Garden owners also like to take their annual vacation during the beautiful summer months. But who cares for the plants during this time? And if no one has time or the distance is too far - what is the best way to prepare the garden for the absence and the resulting lack of care? With our tips, your garden will still look good even after a long absence.
How to water the garden on vacation?
To water the garden during your vacation, you can either hire a plant sitter, install an automatic irrigation system or optimally prepare the garden in advance by watering plants sufficiently, cutting back, mulching and shading if necessary.
Prepare your garden optimally for your vacation
Of course, this means that you don't just drive away without any preparation. Instead, there are a few measures to prepare the plants in the garden for an absence and thus create a buffer for a few days in advance. This necessarily includes the following activities:
- Dig and chop the soil between the plants thoroughly again.
- Water all plants thoroughly and abundantly.
- Mulch the root area so that less moisture simply evaporates.
- What can be cut back, cut back!
- This reduces evaporation and therefore water consumption.
- However, this only works for plants that tolerate cutting.
- Don't be afraid to remove flowers and large leaves.
- When it comes to crops, you harvest what you can harvest - many vegetables and fruits still ripen.
Under no circumstances should you fertilize before you leave! This greatly stimulates the growth and metabolism of the plants and therefore only increases the water requirement.
Hire a plant sitter
The easiest way to water the plants during your vacation is to have a plant sitter - neighbors, friends or family members who take care of the garden and can take vegetables and fruit with them as a thank you and maybe a nice souvenir received from a trip. Make sure that your holiday replacement doesn't have to travel too long and, if possible, leave them detailed instructions (e.g. water the cucumber patch every day, the roses only every two days!). If you don't have neighbors or the family lives too far away, you can also pay someone to do this job. Pupils or students are usually happy about a little extra income.
Install automatic irrigation system
If no one is available, the only option after an absence of several weeks is to install an automatic irrigation system. However, this usually requires a water and electricity connection; after all, simple electricity-free irrigation systems, as you may be familiar with for potted or balcony plants, do not work in this case. Don't choose a sprinkler system (unless you just want to water the lawn), choose drip irrigation instead. Finally, the leaves of perennials, shrubs, ornamental and crop plants should not get wet.
Tip
You should also shade plants in very sunny locations if possible. This also significantly reduces the water requirement.
