Holiday watering

[Maf]

I'm going away for two weeks next tuesday and need to rig something up to takes care of my Courgettes and Peppers. I have some hozelock 4l drippers and a timer from last year but don't know if they're up to the job.

Courgettes are in big tubs and peppers in grow bags (both under fleece (it's windy up here!))

Any thoughts ?

[shirlthegirl43]

Ooh, not sure about that. Maybe deep gravel trays and a friendly neighbour to pop in every few days to top them up? Good luck and have a nice holiday

[Maf]

No neighbours 4 miles appart from farmers flat out bringinging the grass in : (

[shirlthegirl43]

Oh dear, the only other thing I have read about is to sit the pots on capillary matting and put an 'end' of the matting into a large container of water to act as a wick.

[HeyWayne]

Or large plastic bottles with their bums cut off, lid screwed on and a couple of small holes made in the lid. Bury the bottle about half way (lidded end in the ground) and fill with water...

Not sure how long they'd last - guess it depends how big the bottle is.

[Demeter]

Another thing is to keep the sun off them a bit - either move them to the shadiest place you can or put up shade netting or something - otherwise it would only take a couple of really hot sunny days and your plants might be in trouble! Worth putting some sort of mulch or other evaporation barrier onto any bare soil as well.

I would guess that if you thoroughly soak them before you go, rig up some shade and some mulch, and leave them with as many drip feeders as you can fit in (the 4l ones and makeshifts from plastic bottles) that'll probably do it?

Oh yes - and a raindance

[Capsid]

I'm going away for two weeks next tuesday and need to rig something up to takes care of my Courgettes and Peppers. I have some hozelock 4l drippers and a timer from last year but don't know if they're up to the job.

Courgettes are in big tubs and peppers in grow bags (both under fleece (it's windy up here!))

Any thoughts ?

Why don't you think the drippers/timer are up to the job? I find that 10 mins twice a day is sufficient.

[syanide]

Hi. I have a similar problem, but I am more concerned about my tomatoes and aubergines in the conservatory. They're all in 10" pots.

I think the Aubs might just survive, but the tomatoes are fruiting and gaining their colour too. I'm only going away for a week though.

All help appreciated.

(ps - have seen those gel crystals and those spikes with holes in that you screw onto bottles, but don't know how good they are)

Cheers
syanide

[vicky]

Hope the hols were fun!

Interested to know what you used for the plants watering and how effective it was! (We are off on hols soon and I have the same problem!)

[Two_Sheds]

The courgettes are going to need picking every other day, or they'll be marrows when you get home

[Sanjo]

I don't know if this is really going to work as I am experimenting. In my greenhouse I have two cucumbers which I have nursed faithfully (according to him indoors I have worried and fretted over them more than I ever did the children - I THINK he's only joking)

We are shortly going away for four days so I have taken two large buckets and made a hole about 1" from the bottom of each. I used the gadget you get to make holes for a mini watering system.

I did have to start off with a sharp point first as I couldn't get any purchase. I screwed in the little black fitment from a watering system and then sweated a dripper fitment onto the end.

Anyway, I have hung this over the edge of the greenhouse staging and onto the compost in the cucumber bucket. It drips once per second (or if you put on a retarder you can adjust it even further).

I did initially have a problem in that the drips stopped after a while but then realised that I had a very slight bend upwards in the hose where it met the compost and because there was very little pressure from one drip it couldn't cope with the slight bend.

Having straightened that it is now working fine. One bucket holds about 2 gallons and the other about 4. I have put in a couple of caps of feed.
I intend to water well the night before I go away and I can then check the system at the same time to make sure it is still functioning.

In the garden I have three tubs of tomatoes. For these I went to the £1 shop and in their camping section they had 2 gallon roll up polythene water containers with a little tap.
I have hung one these above each of the tubs. The taps unfortunately were not sensitive enough for me to adjust to a drip.
What was fortunate was the fact that where the tap fits (and where you fill the container from) it leaked slightly once the bag was full.

A nice steady drip.Again, I am experimenting here. One tub is being watered direct from this drip.

The other tub has had a small plastic cup attached underneath the tap because this bag leaks from around the tap fitment as well as slightly from the tap.
I had previously made a small hole in this cup and forced through a piece of the thin black watering tube.
As the drips build up and reach the edge of the tube they give a little glug and disappear down the hole and into my tub.

Again, I intend to water thoroughly before I go and this I hope will just give a little boost while I am away. With my luck I bet it tips it down the whole time and I needn't have bothered.
The third tub is going to have to take its chances!!!

This explanation is long winded but I hope not too complicated.
It was harder explaining how to do it than to actually do it but I hope enough of it makes sense for it to be useful.

If it is a roaring success I shall let you all know. If it isn't I shall creep quietly into a corner and pretend It wasn't me what said it.!!

In April/May last year we went to Spain for a couple of weeks and I left a greenhouse full to the brim with seed trays. I rigged up a micro watering system using lots of string and bits of garden cane and bits of plastic to divert some of the spray.
I connected it all to a timer on the garden tap and when we came back it was like the Kew Gardens conservatory. Green and healthy. I was chuffed to bits.

[Maf]

Well I returned to marrows, but the plants live on.

Peppers were well and truly waterlogged.

Make sure you test your watering system for a week or so prior to going !!