Every gardener faces a big dilemma every summer: How do you water your garden and keep it alive when you’re on holidays?

I’m sharing my five basic steps for plant care on vacation. These tips should keep your plants alive for a max of 3 days without rain and moderate temperatures. I’ll also give you suggestions for what to do if you’re gone for longer.

Step One: Weed Before You Go

Weeds compete with vegetables for nutrients and moisture. By weeding before you go, you give your veggies the best chance possible of success, and avoid any nasty surprises when you get back. Nobody wants to spend their first day back from vacation in a 4 hour wedding marathon.

Related: Tips for Figuring Out What’s a Weed and What’s a Plant

Step Two: Add Mulch Around Your Plants

Mulch will lock in the moisture and keep out the weeds.

If you cut your lawn and use the clippings as mulch, you’ve just killed two birds with one stone. You can also use newspaper, old leaves, or wood chips and shavings.

Related: Use Mulch for a Low-Maintenance Garden

Step Three: Harvest Ripe Vegetables

Pick anything that is ripe or close to ripe, as vegetables allowed to over ripen will signal to the plant that the season is over and it’s time to go to seed.

Some vegetables are more high maintenance than others and must be harvested every few days once they start producing. If you are leaving when peas, beans, lettuce, or zucchini are in full swing, you must ask a friend to come and harvest for you if you are gone for longer than 3 days.

Related: The Best Vegetables for Beginners, and 5 to Avoid

Step Four: Water Deeply

Right before you leave for your holiday, water your garden very deeply. You can also insert a few of these DIY watering devices around the most fragile plants–like tomatoes.

If you’re gone for three days or less, water deeply again immediately when you return from vacation.

Planning on using a drip irrigation system on a timer while you’re gone?  (If you’re not, don’t freak out, this is more of an advanced gardening solution.) Make sure you test out the system the week before!  One of my blogging friends, Amy from Daily Successful Living installed a beautiful irrigation system, only to have a pipe burst while she was gone and come home to a flooded backyard. . . and probably a really expensive water bill.

Step Five: Check the Weather

Thunderstorms in the forecast? Great, you probably won’t have to worry about your garden when you’re gone. However, if there’s a heat spell in the cards, you’ll need to ask someone to water your garden if you’re gone longer than a day or two.

If most of your garden is in containers, you can move them to the shadiest spot in your yard/on your patio to conserve water and help keep them alive while you’re gone.

Asking A Friend or Neighbour to Water Your Garden

If you’re gone for longer than 3 days, it’s wise to ask someone to come to your home and water your plants. Try to choose someone who lives close to you, so that it’s not a huge inconvenience to them. Offer to water their plants in exchange, give them anything that’s ripe when you’re gone, and give them a small gift when you return. If your vacation is longer than a week, you should consider paying the person.

You can make things easier on your friend by grouping all your pots in one or two locations, and by keeping the watering cans or any other things they’ll need by the hose.

The One Instance When You Don’t Need to Care For Your Garden

Finally, it must be said that if you have an established perennial garden with no vegetables or annual flowers, you do not need to worry about caring for your plants when you’re on vacation.

How do you take care of your garden when you’re away?  Let us know in the comments.

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Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.