We Work With the Land Every Day — and We Are Worried

By Genovia Gardening Services

We don’t write this to create fear.
We write it because staying quiet no longer feels responsible.

At Genovia Gardening Services, we work with the land every day. We see how it reacts to rain, how it absorbs water, and how it struggles when it is no longer allowed to do its job. Over time, one thing has become painfully clear to us:

Flooding in the UK is not only about the weather.
It is also about how we are treating the ground beneath our feet.

1. The Ground Used to Protect Us — Now It Can’t

There was a time when heavy rain didn’t automatically mean flooding.

Rain fell, soaked into the soil, fed plants, and disappeared quietly into the ground. Gardens absorbed it. Fields held it. Trees slowed it.

The land protected us.

From what we see today, that protection is being stripped away.

We now walk into gardens where the ground is completely sealed. No soil. No grass. No planting. Just slabs, concrete, tarmac, and hard surfaces stretching wall to wall. The earth underneath is no longer allowed to breathe.

When rain falls now, it doesn’t soak in — it runs.

It rushes across hard surfaces, overwhelms drains, and finds the lowest point. That lowest point is often someone’s home.

This is why flooding now happens in places that never flooded before. This is why even short bursts of heavy rain cause damage. This is not a mystery — it is the direct result of removing natural drainage.

Soil is not just dirt.
It is a system.

It absorbs water, slows it down, stores it, and releases it gradually. Plants and roots work together to keep water under control. When we remove that system, we lose control — and water takes over.

2. What We See Every Day as Gardeners

This part matters deeply to us, because it comes directly from our daily work.

At Genovia Gardening Services, we don’t just arrive, do a job, and leave. We observe. We watch how water behaves in different gardens, on different soils, and in different weather.

Over time, patterns become impossible to ignore.

We regularly advise our clients to:

• avoid fully paving gardens
• leave natural ground where possible
• use permeable materials
• plant trees, shrubs, and deep-rooted plants
• respect how water naturally moves

Some people listen.

And when heavy rain comes, the difference is clear. Their gardens cope better. Water drains more slowly. Flooding is reduced.

Others don’t listen — often not out of bad intention, but because no one has ever explained why it matters. Paving is sold as “low maintenance.” Green space is treated as optional. Soil is seen as mess, not protection.

Then the rain comes.

Water pools. Gardens flood. Drains struggle. And people are shocked — even though the land was warning them all along.

We don’t say this to say “we were right.”
We say it because it hurts to see the same damage repeated again and again.

The land reacts honestly.
It doesn’t care about trends or convenience.

3. This Isn’t Just Climate — It’s Design, Planning, and Choices

Flooding is often talked about as something global and distant. But from what we see, it often starts very close to home.

A paved driveway.
A sealed garden.
A housing development with minimal green space.

One decision on its own may seem harmless. But thousands of these decisions together change how entire areas handle water.

Across the UK, we are building faster than the land can cope with. Fields that absorbed rain for generations are built on. Natural drainage is replaced with pipes and promises.

But drains cannot replace living ground.

Soil doesn’t just move water away — it controls it. When soil and vegetation are removed, balance is lost. Water always finds a way, and it usually finds it where we least want it.

What concerns us most is how normal flooding has become.

We expect it. We accept it. We talk about it as if it’s unavoidable.

But much of this damage is the result of choices — choices made without understanding how important the land really is.

This is not about blame. Many homeowners were never warned. Many decisions were made without full knowledge of the consequences.

But now we know better.

Gardens are not just decoration.
Soil is not optional.
Nature is not something we can remove without consequences.

At Genovia Gardening Services, we will continue to work with the land, not against it, and to speak honestly about what we see — because silence helps no one.

The land is already telling us what’s wrong.
We just need to listen.

Thank you for taking the time to read this from Genovia Gardening Services. We truly appreciate it.
If you have any thoughts or responses, you are welcome to email genovia@genovia.co.uk and share them with us directly.