How to Care For Your Garden While Away on Holiday

Ever been on holidays just when your crop is nearing harvest, or worse, arrived back to find your garden withered and lacking? TKeeping your garden going while you're away takes a little planning. Here's our top tips for preparing your garden for your absence.

Neatening up

1. Weed your beds before you leave, weeds compete for water so rid your garden of weeds before you go.
2. Mow the lawns, mowing just before you leave means your lawns will be in less disarray when you return home, and secondly, you will have lovely grass clippings which make for great mulch to help keep your soil cool and moist.
3. Secure and weigh down items in your garden such as the cover on your greenhouse, shade cloth, tarps and netting and pop empty plastic pots in your shed so they don't blow away. 
4. Dry off, oil and store your garden tools to keep them rust-free and safe from the elements. 
5. Aerate and turn your compost pile to ensure it is still working its magic in your absence.

Prepare your plants

1. Stake and re-tie any plants that require support. You want to ensure any fruit that matures while you're away is held off the ground and not putting strain on your plants.
2. Harvest anything that is nearly ripe, and if you're away for a longer period of time consider removing immature fruit which if left to mature on the vine may prevent future fruiting and attract pests. 
3. Treat or prune off any diseased plants or leaves. What can start off as a small issue can quickly develop into a bigger problem and spread to other crops.
4. Set up netting or other barriers on your susceptible plants to shield them from pests. This is very useful for any of your brassica crops as they are often at risk for caterpillar damage.
5. Wind down your use of rich nitrogen fertilisers in the lead up to your holiday. The last thing you want to do is promote a sudden onset of growth that will require more water and harvesting when you are gone.

Watering

This is single-handedly the most important thing while you're away. If you have the time to forward plan, start watering more deeply and less frequently from the start of the season. This encourages plants to send roots deeper and means they'll cope better for periods without water than those whose roots are near the surface because they've always been lightly watered.

Right before you leave, water your plants deeply and spread a thick layer of grass clippings or other mulch material over the soil. If the weather is quite warm your plants may also benefit from a weak dose of seaweed solution to cope with the added stress. 

There are also a variety of methods you can use in your garden to water while on holidays: 

1. The most convenient way would be to install a water timer and drip irrigation system, these can be programmed to turn on and off at select times, some can even be controlled remotely from your mobile phone.
2. If you are on strict water restrictions or don't have a hose to plug into then you can easily make self-waterers out of recycled bottles. A glass wine bottle filled with water, quickly inverted and firmly pushed into the soil will slowly water your plant. You can also use plastic softdrink bottles with a few small holes drilled in the lid and pushed into the soil to acheive the same effect. Just make sure the soil is deeply watered before adding the bottle, and test a few weeks before you leave to ensure the water lasts for long enough.
3. Indoor plants can be placed in the bathtub with about 1cm of water, the plants will absorb water from the base of their pots as needed. Pots need to have holes in the bases for this to work.
4. Water wicking self-waterer - These work by placing absorbent 100% cotton rope or twine into a large source of water such as a bucket and then placing the other end of the rope about 5cm into the soil near each plant. This will slowly absorb water and transfer the water to your plant keeping the soil moist. Make sure the water source is above your plants and that the rope is touching the base of your water source and is secured to stay there otherwise the wicking process won't work.

Image credit: Scissors & Sage

For water-efficient tips on keeping your garden going during drought, check out our Drought Gardening article. Or learn how to build the ultimate holiday-friendly planter with our Wicking garden bed tutorial.

Happy Holidays!