How to keep your garden in bloom while you’re away on holiday ELIMINATE WEEDS
If you follow these tips, you won’t have to give up on your plot when you head off on a summer break, says Clare Coulson
If you want to return from your summer escape with your garden in tip-top condition – rather than a frazzled mess – there are plenty of ways you can ensure that it’s hydrated, protected and looking good, whether you are going away for a few days or a couple of weeks. And the prep can be as quick and easy as relocating your pots or as hi-tech as installing a smart watering system that you can operate from your sun lounger hundreds, or thousands, of miles away.
Get up to date with weeding, as any unwanted plants will extract valuable moisture from the soil, but do it carefully – avoid digging, which will expose moisture lower down in the soil. Instead, pull out weeds by hand or using a good, sharp hoe such as Burgon & Ball’s Express Hoe (£32.99; burgonandball.com) that will cut through weeds quickly with minimal soil disruption.
VEG GARDEN CROPS
Protect more delicate edibles, such as salad crops, with shade netting and consider a watering system such as a Raised Bed and Borders Watering Kit (left, £35 from greenhouse sensation.co.uk). This will keep veg beds hydrated when used with a water butt or connected to a mains tap.
For large areas, invest in Leaky Pipe (from £79.19 at leakypipe.co. uk), which can be threaded back and forth through beds and borders. This is a solid and long-term solution rather than a quick fix, but will also take away the hassle of summertime watering in the future.
Shropshire flower farmer Juliet Glaves suggests using drip tape (from £14 for 100m; waterirrigation.com) which is cheap and easy to install. “We run it along the base of plants and set it on a timer to water in the late evening or during the night for at least 30 minutes each time.” She covers the tape with a bark mulch, which will not only look better but will also help prevent evaporation.
MULCH BEFORE YOU GO
A deep layer of mulch can make an enormous difference to moisture retention, so get ahead of autumn jobs and give beds and borders a thick layer of manure or peat-free compost.
Timing is everything, as you will essentially lock in the conditions below the surface – so ensure that borders are thoroughly drenched or that there’s been a downpour before adding a humus-rich layer to soil in the morning or evening. Similarly, piling pebbles on the tops of wellwatered pots will also help reduce water loss.
POT SENSE
Pots are much more needy than plants in the ground, which will benefit more from any rainfall. Use saucers under pots, which will provide an additional reservoir of water.
Move any containers from full sun into the shadiest spot you can find and cluster them together with smallest pots in the shadiest area, making sure they are all heavily watered before you leave. Pots and hanging baskets can also be sunk into soil or borders in a shady area so that they can draw on moisture in the ground.
APP HAPPY
Newer gardens are likely to need more care than established gardens that can cope with a little bit of neglect. A smart watering system that you can control via an app, such as the Hozelock Cloud Controller (right) means that you can control watering no matter where you are and it will also keep you updated on the weather back at home (£69.99 at notcutts.co.uk).
HOUSEPLANT TIPS
Whatever conditions houseplants are used to, leave them in a shady spot while you are away. Either place them on wet towels or capillary matting (from £5.49 at gardening-naturally. com) in the bath or place them on matting on a kitchen draining board and dunk the end of the material into a sink full of water. The matting will take up water as the plants need it.
GREENHOUSE RULES
Leave greenhouse doors open and use shade netting if the forecast is for a hot spell. A Click & Drip Grow Bag Watering Kit (£20; greenhousesensation.co.uk) will ensure that your tomatoes don’t shrivel in the August heat.
SHADY SOLUTIONS
If you’re not able to move containers, wrap them in 45 per cent shade netting (£31.20 for 50m roll at premiernetting.co.uk) or set up a shade sail (from £35.70 at premiernetting.co.uk), especially for metal pots, which roast in the sun.
“Dunk hanging baskets in a water butt or in the bath in used water and leave them for an hour and they’ll have soaked up as much as they can,” says gardener and author Arthur Parkinson. “My garden has terracotta pots for small bulbs like crocus in the spring, but in the summer I rely on bulky pots – mainly dolly tubs – that have bulk and depth to hold more water and allow roots to grow long and remain cool.”
He also suggests investing in a potting medium enriched with organic goodness from the outset rather than relying on multi-purpose compost that dries out quickly.
SHARE THE JOY
Harvest all fruit and vegetables before you go away, and freeze or donate to friends.
Deadhead perennials to encourage a fresh flush of flowers on your return. Enlist a green-fingered neighbour to come and water pots or turn on a sprinkler – ideally they will be going on holiday at some point too and you can return the favour. Ensure that everything is laid out as simply as possible to make it an easy job and if you don’t know any neighbours that are willing and able, then ask your local gardening group or post a message on the community website nextdoor.co.uk.
If you have a veg plot, then you can trade harvests while you are away for watering duties. Many housesitting firms will also cover basic garden care.
A smart watering system that you control via an app means you can water wherever you are