Think you can’t keep your garden alive while on vacation? Think again! I take 3-4 vacations per year, even when my garden is in full swing! And you can do the same – with some basic garden prep! Use these basic steps to get your garden ready for vacation and still come back to a productive harvest!
Steps to Preparing Your Garden for Vacation:
- Check the weather
- Set up your watering
- Harvest everything
- Prune your plants
- Trellis your plants
- Pest & disease control
- Send your potted plants away
- Lay down some mulch
- Have someone check in on the garden
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Get Your Garden Ready For Vacation
Getting your garden ready for vacation doesn’t have to be hard!
But it does take some initial setup!
From finding a way to water your garden, to making sure everything doesn’t get eaten by pests – vacation gardening shouldn’t be stressful!
Use these 9 tips below to have a stress free vacation, and still keep your garden alive! Just by doing a little bit of garden prep before you leave!
1) Check the weather
The very first thing you need to do is check the weather conditions for while you’re on vacation.
You need to see what you’re dealing with in order to prepare your garden!
You should do this no more than a few days ahead of time, since the forecast changes. And you want to be as accurate as possible!
And once you know what to expect, you can plan accordingly.
For example, if it’s going to be hotter than normal, you can put up some shade cloth.
Or if it’s going to rain most of the time, you can turn off your irrigation system!
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2) Set Up Your Watering
Usually when people think of preparing their garden for vacation, this is the only preparation they make.
And for good reason!
Watering your garden for vacation is super important if you want to keep your plants alive!
For me, this means adjusting my drip irrigation system which I installed last season. This system has been such a lifesaver and saves me tons of time on my daily garden chores!
But sometimes I need to adjust it, even when I’m not on vacation to prevent my plants from getting overwatered or from drying out.
The same is true for vacation gardening!
So after you check the weather forecast for the upcoming days, adjust your watering system to account for rain storms, droughts, or unusual conditions!
On the last vacation I took, it was scheduled to rain a bunch while we were gone – so instead of daily watering, I set my timer to every other day watering and reduced the duration, just in case!
This is why it’s so convenient to use a timer for your drip irrigation system! It’s basically a set it and forget it option while you’re on your trip!
I love the one I have – if you want to check it out, here’s the link!
3) Harvest Everything
The last thing you want is to come back from vacation and find a bunch of overripe fruits and veggies!
So the day before you go on vacation, harvest everything that’s ripe, or almost ripe!
Then cook whatever is ripe for dinner, and give the rest away to family and friends.
An alternative to this is seed saving. For some vegetables you need to let them dry out on the vine before you can harvest the seeds.
So anything that I want to seed save for next season, I leave on the plant until I get back from my trip. Then harvest the seeds and save for next time!
4) Prune Your Plants
Another important way to get your garden ready for vacation is to prune your plants.
Get rid of anything dead and allow the new growth to skyrocket while you’re away!
I love doing this right before a trip for two reasons.
One – when you get back you’ll see tons of new vines, flowers, and veggies.
And two – I don’t have to wait for it like I otherwise would. (I’m one of those people that checks on new seedlings 5676 time a day!)
Plus, you’re less likely to come back to a dead-looking garden if the plants are focusing all their energy on growing!
5) Trellis Your Plants
I don’t know about you, but I love growing vertically!
It’s such a great way to maximize your growing space and one of the best urban gardening tips I can give you!
But one of the worst things you can do is let your vining plants grow wild while you’re away, trust me!
At the beginning of my gardening journey I didn’t realize how important this step really was. So every time I got back from vacation I would encounter a hot mess of tangled vines that needed to be cut back in order to let light in again!
So set aside about 20 minutes and trellis anything that needs support!.
Tie up your tomatoes, weave your beans into the trellis, and make your your cucumbers have enough space. You’ll be glad you did this later!
6) Pest & Disease Control
In my June Garden Tour Video, I talked about how easily pests and disease spreads in the garden. And how my garden was basically overrun with armyworms this summer since I caught it late!
Which is why you should always make sure your pest and disease prevention tactics are covered right before you leave on vacation!
I garden organically (which I have a love/hate relationship with) so I don’t really spray tons of stuff. But I do use organic methods like diatomaceous earth and baking soda solutions to control pests – along with companion planting and other organic techniques.
So right before you leave, make sure your pest control plan is in place – whether that’s spraying, putting down natural powders, or having someone come hand pick the bugs off your plants while you’re gone!
7) Send your potted Plants away
Every so often I have a few potted plants that aren’t on my drip irrigation and need a lot of water. Usually any fruit trees that haven’t made their way into the food forest yet.
