I don’t know about you, but it feels like it’s been non-stop raining here for weeks. The garden is waterlogged, my water butts are close to overfilling and I wonder if it will ever be dry again. Too much rain can lead to water-logged soil, it can damage the root systems of your plants and well with young children who want to play in the garden, the mud is unreal.
There are two areas where I am concerned with flooding, at the back of our patio area we have two water butts which are very close to overflowing. We also have a slight dip in our drive that when the rain is particularly heavy can leave a huge puddle, which can make getting out of my car (I have a Mini) a bit of a keep my feet dry game. So what can you do about it?
Use a Sump Pump
One of the things you could do is use a sump pump. You can drain excess rainwater with a sump pump. Often sump pumps are associated with basements or homes that have an area below ground level, but they can also be pretty useful in the garden too. If you have a garden with poor drainage (like it feels like I do right now), you can use a sump pump to pump some of it away. It’s great to help stop your garden from becoming too waterlogged, your plants from becoming too damaged, or if you have a greenhouse that needs draining – then a sump pump is the answer. It certainly would also help things like my giant puddle on my drive, or if there was an area of your garden that you are worried about getting flooded.
Water Butt Pump
Did you know there was such a thing as a water butt pump?
A water butt pump pretty much does what you expect it to. When you have water in your water butt that you want to get rid of you can extract water with a water butt pump. You can then put it down the drain, if you are concerned about flooding. It is also useful in the warmer months too, for when the garden is drier. You can use the pump to extract water for all sorts of uses such as watering your garden – connect it to your hose or use it to help you fill up your watering cans. You even use it to connect your water butt to an irrigation system, pretty clever stuff.
If you are worried about flooding with all of the rain we are having right now, then a sump pump or water butt pump might be the answer. Prices are a lot more affordable than you think starting from as low as about £60 and takes away the worry of flooding that might be bothering you.