Today, Sydney is receiving a huge amount of rain. It started yesterday and hasn’t stopped since! So far today, there has been 31.5 mm of rain at home between midnight and 7.30am.

As usual, this has led to some general observations about how a lot of rain in a short space of time is, or more accurately IS NOT, dealt with. You may wonder what this has to do with horticulture in general, with the answer being a lot. While ‘horticulture’ can’t solve all problems, there are ways it can help.

On my way to work this morning, there were several areas where the roads were already starting to flood. A lot of the ‘problem’ is the fact that the drains are either blocked with leaf litter and other detritus, or not built big enough for the job. I know that the relevant authorities (which varies due to the particular road in question) don’t clear the drains frequently enough, if at all, so they should start to do this more often. If it’s flooding in that spot, then it’s too late!

Where horticulture can help here is having some sort of rain gardens and swales built into the areas where there is a lot of water on the roads to help absorb and slow down some of this water to begin with. This will help reduce the water running quickly to the drains, along with reducing the amount of debris flowing into the drain and blocking it. This will help to reduce the time energy and money needed to unblock them.

I get the point that this does cost a decent amount of money up front to actually put into the urban landscape, but over time, such systems will save on costs through productivity and less damage to infrastructure to name two.

Another thing I see is where public parks are not maintained very well. If the lawns were better maintained so that the soil was less compacted and allowing more water to be soaked up would be great. Garden beds, which are often mostly empty of plants would benefit from more plants and organic matter like compost. This will help the soil structure and when the soil is covered with plants, rain hits the soil with less force reducing compaction, again keeping soil structure healthy. Having good soil structure helps water to filter through the soil more easily, meaning less water on the roads etc, and less flooding.

The same applies to private gardens. Fair enough, they don’t have to be botanic garden standard, but take a bit more care and it helps.

In general, there is just too much concrete around in urban areas. Putting plants into spaces around buildings have so many benefits, not just helping to reduce the water sat on urban streets. It also doesn’t have to be just trees-all plants provide a benefit in cooling towns and cities down, helping to clean the air and provide oxygen from photosynthesis. So, if there is not space for a tree, put smaller plants in.

Do bear in mind that horticulture can help to reduce flooding, it won’t stop it, especially in extreme weather. While it can seem like there is nothing we can do, there is always something we can do if we think outside the box!