How to water your the garden whilst on holiday

Its holiday time again, you’re packed a month in advance, unpacked the day before to check you have everything, weigh the cases, up at the crack of dawn, 5 hours in the airport navigating a whole host of obstacles, crammed into a small metal tube, navigate customs, a baggage belt that sends out your case last, the 2 hour coach transfer from hell only to find your hotel looks nothing like it was in the brochure. Yet you do it every year.

What about the things you have left at home? House is secure, family pets in kennels or a caring relative, Sky plus set for your favourite programmes but what about your garden? You could ask a neighbour to come in to cast their eye over, but if your anything like me, you like the garden just as secure as your house.

You have planted up for the summer, bedding in weed free beds, beans and potatoes coming along nicely, tomatoes in grow bags and your salad leaves just right for the first picking. Leave them for a day they sulk a little but, leave them for a week and there are tantrums and traumas everywhere you look. Weeds can be pulled when you're back, that lettuce that has bolted can be cut back and bought back into line, but what about the desert where you have not watered. You can soak everything before you leave and because of the British weather chances are it will be absolutely fine but sometimes, just sometimes the weather gods throw the dice and it comes up double six and we get wall to wall sunshine.

There are of course electronic watering devices you can instal but some of them a frighteningly dear and the cheaper ones manufactured in some far-flung country are unreliable to say the least. There are numerous videos doing the rounds giving simple DIY hacks and tips on how you can keep your garden moist, but do they work?

The first and most obvious is the plastic bottle normally meant for the recycling bin.  A 2 or 3 litre bottle can be turned into a simple irrigation device. Just cut off the bottom of the bottle, then puncture holes along the sides and bury the bottle near your plants with the top facing the ground and the cap still on. Now you can pour water directly into the bottle and it will slowly drip out to irrigate your plants over the course of a few days. Its not going to last the week but it gives your plants hope to cling to that they will be rescued. An alternative to this would be to leave the bottle intact, you won’t get any water loss to evaporation. You can also buy self-watering spikes that screw onto the bottle and drip slowly into the soil, also this way you don’t need to bury the water.

Another method involves the creation of your own drip hose or soaker hose. Doesn’t everybody have that old hose that you are just too reluctant to throw away just in case you need it?  Well, this is that “Just in case” moment. The hose needs to be long enough to go from your tap and reach the very last plant you want to water.  You will need to block the end off, you can either buy a stopper or put a dowel in and tighten the hose to it with a jubilee clip. Leaving it open causes the water to pour freely out of the end rather than forcing it to seep slowly through the porous walls of the hose into your soil. What porous walls you ask? To accomplish that, puncture some holes on one side of the hose about 3/4 inches apart. Once completed attach the hose to the tap and lay it so the holes are close to your plants. Turn on the water at a very low rate , actually barely turning the tap on, all you want to achieve is a drip. Gradually and this bit will take time the water fills the pipe and the only place it can go is out of the holes. Your plants will get water until you come back suitably refreshed and turn it off.

A DIY watering system can significantly enhance the health and productivity of your garden. By choosing the right method and maintaining your system, you can ensure your plants receive the necessary water while conserving resources and you enjoy your holiday. Whichever option you decide, each method will provide a sustainable and efficient garden watering solution.