In this case, I simply take those plants over to a friend’s house and ask them to water it while I’m gone.
It’s important to let them know how often they need to be watered, however, since you don’t want to come back to a dead plant!
Also keep in mind that the lighting and temperature conditions might be different in another location. So allow your plant some time to adjust and don’t be too upset if your plant shows some signs of stress when you return!
8) Lay down some mulch
Mulching is one of the easiest ways to prevent water evaporation in the soil.
Which in plain English means you get to water less!
And while this is true during the entire season, mulching before you go on vacation provides an extra layer of protection – literally!
Now, I will confess that for the most part I don’t use mulch in the garden (to me if feels kinda like a waste of space.) But there’s no denying that it’s an excellent way to keep your plants hydrated, especially in the heat!
What I do instead of traditional mulching is to use a live mulch.
And if you’re not familiar with live mulch, basically it’s a way to use ground cover between your plants instead of traditional mulch.
Your plants get mulch, you get something edible.
One of my all time favorite ways to do this is by using herbs that spread – like thyme! Although I will warn you that this can be very invasive if you’re not prepared!
So an easy one is parsley.
It doesn’t spread, and you can never have too much of it!
Psst…want to fast track your garden? Get access to my FREE gardening resource library and start maximizing your garden today!
9) Have Someone Check In on the Garden
If you’re watering manually, this is a must! Since you will literally need someone to water your plants while you’re gone.
And to be honest, this was my vacation gardening strategy for many years.
I had a friend or family member come water my plants and look after the garden while I was gone. And sometimes I even hired the kid next door to water my plants!
But even if you’re whole setup is on drip irrigation like mine is, having an extra set of eyes on your garden never hurts!
I would recommend that you leave a checklist of things to look for – in case your garden sitter isn’t an experienced gardener.
Basic things should be fine – water plants, make sure everything is alive, check that there’s not a huge pest infestation. That sort of thing!
But if you really want you can also have them check for signs of plant stress – yellow or brown leaves, curling leaves, holes in the leaves, weird fungi in the soil, etc.
And if you really don’t have anyone to count on for this, your garden should be okay – as long as you’ve followed the other 6 steps to getting your garden ready for vacation!
When Should I Prepare my Garden for Vacation?
As a general rule, you should prepare your garden no more than 2 days ahead of time.
Getting your garden ready for vacation too early can backfire, since plants continue to grow and the weather forecast will continue to change!
It also depend on how long you’re going away for!
The longer the trip, the longer I wait to get my garden ready – just to maximize the effect!
For example, when I go for a weekend trip – a day or two in advance is fine.
But if it’s a week or more, I always try for the morning of – or at least the night before if I have an early morning flight!
How can I keep my garden watered while on vacation?
Watering your garden on vacation is an important step to keeping it alive while you’re away.
And my favorite method for watering is installing a drip irrigation system with a timer! Even when I’m not on vacation, this is a lifesaver!
But if you aren’t quite ready to set up your drip system, manual watering works just fine.
You will need to find someone to water your garden though if you’re going away for more than a few days. Family members, friends, or even a neighborhood kid works perfectly – especially if you offer them a reward (like vegetables and herbs!)
Another way to keep your garden watered is by using self-watering planters or self-watering plant techniques (like a string and a bag full of water).
However, I wouldn’t recommend this method since there’s a lot that could go wrong and really there’s no regulating this!
Keeping Seedlings Alive While on Vacation
Every year, I start plants from seed and wait patiently for the first signs of green to pop through the soil.
This usually happens around March for Spring gardening and again in September for my Fall garden.
Unfortunately, these dates often coincide with the best months to take vacation (the off months are super budget friendly!)
So one of my main concerns on a trip is if my seedlings will still be alive when I get back – and they usually are!
This is because I always keep my seedling containers in 1020 trays!
Let me explain.
In order to garden on a budget, I start all my seeds in red solo cups or hand-me-down containers. And then I take all of those and put them inside a 1020 tray filled halfway with water.
This keeps my seedlings hydrated and cuts down on the manual work for me!
Just remember to get the ones without drainage holes!
Overall, these steps work together to keep your garden thriving while you’re away. Just about every season I take a vacation and I’ve never had an entire garden die on me yet! And with a little preparation you can come back to a fully functional garden after your trip too! Use these 9 simple steps to get your garden ready for vacation and keep your plants alive!
I hope this was super helpful! And for more gardening resources, get access to our free gardening resource library! It will help you fast track your garden and it only takes 5 seconds!
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