You’ve worked hard on your garden. You’ve spent months cultivating those tiny seedlings. You’ve banished weeds and bugs as best you could. Your toil has been rewarded with some fruits, but there’s still more on the vine. And now… vacation time.
If you’re relatively new to gardening, it can be a worrisome thing to let go of your garden for a week. You’ve been its caretaker, and it has been your hobby and your respite from the busyness of modern life. Now you’ve got to give it up to the care of either another person or to providence. Either case can be concerning.
There is another option. With a little bit of forethought, you can make preparations for your garden’s care while you are away. You can purchase a timer system for watering the plants for about $25 to $50, depending on the size of your garden and the number of zones needed. With a timer and some well-placed sprinkler heads, you can leave your garden for up to a week without worrying.
Bug protection is another matter altogether. There’s not much that you can do to protect your garden from the creepies while you’re away. The best alternative that I know is to have a friend come by once every three days or so to give it a spraying. If any alert readers have a better plan for protecting the garden while they’re gone, I’d love to read it. It’s so devastating to come home and find your prize pumpkin/eggplant/fill in the blank eaten up, leaving only a shell to mock you with its size and sheen.
The next time you’re going out of town for a few days, remember to plan ahead for the care and protection of your garden while you’re away. It will be well worth the effort, expense, and favors called in when you come home to a rich, full garden.
