watering plants whilst on holiday!

waterwatereverywhere

Hi,

Pls does anyone have any tips for keeping plants watered during this really hot weather when you are away for a few days? Garden is just starting to look nice and don't want to come back to a barren wilderness!

We can't link up a hose type arrangement as the water pressure varies so much when we use the hose at the tap in the wall it sometimes blows it off and we don't want to come back to a flood! Also we're on a water meter ....

Anyway, just saw on ebay a kind of "spike" thing that you attach to an ordinary plastic bottle. Has anyone used these please and if so please can you say if they are effective? Also how do they work and is it possible to rig something up like this on a DIY basis?

Any other tips like this gratefully received. Can't really ask neighbours to water unfortunately.

lizzyb1812

For the last 3 years I have been using upturned water bottles to water/feed my tomatoes. I mostly grow in grow bags and it is difficult to water the plants without most of the water running off the bag. So I take a 1 or 2 litre bottle, whatever I've got handy, cut off the base and screw it into a hole in the middle of the grow bag until it is firmly "planted". Then I fill the bottle each time I water.

I doubt it would see a plant over more than a few days but it should help. I've heard of leaving the top on the bottle and drilling a small hole in it instead of pushing the open top into the bag but I've not tried that.

This should work with plants in pots. For plants in the ground give them a good soak and cross your fingers - somewhere on here on an allotment thread someone says the advice from an old-timer is to water in well when planting then let the roots seek the water deeper in the soil (this was advice to someone with an allotment with no plumbed water).

HTH

Lizzybd

SallyForth_2

Yes, I have some. I use them in the greenhouse on 2lt pop bottles, I find the bottles are empty by the end of the day though, so while this seems to suffice with my Squashes and Courgettes for a day or two, it may not be enough if you are going away for a longer period of time. You might be able to find a bigger container to attach them to, but you will need to ensure there is a big enough space for the container to sit next to your plants.

alanobrien

If the plants are in pots move them into the shade, if not you could use fleece to shade plants that way they will need less water.

I use a tray, a bucket of water and capillery matting for plants in pots that i dont want to loose when we go away. As long at the matt is soaked and the reserviour circa 2 gallons this works fine for a week.

waterwatereverywhere

Hi,

Many thanks everyone for the helpful tips. Will move as many as I can to a shaded spot and into a larger container which I will fill with water before we go away and then try and dot some plastic bottles around the pots and others which I can't move ... and hope for the best!

Will try just the bottles by themselves and see how that works before investing in the spike gadget thingy I guess..

Thx again.

olly300

Unfortunately the best solution is always to find a neighbour or a friend who likes gardening and is happy to water your plants.

icecreamdogpark

Yeh where abouts are you?

stilernin

You could mulch the plants in the ground with thick cardboard and wads of newspaper. Make sure it is weighed down. (Ironinically, you can use milk bottles full of water, or stones) . Water the plants really well then put down your 'mulch'. This stops evaporation.

It is something worth doing between rows of veg as a matter of routine, but as you are not there to look at it, covering the ground between shrubs and flowering plants for your hols won't hurt.

Covering the open compost on your pots and containers will help too.