What happens to the garden when you're on vacation?

We vacation in September, it's almost guaranteed to rain ... repeatedly. Still, I water heavily the night before we leave, and set out jugs of water with tiny holes in them, especially in the large containers.
I haven't had a problem, yet.

Cheri'

My son 'takes care of the plants' while I'm away. Does a pretty good job. Only lost a few plants last vacation. Gotta love him! He has no clue about plants. Just knows how much I love them and tries his best.

I try not to be gone more than a couple of days during the hot summer weather. The fellow who works for me sometimes will come if he can to water things. But no one can take care of our plants like we can as no one knows them like we do. I am at the end of the line of four yards using our well, and I am almost the highest, so guess who has least water pressure if everybody is irrigating. So i really need to be around to spread the water as far as possible. Donna

I have everything on a timed drip system. For my plants on the patio that I hand water, I just move them somewhere in the garden that is in an area that gets sprayed.

Look at that second option line! It has shot through the right hand side. No wonder I clicked that one too. I wanted to click the third one also because the best person to water the plants is the "Rain-God". You can trust Him, but you cannot fully trust the human person because he/she may pour water heavily to the extent that the young ones might get washed away. That element of doubt always trouble the mind when I'm away!

I try not to be gone more than 4 days or so and water well the night before. I believe in survival of the fittest. If it can't make it 4 days without water then it isn't for me. :)

My plants are old enough to be left and have their heads screwed on so when I leave them they behave themselves.

I use every trick in the book to make sure things get watered.... Set stuff in the bathtub....Use milk jugs....
(that dosn't work to well)..Set up water wicks.. etc...etc....thank goodness we do get alot of rain here....since I live in the rainforest of South Texas, It really hasn't been much of a problem....YET...LOL :o)

i have neighbors and a friend stop by and water when we go away for more than an overnight. i water very well the day before we go, then ask to have the gardens watered if needed. you never know if you are going to have 90? F or 75 F, humid, rain, etc. we have the front lawn and garden beds with a sprinkler system set up but the rest have to be hand done. only once did i come home to a mess last year during our drought and hot 90+ weather. we were away 10 days and this is why i now have more than one person checking on the plants to water them. it can be a big job, especially under last years circumstances when i spent hours everyday watering. i am very grateful i have these loving gardeners in my life to help me out.

I am a brugnut. Summertime is my time with my brugs..:-)
I don´t need a vacation.

I pay the young lady next door. (An bribe her parents with vegetables.)

I have sprinklers come on at 5 o'clock in the morning. Every plant gets watered in my garden.


A great plant fan,
Nicksgarden

I try to saturate the ground and hope it will last 3-4 days while I'm gone. Longer trips away from home have to wait until the major heat and growning season is over. It would be pure luxury to have a watering system on a timer!

I have the lady that lives in the next house up the road come and water. She loves plants, has many of her own. In return for her doing this for me, I overwinter her tropical plants in my greenhouse for free. She also comes and waters all the stuff in the greenhouse when we take our week in Cancun in December. She's a great neighbor! :>)

I have too many pots that need water every day. I would feel sorry for someone who had to come in and try to take care of all this stuff plus the animals that need care too. So we stay home during the growing season.

I voted other. Vacation? What's that?

LOL JoanJ a vacation is what other people take so that I can get some overtime :~)

We usually do not leave for more than a day or so at a time so it is not a problem. When and if we go away any longer than that it is usually in the winter when it is so rainy and wet here that it is no problem to be gone. But to be honest, the best "vacation" for me is when I can stay home and tend to things at my liesure.

Nicksgarden wouldnt it be better for the water to come on at sunset so it stays in the soil longer?

I'm with you JoanJ...whats a vacation?

Vacation - that 7 day period of self enforced confinement, on a nearly deserted beach each year, which enables me to go the other 51 weeks without killing anyone.

lol

Cheri'

Timers are only $40.00 now at HD -melnor electronic timers run on AA batteries and you can set when they go on and for how long. I'm always surprised that more people don't know about these-they're readily available and WAY cheaper than in-ground systems that run into the thousands of dollars per zone here in NY! I guess melnor isn't advertising enough? You can easily set up a system with your outdoor spigots and spigot extenders, hoses, sprinklers, and these timers to make sure your areas within hose/sprinkler range get watered when you're away or busy! I discovered these a few years ago, and even set them up at my in-law's house when Dad (who used to hand- water) went in for knee replacement surgery this summer. They've worked well for us, and the only areas I can't reach with that system are grassy areas outside our fence that don't need such frequent watering since they're zoysia and well-established. The longest I've gone away is 10 days, and I've had no plant losses with this system due to lack of water.

Mark: I can't speak for Nicksgarden, but in my area of Texas, watering at sunset or at night is an invitation for all kinds of fungus and mold problems. We always water early in the day or when the sun is shining.
Bill

Most of the time water isn't my problem. I come home to foot high WEEDS going happily to seed. Does anyone have a favorite chipper?

Yes the Fish & Chicken Bar across the road

oops you said chipper not chippy. LOL only having a bit o' fun

I have an irrigation system with an automatic controller, and I have a good well with plenty of water. While we were in Europe in June, did I have it turned on? Well no, because we were having cool weather and frequent rains.

When we returned we came back to what looked like the Sahara Desert. Just now it is becoming green again, and of course the weeds are the first to grow. I plan on spraying Weed-Be-Gone soon.

Another lesson learned.

My solution to vacations is to go by yourself and leave the husband at home to water. Of course, he still doesn't understand that the window boxes under the eaves still need water even when it rains!

This was the first year I had to really worry about it. I asked the kids that watch the dogs to also water if it didn't rain. Worked out very well and they earned a little extra cash...

I spend my winters in Florida as the weather here is so awful then but my garden in Essex UK is by far the best place to be in summer. The weather here from spring to autumn is brilliant for growing.....but a tad dry this year :(

lucky you!

Well, I use to ask the neighborhood kids to water the plants and veggie garden. They could pick the ripe veggies to take home to their families. It worked very well for several years. Unfortunately now, they have grown up, having summer jobs that pay more and they don't have the free time to come over and water. So, last summer my younger son was home during the week that we went away. He took pretty good care of the veggie garden and some of the plants, however, he forgot to water some of the other plants. Those poor babies were fried to a crisp by the time we came back home. This year, I told my DH that I didn't want to go away during the summer months. Instead, we will take a vacation later in September. Hopefully, the rainy season will continue into the Fall, so that I won't worry to much about my "babies" dying.

I don't really take a vacation per se... I occasionally go visit sister in Ca. or daughter in Fla. I usually don't go in the busy season, but in the rainy spring. I have, besides the garden, about 150 bonsai trees that need careful watering. One time I went and left husband at home to water. He watered exacrly as I asked, despite the fact that it rained every day I was gone! lol, needless to say, returned to a soggy mess! Well, ok, I didn't SAY "not if it rained..."!!! haha

It dies!!

So I don't go on holiday ;-)


Wintermoor