The time to go on a well-deserved vacation has come and you are ready to finally relax and give a thinking mind a break for a while. But if you have a beautiful garden, leaving your plants unattended for a week or more could cause some irreversible damage. There must be a way to make everyone happy and hydrated during the summer days, right? Of course, there is. We will show you some useful hacks and tips on how to prevent your garden from suffering while you are away.
Even if you don’t have any friends, family, or neighbours around to give you a hand with the garden watering, you can do a lot by yourself. The first thing to determine is for how long you will be away because if it is just a weekend, most of the plants will be just fine with a nice soaking before you leave. On the other hand, different plant types require different care. Those in the garden beds are a bit stronger than the rest, while the newly seeded ones may need more watering and nurture.
In the next paragraphs, we will make sure to cover as many different plant growing situations as we can and hopefully, you will find the tips helpful. In the case that the weather forecast is especially threatening for your greenery, you should consider reaching out to a trusted gardener and provide your plants with professional garden maintenance.
Self-Watering System for Planters and Pots
The first thing to do is to move your plants in the shaded area or indoors like the house, or a garage. Keeping the containers together makes the humidity level greater and that is exactly what you want. Another thing you can do is put a layer of mulch that will help hold the moisture. This will work if you are out for a whole week. It may slow down the flowering and general growth, but the plants will recover fast once you put them back.
A brilliant invention that you can rely on when you are away for a longer period is a self-watering system. You can use self-watering pots that already have the water reservoir integrated beneath the bed or use a conversion kit that could be placed in a pot or planter when needed. As long as the reservoir contains water, the soil will be moist and by adding liquid fertilizer to the plants that require it, you will keep them nurtured all the time.
Prepare the Soil Well
Most climbers grow well in well-drained soils rich in organic matter. Sandy soils require compost addition, while the clay ones can be enhanced with gypsum. Mulching will certainly help keep the roots cool and moist alongside limiting the weed growth. Those are all processes which we regularly do to keep any plant healthy, but with climbers, you may need to add some extra attention.
Garden Beds and Landscaping Plants Automatic and Manual Watering
Garden watering can be a full-time job, and you realise this once you leave your home. If you have a sprinkler, soaker or drip system installed, you can experiment with various programmes and create a convenient one. In case you don’t have any automatic solution, mulch well to cool the soil and retain moisture and do some serious garden watering before leaving. Since the weeds absorb a great amount of water, weed your garden beds to be certain that the water will get to the roots.
Since we are all working hard to save water by using it wisely, relying on a drip hose irrigation system solution while you are away for a few weeks is probably not the greatest idea. There is an alternative though, and all you require is a water bottle or a bucket that serves as a water tank and a small pump attached to pressurize the system. It has its own automated operation since it reacts to soil’s needs. When the soil is dry, it gets loose and allows the water from an upside-down placed bottle or another dripping tank to enter and perform the DIY garden watering.
Minimal Risk with Professional Sydney Garden Maintenance and Watering
Beside various gardening services that we at Artview Landscapes offer, we gladly take full responsibility of taking care of all of your plants while you are away, for as long as you need. With us by your side, you can be sure that they will get all the nurture they need, so once you are back, you will be welcomed by a wonderful and lush landscape. Give us a call or write to us today, and we will take care of the rest!
Owner/operator of Artview Landscapes, Brian Baker is a talented landscape designer who has been managing, designing and building structured landscapes in Sydney for twenty five years. He has personally built or managed over 800 landscape construction projects ranging in value from $5,000 to $250,000 for residential projects and between $10,000 and one million dollars for commercial projects.