Torrid Times: Diary of a Sweltering Summer on the Road

Batteries, bowsers and Buxus caught Trudy Martin’s attention while travelling site to site for the first of her regular reports

Recent weeks have seen me clock up more miles than I care to admit – travelling across the country visiting grounds maintenance clients, catching up with teams and trying to capture content along the way.

No two sites are ever the same – except recently, they have been.

Every conversation has started with “It’s hot, isn’t it!”

I’m one of the fortunate ones, who can finish a site visit, jump back in the car, put the air conditioning on and head to the next meeting. The guys and girls maintaining our parks, business estates and public spaces don’t get that luxury. Watching them work through another week of soaring temperatures has given me a real appreciation for just how tough the job can be.

Battery bounce

I’ve noticed, though, how much battery-powered equipment is changing the way teams work. Because it’s so much quieter than petrol equivalents, crews are on site far earlier. That extra couple of hours before the sun really gets going makes such a huge difference.

A few years ago, the conversation around battery kit was all about whether it had enough power. That’s changed. Yes, it costs more to buy but if you can work in cooler conditions, improve team wellbeing and increases productivity, it seems a pretty sensible investment.

The heat has also made my own job a little more challenging. Trying to photograph beautiful grounds when the grass has turned fifty shades of brown isn’t easy.

It has, however, reminded me of something we probably don’t appreciate enough. Grounds and estate maintenance isn’t just about mowing grass. In fact, perfectly clipped hedges, crisp bed edges and weed-free borders have really stood out – the details that keep a landscape looking cared for when Mother Nature isn’t playing ball.

Keeping landscapes looking their best has meant one thing this year – water, and lots of it.

Bowser bother

Everywhere I’ve visited, bowsers have been working flat out, and more than one contractor has told me they struggled to get hold of one because suppliers had sold out. If these summers are becoming our new normal, I’d say there’s a lesson there. If a bowser is on your wish list, don’t wait until next June. Buy it in winter, when nobody else is thinking about watering.

Use of Gator bags on newly planted trees has surged too. A simple idea but a highly effective one. By releasing water slowly around the rootball, they help young trees establish while reducing runoff and evaporation.

I particularly like how visual they are. You can see at a glance when a bag needs refilling, whereas an underground irrigation system can quietly stop doing its job because of a blocked dripper or damaged pipe, and you may not realise until the tree is already showing signs of stress. In weather like we’ve had this summer, those simple visual checks can make all the difference.

New beginning

I was also lucky enough to be invited for a tour of Boningale Nurseries and, having started out in horticulture, I was excited to see their offering – but didn’t bank on Buxus.

You’ll probably know it’s become one of the industry’s biggest headaches thanks to box blight and box tree caterpillar, and have steered clients towards alternatives over the years because the risks have simply been too high.

So discovering BetterBuxus stopped me in my tracks. After 20 years of selective breeding, Boningale offers varieties with natural resistance to box blight, reducing need for fungicides and giving landscapers back a plant many of us had almost written off.

As I drove home from my final visit, I realised summer 2026 hadn’t just been about coping with the heat but about adapting. From quieter battery-powered tools and fountains smarter watering solutions to disease-resistant plants, our industry continues to find better ways of working.

And if this really is our new normal, that’s exactly the mindset we’ll need.