Vacation care for your garden

If you’re going on vacation this year you’re going to need to prepare for garden care while you’re gone. Here are some tips…

Get as many tasks done as you can before you leave. Things like applying fertilizer, weeding, harvesting what you can, and adding cooling mulch are good tasks to take care of before you go.

Get some help. Get a neighbor or pal to attend to your other garden needs such as watering and picking any ripe veggies that may develop in your absence. If you want hook up an automatic or time release watering system, but if you have hanging outdoor planters you’ll need to move them inside before you go (see below) or get someone to water them.

For indoor and hanging planters you can place them in the bathtub with a few inches of water or have someone come in and water them. You can also water plants deeply, then place plants in a plastic bag (cut a few holes because plants need air). Make sure you also place a stake in your plant so that it holds the plastic up instead of allowing the plastic to rest on the foliage.

IF you can’t get help for garden care while you’re gone do the following – water everything in your garden as deeply as possible without drowning the plants and weed very well then apply mulch around plants to keep weeds at bay. Clean out and refill any bird feeders or birdbaths – clean bird spaces keep pests away.

What else do you do to ensure your garden stays healthy while you’re on vacation?

[image via stock.xchng]