Going away and concerned the garden will be ‘gone’ when you get back? Rob Smith has lots of tips to keep your garden hydrated, even when you’re on a lounger in the Algarve!
When it comes to summer in the garden, there really is no better feeling than admiring all your hard work and the beautiful plants you’ve produced. Yet if there is one fear we gardeners all have, it’s ‘who will look after the garden while I’m gone?’ We’ve all been away for a few days and left our beloved gardens in the hands of friends and neighbours, only to fret the entire time, wondering if they sprinkled when they needed to soak, for example!
But there are some brilliant products on the market to help keep plants from running out of water, taking much of the pressure off the person who’s been left to keep an eye on your pride and joy.
There are a few simple things you can do to help keep your plants hydrated, especially those in hanging baskets. For a start, you can mix water-absorbing crystals into the compost. These will soak up excess water and slowly release it for the plants to use between waterings. Similarly, you can use wool as an excellent alternative. The Woolly Water Keeper (twool. co.uk) is 100% British raw wool which can be added to the bottom of baskets and pots to help reduce water loss and release it back as the plant requires. It can be added to the compost heap at the end of the season.
If you have potted plants and want to keep them hydrated, the cheapest way would be to use plastic bottles of water fitted with a dripper. Go over to marshallsgarden. com and you can find ‘Big Drippa’ watering kits that are relatively inexpensive and allow water to slowly drip into the pot and hydrate your plants.
If you want to go one step further, you could use an ancient method of watering that has been around for centuries: olla pots. These porous terracotta pots are sunk into the ground beside a plant and filled with water, which will slowly leach through to keep the soil moist around the plant. You can use larger ollas outside or for bigger pots, while there are smaller ones which will work for houseplants too (crocus.co.uk). Perfect to allow you to have a weekend break without worry.
Over in the greenhouse you can use simple plant halos if you’re away for a day or two. These devices can be filled with water which slowly drips through into the soil or growing bag, which is great for allowing plants to be watered
