Finally the holiday season is upon us, whether you choose a staycation or manage to hop on a plane to sunnier climes.
Gardeners can return from a holiday to find that their pots and hanging baskets have frazzled in the sun through lack of watering, so here are a few do's and dont's to give you a degree of damage limitation.
Call on friendly neighbours to help with the watering. Pots and hanging baskets will need watering even if there has been some rain. If they are densely potted up, even prolonged rain might not manage to soak the compost beneath the flowers and foliage. Obviously, during hot weather, they will need to be watered more often. Some pots may be able to be moved to a shadier part of the garden to minimise the effect of the heat.
Deadhead blooms before leaving as they can sap the strength from plants as they become drier.
Harvest fruit and vegetables before you go. You can blanch and freeze them or give them to friends and neighbours. If left on the plant, they can become tough and stringy and plants like lettuce, coriander and other herbs may bolt which will impair their flavour.
You can give less priority to perennials and evergreens in your garden as most of these plants will be well established as their root system reaches further down so will have access to more water. It might be an idea not to plant new perennials just before you go away as these will need lots of attention before they become established.
Don't worry too much about your lawn whilst you are away. If you mow before you go, you could leave the clippings on the lawn as this will conserve moisture. If you really can't bring yourself to do that, the Autumn rains will soon green it up again.
Hopefully, with some care and organisation, you won't come back from your holiday to any casualties. It won't harm to bring a little present back for your kindly neighbours either.
