Use this easy vacation watering tip to keep your potted plants happy while you’re away for up to a week!
Here’s a problem I know everyone has: how to deal with vacation watering for pots that dry out in a few days in the summer. Do you hire a house sitter for just a few days? Ask a neighbor? Give up and let the plants die?
If you grow flowers, vegetables or herbs in pots, you know that even a weekend without water in the summer heat can stunt growth and even kill plants. But asking someone to water plants every time you go away can become burdensome (for both of you!). And hiring for a few days isn’t always cost effective. (Besides, when was the last time a teenager knew how to water plants long enough to soak them?)
A few years ago I thought about how I water my seedlings from the bottom and thought the same concept should work with pots, too- just on a larger scale. My solution?
Buy a kiddie pool to hold the pots and then fill the pool with water!
It worked perfectly! I’ve used this method now for about four years and I’m really happy with the results. The plants stay alive (some even thrive because they were needing a good summertime soak), and I don’t have to bug someone to water them.
I’ve even gone for a week with the plants in their pool, but I did ask someone to come and water the bigger pots and refill the pool at the 3-day mark. She did say the pool needed to be refilled – but that was because the temperature was in the high 80s and 90s. On cooler weeks, you may not need anyone to stop by.
How to Use a Kiddie Pool for Vacation Watering
- Place any hanging pots and all the smallest pots in the pool. When placing the hanging pots, let the trailing plants hang over the edge and arrange them on the other pots, as needed. Basically, don’t let the trailers sit in the water.
- Fill in any extra openings with medium-sized pots. It’s okay if they are tilted a bit to fit – just as long as the bottom of the pots will get water, it’s good.
- Larger pots can last a couple days between watering, so if you don’t want to invest in a lot of kiddie pools, just water them well move them to shadier spots. OR buy plastic saucers to fit under them and fill those with water.
- Use a hose to fill the pool with water – all the way to the top.
That’s a lot easier than trying to find someone to water, right?
How long does this work?
I’ve found that about five days is best, though you can stretch it to seven, because some of the plants don’t like being waterlogged and may look a little yellow when you return. I trim them up if needed and they perk back up in about a week, though, so it’s still better than loosing the plant to not enough water.
A 2-3 day weekend trip is just about the perfect amount of time and you will come back to plants that look as healthy as when you left. In fact, if I haven’t been consistent in watering (what- this surprises you?) leading up to the time away, the plants may even look better.
All the more reason to schedule a fun trip, I say.
What are some of the things you do to keep the garden looking good when you’re away?
Here’s an image you can pin to remember this tip for your next vacation:
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Toni says
Your idea is great. I have another suggestion to add to you’re awesome idea. Leave a hose in the pool and put a timer on your water faucet and set timer to come on every five days for enough time to half fill the pool. The timer can also be set to come on anywhere from every day to every 7 days.
Jami says
Thank you, Toni! That is a good idea – you’d just have to make sure you test it to know how much water in the amount of time so you don’t have an overflowing pool, lol.
T. DeBolt says
It might be a good idea to throw a “dunks” disc into that pool to prevent it from incubating a bunch of mosquitos in addition to watering your plants.
Jami says
Good tip if you live in a highly infested area! I just use this for 3-5 days, so it hasn’t been an issue for us.
Heather says
I almost missed this week;) glad I got my act together and am now looking forward to seeing everyone’s progress.
Great watering idea. And the tomato post was hysterical. Oh my, I can’t imagine!
Happier Than a Pig in Mud says
What a great idea, nice and easy!
HoosierHomemade says
That is a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing it and for hosting!
~Liz
Heather says
Oooo great tip! I have kept our kiddy pool too and didn’t know why until now! Thanks.
Always Nesting says
That is such a great idea and darn it if I didn’t give away a kiddie pool to the neighbors 🙁 Got it for our dog and it freaked her out so I passed it along, never considering another use for it.
Good lesson for me and great idea from you.
Sarah says
My husband collects rain water in large plastic barrels. He attached a spigot to the bottom so we us a soaker hose and gravity from the pressure of water in a full barrel for our raised beds. Quite a lot of set up, but works well for.
I love your idea for the pots. (Bonus: the dog can use the kiddie pool when we are home and it’s hot out.)
debiclegg says
This is a great idea. Now if I can figure out how to get the Veggies harvested.
Alea says
What a great idea! I am taking the kids to see my grandma and even though my husband will be staying behind he will be too busy with work to worry about my plants.
Heather's Blog-o-rama says
I thought that was an interesting concept of watering the plants from the bottom. Here at the apartment complex where I live, they use a sprinkler system for the plants…BUT just recently installed a system in some areas where the plants are watered from an underground system…and they are really lush and green. So it must be working 🙂 🙂 🙂
I don’t have a garden to link up with here…but I do love your posts. I’m participating in all sorts of fun tea parties today..the kind where you display actual tea sets etc…It’s so much fun.
Have a great Tuesday. Love and hugs from Oregon, Heather 🙂
Athena at Minerva's Garden says
A good tip–thank you for sharing!
Wendy (The Local Cook) says
Oh man, wish I’d had this tip before my herbs fried over the 4th of July weekend. Oh well.
dogsmom says
I can kill any plant you give me. So they do better when I leave them alone.