Grow Your Own Magazine

I'm off my Summer hols next week and I have asked my sister to pop in everyday to water my veg. Thing is what with the school runs, 3 kids, husband, and dog I have a very strong feeling she will forget. I also can't ask the neighbours because both of them are on the move (was it something I said?).

I had an idea to get a kids pool for the garden and put all the pot plants in there and at least if she did forget they would get some sort of feed. But will this over water them? I know there are designed items out there to do this sort of watering for you but I really don't have the money to invest in them just yet.

If anyone has any other ideas about watering while on holiday please share with me.

Toffeeman had a similar question about his grenhouse. The tips here might help:

Holidays

Other than that, I don't know, sorry.. How about the drip piping system? Can't think what it's actually called... It's like a hose but small capillary holes in it.. Don't have a clue how affective they are though

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Shortie

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children; one of these is roots, the other wings" - Hodding Carter

I know that people put water in the kitchen sink and stand pot plants in it when they go away.

Capillary matting, if you can get it, would be a way of watering your plants while you are away.

I was lucky,and my none greenfingered 16 year old son looked after our garden and allotment.Thought he would forget and we would return to a disaster area but lo and behold he followed my written instructions and he didn't kill anything!So hopefully your sister will suprise you.Infact because so hot he'd checked allotment more often than I had said to.I asked what he had done to aubergines cos they had grown better whilst he incharge!!!!

Well I have just got back off my 2 week holiday and I'm glad to say not everything has died while I was away (nearly everything but not everything). I understand that you have had scorching weather around 35c each day, so I can not shout at my sister.

I just thought I would let you know that the kids pool worked wonders!!!!! I brought 2 very small pools from the market £1 each and I think they were the best things I have invested in. The plants that were in there now look really healthy. Everything else that was out and around the garden have nearly all gone / dead so I am a little upset.

My Brussels and Swede have lots of small holes all over the leaves (looked closer at lunch today and it looks like caterpillars (they have eggs on them too)). My sweet peas also look like they have been scorched. The lettuce are no loner there but dried up dead leaves. Tomato's are doing well and now have loads of new fruit, but it looks like they have lost a lot of leaves, I will have to pull off the brown dead leaves later.

Apart from a bit of TLC over the next few weeks has anyone got a solution to how I can recover each plant?

Your sprouts and swede are probably getting attacked by caterpillars from the Cabbage White Butterfly as they are both in the brassica family.
If you fancy it just go squishing them with your fingers, alot of fun and then you know where the sayin of Green Fingers comes from!!lol and squash the eggs too!

I know that they're are types of fleese or netting to stop this happening, but I prefer the sadistic approach