places to sit and be held when it does become to much.
We need to plant trees, we need to cherish and protect our floodplains, and we need to look after our soil.
More ways to manage the landscape can be found in these books… get them now, you will learn a huge amount!
10 Years Of Modern Mint
On Valentine’s day this year (2024) Modern Mint, the company I started when I moved to Essex to explore a fresh, contemporary approach to gardening, will be 10 years old. The cliche is time flies… but it does! So much has happened in a decade, from studying topiary with Charlotte Molesworth, to clipping all over the UK (and eventually in the USA and Sweden) to selling shears and secateurs at garden shows and hiding away my reticence to give talks about gardening and topiary to Horticultural Societies across the UK. Ten years feels a good time to mark a new …
Garden Masterclass Trailer – The Modern Topiarist
In 2022 I did a free video for Garden Masterclass, the Annie Guilfoyle and Noel Kingsley run website that is a treasure trove of the great and good of the horticultural world – well worth looking through all the wonderful talks they have available, like meadow-maker James Hitchmough or nurserywoman Rosy Hardy. They are certainly inspirational! Perfect for watching and dreaming up new ideas during the winter months… As a follow-up to my Topiary Provocations video (which you can see on Youtube for free) I was asked to do a video for their Masterclass series on how to make topiary. …
Charlotte Molesworth’s Garden In The FT
The lovely garden of my mentor Charlotte Molesworth is featured here in the Financial Times in the last week or so… She has been interviewed lots of times but I thought this was a particularly great piece, with some photos done at unusual angles and different parts… so well worth a read. For more on topiary by Charlotte Molesworth…