Gardens can be pretty absorbing at this time of year and tending to their every need can be heaps of fun - it's what we trained for! Now is also the time when some of us have plans to get away for a week or two. So how can we leave our gardens to cope in our absence and return with confidence that all our previous hard work and diligence won't have been undone?
Here are 10 tips and timely reminders to make your return home a happy garden:
- Mulch is key for preserving moisture and keeping seedling weeds down. Weeds not only compete for nutrients in the soil, they also draw on valuable moisture at the expense of food crops. Before you head off, give plants a thorough watering and spread a good layer of mulch around all plants. To prevent an outbreak of weeds mulch all bare areas of soil that are waiting for late summer/autumn plantings. This also helps to stop soil from drying out and developing a concrete-like crust on the top.
- Give the garden a thorough going over, removing all visible weeds. Hoe unplanted soil to expose any slug eggs to birds.
- Attract birds into your garden by placing shallow birdbaths outdoors. Don't leave food out, it's the birds' appetites you want so they'll hunt down and rid your plants of pests like aphids, snails and caterpillars.
- Make sure all climbing plants are well tied-in so that further growth will be better supported.
- Deadhead the finished flowers from your companion flowers to stimulate a new flourish of blooms that will attract beneficial bees and predatory insects.
- Plants in the ground are often less likely to dry out than those in containers. Where possible, push potted plants together; this has the effect of insulating them from the dehydrating effects of hot, sunny days. If they aren't too heavy, move them to shady spots. You can also sit pots in shallow trays of water so plants can absorb moisture as they need it.
- Pick all ripe fruit and vegetables to keep plants productive and prevent them from giving up.
- Avoid sowing seeds and planting seedlings just before you go away. Young seedlings are very vulnerable to drying out because they have tiny root systems that are unable to seek moisture from deeper in the soil. Just a couple of dry days without water can be the end of them.
- Contrary to what you might think, it's not ideal to overfeed plants before going away as you want growth to slow a little until you get back. That is, of course, unless you have arranged for someone to look after things for you in which case apply liquid feed to heavy feeding crops like pumpkins, tomatoes, melons, squashes, cucumbers and zucchini.
- Get a garden sitter. The most ideal way of ensuring that everything is as you'd like it to be when you come back from time away is to get someone you can trust to look after your home, garden and any livestock or pets you may have. Friends, neighbours and friends of friends is often a good place to start but if this does not dish up a suitable candidate then look for a house sitter. There are several NZ-based websites that link would be sitters with home-owners needing someone to care for their property. If your garden is extensive, or just small and perfectly formed, you may want to ensure that any house sitter really knows their onions and can do the job properly.
Quick tip: Harvest tips for some summer favourites -
As a general rule, all crops should be harvested as soon as fruit become ready to keep them productive and to stimulate more fruit to ripen.
Tomatoes
When plants have around 5 or 6 bunches of ripening fruit on them pinch out the growing tip (basically the top inch or so from the tallest part of the plant). This will focus the plant's attention on ripening fruits.
Fruit are ripe when they are still firm but give slightly; colour should also deepen and intensify to a rich red, dark purple, orange or yellow - depending on variety. Twist the ripe fruit so that they come away from the stems easily without tearing or dislodging other ripening fruit.
