This is the complete guide to stopping your garden flooding when it rains.

It covers:

  • How to stop your garden flooding
  • How to clear garden when flooded
  • Who to contact when your garden keeps flooding

So, if you want to stop your garden becoming clogged with water, then you’ll love this guide.

Let’s get started.

How to Stop Your Garden Flooding

1. Clear Gutters and Drains

 

One of the most common reasons for a flooded garden is blocked gutters and drains. The blocked gutters mean heavy rain can overflow into your garden and the blocked drains mean the water has no way to escape. The first thing you should do is clear out all your gutters of leaves, sewage and other debris, before then hiring either a local handyman or a plumber to clear out your drains.

2. Plant Leafy Garden Vegetables

 

Next, plant your garden with lots of leafy garden vegetables. Try:

  • Liquidambar styraciflua
  • Cornus alba
  • Hydrangea paniculata
  • Phyllostachys
  • Hosta
  • Zantedeschia aethiopica

These plants love wet bog gardens and can help your garden better absorb excess water. You should also do some research into local plants that thrive in the area, these plants will be accustomed to heavy rainfall and surface water.

3. Run Water Into a Water Butt

 

Now the gutters are clear and the garden is thriving with leafy plant life, the next thing you should do is install a water butt (rain barrel). The barrel should be placed at the bottom of downspout and will collect water running off your roof.

Bonus ☝️ once the heavy rain stops you can then use a simple water butt pump to clear the barrel before the next downpour.

4. Regrade Your Lawn

 

This is one of the more expensive garden renovations, but it offers you the best chance of protecting your garden from pooling water. It involves hiring a landscape gardener or a garden designer to regrade the gradient of your lawn so the water flows away from home. Don’t try doing it without the help of a professional as water running into a neighbours garden could incur damages that you will need to pay.

5. Add Drainage Near Driveways

 

So, driveways have two potential problems.

Firstly, tarmacked driveways allow water to easily run off into a nearby garden. This is where you need to work with a landscaper to add drainage so water doesn’t pool on a lawn. Again, work with a professional to build a correct and proper drainage system.

Secondly, paving slab driveways (and some tarmac driveways) are often badly graded when built and do not absorb water. If this is your case, you may want to consider having your driveway regraded, or replace the driveway with loose stone or gravel that’ll allow water to drain through it.

6. Add a Fresh Layer of Top Soil

 

Water that pools in a garden is usually caused by poor garden drainage. You may have a clay soil that prevents water from running through your soil to reach the groundwater.

When you get saturated soil, the best thing to do is ‘till’ the soil when dry and add a new compost top soil using materials such as wood chips and sawdust. This fresher soil will work its way through your soil over time and gradually improve the drainage.

How to Clear a Garden When Flooded

When your garden does flood, you need to get rid of the standing water as quickly as possible, and for this, you'll need a flood pump.

Standing water can:

  • Damage the integrity of your lawn and plant life
  • Make enjoying your garden impossible
  • Attract nasty bugs and wildlife
  • Harbour harmful bacteria and germs

The best and easiest way to get rid of standing water is through the help of a puddle pump.

A puddle pump is a type of submersible pump designed to clear puddles of open water down to 1mm.

The best pump, in our opinion, for this job is the Puddle Buddy. This pump is the first of its kind exclusively design to clear smaller puddles of water and can be installed in a variety of small, narrow locations while clearing water.

The Puddle Buddy:

  • Anti-airlock prevents the pump from air locking
  • Easy to clean and maintain
  • Easy to install in small and narrow spaces
  • Drains down to 1 mm

All you need to do is place the pump in water over 1mm deep, turn it on and then pump the water to an appropriate drainage location. You can clear a typical garden of water in under 15 minutes. All for only £124.

Search prices on the Puddle Buddy here.

Free Advice

If you’re struggling for advice regarding protecting your garden from flooding, ring our dedicated experts on 0800 112 3134 or 0333 577 3134. We’re open Monday to Friday 07:00 - 17:30 and Saturday 08:30 - 12:30.