How To Care For Plants On Vacation

Now is the time of year many people like to get away on holiday. It may be somewhere abroad for a week or two or in your own country for a short or longer break. Wherever you go it does mean leaving your plants behind at sometimes a critical time. 

Action Plan For Your Plants While You Are On Vacation

1. If you can ask a friend, family member or neighbour to come in check them, mow the lawn, open greenhouse windows and close them again, water and feed your plants. It is quite a big ask, I know I have done it for a friend who had a huge garden with a massive veg plot for 3 weeks once!If the kind soul does this for you it is so nice to get them a gift. If they are a gardener maybe a lovely plant or cuttings from plants they admire in your own garden, some veg from your garden or just a beautiful gift. Even better offer to do it for their garden when they go away. 

2. If that is not possible then you need to help the plants through what could be variable weather. I also always fill up the bird feeders and birdbath and put extra bathing areas around the garden for the birds :) 

3. Mow the lawn just before you leave, it will be fine for a couple of weeks until you come back. 

4.I tend to leave the bigger shrubs and plants to their own devices to seek water by themselves. For example, all my Forsythias, Buddleia, Lavenders and other established shrubs including this Ceanothus cope just fine whatever the weather.

5. Smaller plants or those I have recently planted in the ground I give them a huge good watering 2 weeks before I leave then two or three times the week before I leave then the day before. So far they have always coped well when I do this. 

6. Plants in the soil are one thing, but plants in pots are so much more reliant on you for feed and water. Again if they are in a bigger pot I will do the same watering routine as above plus give then a good feed. I then move them all into the shade and protected areas of the garden and group them all together. This provides a mini eco system and if in shade they get less of the drying effects of the sun.

6. I have tried in the past using capillary matting to run from a bucket into each pot and it worked well.

7. With the smaller plants in pots and with the vegetables I am growing in pots this year I knew they would not survive well so I filled bowls and buckets with a little water and even utilised a dog bath we don't use anymore and put each small pot in there.

 I give them a good watering from above and then the roots will search out the water below. I find it is OK if these are left in shade/semi-shade or in their usual positions as long as they have water in the bowl. It worked so well they looked even better after my holiday with really good root systems! 

8. If you have a Greenhouse you may well find a Greenhouse Mist Drip Irrigation Watering kit like this one useful.

Have a wonderful holiday and a beautiful garden! Do you have any tips for caring for the garden while on vacation? 






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