How to prepare your garden for the holidays
La Nina is hell on beach-lovers but it’s great for the garden. All this rain and the absence, so far, of stinking heat waves and laser-hot days means that gardens have never looked so good.
So there’s never been a better time to turn our backs on the flourishing lushness and go on holidays, reasonably sure that it will look wild, but very much alive, when we get back. First though, a few preparations.
About to hit the road? Leave knowing your hard work won’t go to waste with some simple preparation.Credit:iStock
Get the weeds out. Don’t worry about the lawn, but deal with the weeds in paving and garden beds. The garden is best done by hand, the paving weeds can be killed with Slasher, which is a non-glyphosate herbicide. Its active ingredient is pelargonic acid, which occurs naturally in the leaves of pelargoniums and other plants, and kills most weeds (including moss and algae) on contact.
Mulch most bare soil to prevent evaporation. Keep soil temperatures even and discourage the germination of air-borne weed seeds. (Leave a few bare patches of earth as potential homes for native bees.) A coarse mulch, laid 2-6 centimetres deep, will allow rain to penetrate into the soil.
Mow the lawn just before heading off on holidays. But don’t be tempted to set the mower blades low; you’ll only scalp the grass and allow weeds in.
Ask for a little help. While potted succulents, cacti and bromeliads are all fine on their own for a few weeks, other potted plants will need help. One upside of COVID – we got to know our neighbours better. Make watering easy for that helpful neighbour by treating all large pots with a soil wetter. When potting mixes dry out they become water repellent; and as organic matter breaks down it can coat soil particles with a waxy coating, which also results in hydrophobic soil. Soil wetters deal with both issues, allowing the soil to hold more water, making watering more efficient.
And group small pots together. If the neighbour is kind but not much of a gardener, it might be safest to place small pots in shallow trugs or a child’s plastic swimming pool, with instructions to keep a few centimetres of water in the bottom. The plants will wick the water, and a few weeks of sitting in a little water will not put most plants at risk of root rot. Also, encourage the neighbour to pick the growing tips out of the basil, take bunches of parsley, pick salad leaves and harvest tomatoes.
Give them a good drink before you go. Indoor gardeners should give all pots a good soak, and place any plants that dry out fast and are at risk of holiday death onto an old towel in the bathtub with a few centimetres of water in the bottom. No bathtub? Set up a wicking system on the kitchen bench, using cotton twine or rope pushed five centimetres into the top of the potting mix surface. The other end of the rope should be in a saucepan of water raised above the level of the pots.
All set? Enjoy the holiday.
Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox every Monday.
Most Viewed in Lifestyle
Source: Read Full Article