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Holiday distress
cathy paget
Posts: 36
Even though I added moisture gel to all my baskets and pots upon return from holiday they are all wilted to beyond belief. I had nobody to water them for me whilst I was away and they have suffered badly with the hot week we all had. My greenhouse tomatoes were on capillary matting and they too have suffered. What can you suggest I can do to revive them all? I have already soaked them today.
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Posts
Oh dear ... hope the watering works.
That's why we go on holiday in September .............
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Well that's not really helpful is it? I asked for advice not criticism
put hanging baskets in bucket/bowl whatever you have bath if neccessary, (plug in) soak from top with enough water to come up to plant level,and leave soak overnight, put them in the shade if there is any, I never found the water gel made any difference.
Agree with the advice given Cathy, fingers crossed for you. Unfortunately they took you off guard in a heatwave!
Other than watering now, but not drowning them, there's not a lot you can do. We have invested in a Hozelock automated irrigating system for our pots and baskets and it has been worth every penny. We have about 30 pots and 3 baskets fed by a single system and it works beautifully. One of our neighbours used to water the plants, but he was totally inconsiderate and went and died! As people would have to go through the house to get to the garden, there isn't any other neighbour we have enough to do with to trust in that way.
There really isn't much you can do. If a plant is dead it's dead. If not your actions already instigated MIGHT be enough to allow them to claw back. There is no magic cure.
Have patience, don't expect too much, and examine what space you have to plant afresh for a late harvest.
Oh; and don't go reading too much in to everyone's posts if you instantly think a throw away comment has such a deep attack on you. We're, mostly, not that kind of group and really you'll find us much more fun when you smile with us.
For future reference; I sink 2 litre cola bottles into the pots having cut off the base and removed the lid. They are pushed top first to the middle of the pot and are then filled with rain water.
This allows a steady release of water and is of course quite cheap to install. Seems to save my plants on those long romantic weekends away.
This is one of the problems of being a gardener and wanting holidays in the summer. Pots and baskets should always be well watered and then put somewhere shady for the duration. Greenhouse is another matter and difficult to keep hydrated. Willing friends or neighbours or an automated watering system is really the only way I'm afraid. If the plants have dried to a crisp then the only real solution is to bin them and start again with whatever you can get. Even if they do recover and put on new growth they will be far behind their normal stage. Give them a really good soak, move them somewhere shady and see what they are like after a few days and then decide.
Apart from advice already given you could try some liquid seaweed foliar feed, but as already said if it's dry & crispy then nothing can resurrect them. For future I aregree an auto timer & drip irrigation system is worth it not too expensive now compared to years ago. In greenhouse a tank + capillary matting might help but the recent 30 + outside temps have stressed plants that are well watered let alone those left to fend for themselves.
When I first started in my last garden - a blank canvas of former cow pasture - I would leave pots in a kiddies paddling pool with water in shade at the back of the house. As my collection of pots grew and included permanent pots as well as cuttings, divisions, babies etc, I took to gathering them all at the shady back of the house along with hanging baskets and window boxes so they could be watered by a sprinkler on a timer. I led a second hose pipe to a sprinkler in my greenhouse.
You can set this up with an outside tap, a simple, battery powered Hozelock timer and a Y connector to allow two feeds or just buy a ready made system that suits your needs.
I did, just once, ask a neighbour's 18yr old to water my pots but she didn't grasp that she had to count to 30 with the hose pipe gun for the big pots and 20 for the medium etc. I came home to a lot of crispy plants and learned my lesson tho many did eventually recover with lots of TLC.