Homeowners always forget crucial 7 tips before heading away on holiday – they mean your garden will look after itself
A GARDENING expert has revealed seven tips to ensure your garden will survive the summer whilst you are away on holiday.
Whilst we embrace the warmer days with lesser rain, our gardens can become more demanding with the dryer spells.
And although gardens are at their most beautiful in the summer, according to experts at RHS, plants will use more water than compared to the cooler winter months.
This means watering will need to be more frequent during prolonged dry spells with no decent rain – which may be difficult when you are jetting off for your well deserved break.
So it’s understandable to be concerned about preventing your hard work in the garden from being ruined during the trip.
There’s great pain in abandoning a tomato on the cusp of ripening, or returning to a garden that is overgrown or scorched from overgrowth of weeds.
To keep your garden going in your absence, it requires a little planning.
That’s why gardening experts at MyJobQuote have shared seven garden preparation tips before your trip to ensure your garden doesn’t wither in your absence.
Get plucking
Weeds can be the bane of a gardener’s life at the best of times but to limit the number of pesky perennials that you’re faced with when you return, clear your beds of them in the few days before you head off.
Weeds compete with other plants for moisture beneath the ground, drawing water from the soil at the cost of other flora in your garden.
Cut it off
To minimise overgrowth and more maintenance when you get back, trim your grass by mowing before you leave.
It’s best to cut grass between the hours of 8AM and 10AM – if done too early, the grass will be wet with morning dew and if done at midday, intense sunlight can scorch the grass.
Cutting grass later in the evening can mean the plant is open to attack to disease over dark and damp nights.
Avoid cutting your grass too short before you leave. While it may be tempting to trim it shorter to minimise overgrowth, shorter grass is more susceptible to scorching.
If the UK is lucky enough to enjoy warmer weather while you’re gone, you might return to a lawn with dry patches.
Get shady
If there’s a heatwave forecast for while you’re away, it’s best to move potted plants into the shade.
If we experience heatwaves where UV levels are especially high, your plants will require more water and you risk coming back to them dry.
Don’t move them somewhere where they won’t benefit from any forecasted, though, such as a summer house or overhanging roof.
Hydration
As close as you spare time before setting off for the airport, give your plants a generous watering to give them the.
Be sure to give any flower beds, potted plants and grass a heavier drink than normal, but don’t be too liberal as you may flood your garden.
Tape the bottle
Fish some plastic water bottles out of the recycling and remove the plastic cap from the bottle.
Heat up a sharp pin with a lighter, then poke two to four small holes in the cap.
Filling the bottle with water, place the cap back on and hold it upside down.
Tape the bottle to a piece of wood or stake, then press it into the soil so the cap is slightly lower than the soil of the surface, but not too close to the plant that it disturbs the roots.
When the bottle is heated up in the daylight, it creates pressure inside the bottle which allows the water to release water over your trip away at a slow pace.
Duplicate the bottles in your potted plants and beds and you’ll have hydrated perennials when you come home.
The 7 crucial tips to look after your garden before heading away on holiday
According to gardening experts at My Job Quote
- First things first, de-weed where you can in the few days before your trip
- Cut the grass before you leave
- Seek shade for potted plants
- Water plants generously before you leave
- Use empty water bottles to keep plants hydrated over the week
- Add support to young crops
- Pick anything that’s ripe
Add support
Young crops that are young can grow exponentially fast over the course of one or two weeks.
Stake and tie any plants that will need it once they’re a little bigger, especially fast growing crops such as tomatoes.
Pick ripe
For any trip longer than a few days, ensure you pick anything that’s ripe or almost there.
Pick crops such as tomatoes and strawberries and place in the fridge to finish ripening.
For other plants such as runner beans and courgettes, consider picking these before they’re ripe as, if they’re mature while on the vine, the plant will stop fruiting.