Keep plants growing happily while you take a break
We’re approaching the season when an additional gardening worry is ‘how will our plants cope when we go on holiday?’, especially if we are away for longer than a week or have nobody to help with watering.
In April we had a week away just as our windowsill seedlings were getting ready for potting on. It was also warm and sunny and I was concerned about them, and wondering how to stop them getting sun-scorch or growing leggy.
In the end I gave them a good drink and moved them into the bathroom, some in the bath and the rest in trays on the floor.
The cool, muted light was enough to keep them growing, and the filter of the frosted glass meant that none scorched or started growing towards the window.
The only flaw in my plan presented itself when we arrived home, late at night and travel-weary, and I had to move all the seedlings before having a shower!
If you don’t have a timed or solar irrigation system in place, the greenhouse is another worry point during the summer, even if you have shaded the glass and it’s well ventilated.
We don’t have an irrigation system so what I do is insert one end of a thin length of capillary matting into the growbag compost, and the other into bowls of water and liquid tomato feed. The matting draws up the moisture and shares it with the plants.
Last summer we went away for three wonderful weeks and none of our greenhouse plants had succumbed to dehydration in our absence. In fact we ended up with a glut of tomatoes. Happy days!
- Please let us know your top holiday watering tips so we can share them with other readers.
Sowing summer bedding
Get ready for late-year colour
- I don’t particularly like thinking about the winter, especially when summer is barely underway, but I do like thinking about seeds to sow for later this year.
- Autumn and spring bedding such as pansies, violas and bellis can be sown now and then planted out this autumn.
- They may flower towards the end of the year, or sit tight through winter and provide a ray of many-coloured sunshine next spring.
- As always, sow in trays of dampened peat-free compost and cover with a fine layer of vermiculite or more compost before adding a lid.
- At this time of year the seeds can go in a cold frame or mini greenhouse and when the seedlings have germinated well (don’t forget to remove the tray lid when they appear) they can be potted up into small pots of modules.
- Keep their compost damp, not soggy, and don’t let them dry out.
- With healthy growth they can be planted out in the autumn, with some wool mulch around them to keep slugs at bay.
Greenhouse tips for a healthy summer
The temperature is rising in the greenhouse and although this is great news for tender veggies we need to make sure they are snug without being scorched.
Shading the greenhouse is easy thanks to netting that can be draped over the top, and washable paint that can be coated on when hot weather arrives and then washed off when it gets cooler to allow maximum sunshine onto crops that are still ripening.
Our greenhouse has a large tayberry attached to a trellis running along the side that gets the most sun. The tayberry thrives and its greenery helps diffuse the light to slightly lower the temperature inside the greenhouse.
The trellis also acts as a handy buffer against the prevailing winds in winter.
On the hottest days I damp down the greenhouse floor and leave bowls of water under the shelves.
This again helps lower the temperature to manageable levels and helps deter glasshouse spider mites that dislike humidity.
Ventilation is also important, and open doors and windows have the added benefit of allowing pollinators to get to your plants – so bumper crops all round this year!
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