Cheap ways to keep potted plants watered during a week away

[FeelingSadToday1]

I am away on holiday Sunday afternoon for a week. It falls when we are due a heat wave of course and I am worried for all my outside plants. The ones on the front are in full sun and in planters so need watering often or they'll all dry up and die. I can probably ask a couple of neighbours if they wouldn't mind doing the front ones but ideas for the back?

I have 5 pots of beans in the garden, 2 cucumbers and tomatoes in the green house and then potted acers, lavender and roses. I will soak them well before I go but any ingenious but cheap ideas?

An upsidown two litre coke bottle filled with water shoved into the pot? I havw seen this online but i think you need a connector to out it into the soil, maybe a terecotta lid? Or capillary matting and a bucket of water. Or you might get away with putting them in a tray/paddling pool with plenty of water in for the week.

Get a large plastic bottle, drill a small hole in the cap, fill with water and bury cap side down in the soil. Will slowly drip out, keeping soil moist.

Other method I have seen is similar, but put bottle upwards near plant then have a wick (string from an old mop I've seen, but any thick cotton) pushed through the hole to the bottom of the bottle and dangling out to the soil.

I think there is a method where you bury terracotta pots that have no drainage holes and fill with water (with a lid - a saucer or similar). Water will percolate out of the pot.

Hi, have you looked in Home Bargains they have various drip feeders and watering globes l think they call them for a few pounds that hold enough for a fortnight l think from memory. Only a couple of quid each. Probably only the larger branches sell them, not sure and l imagine other 'cheap' shops like Poundland etc have them.
Asda has a large plant and garden section too and Morrisons. Good luck, l hate seeing plants thirsty which is why lm trying to help and once nearly got thrown out of Morrisons for giving some poor bone dry plants a drink from my water bottle lol.

If they aren’t too big too move…group them together somewhere shady. Or move what you can into shade.

Thank you all! I will have a look into these.

I cant move anything unfortunately. The acers and roses are in semi shade anyway and everything else is tied to trellis. The lavender is pretty indestructible so hopefully that will be ok.

Will report back later if I find an option.

Thank you again.

Mulch will also be your friend.

Add bark, straw or cut grass (that hasn’t seeded) - anything to help retain water and lessen evaporation from the soil surface.

Sending you a hug 🤗, hope you feel better soon.

Ooooh I have an unused bag of bark in the green house. I will absolutely use that as a mulch. Thank you :)

Going forward, you may want to set up a micro tubing irrigation system, I have two of them for pots (at the front and back of the house) and they work really well, everything stays alive when we are away.

This is what I bought first https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-Easy-Micro-Watering-Containers/dp/B01AXKVWV2, and I bought a timer separately which I control from my phone via an app. It’s fairly easy to set up. You can also buy the components separately and rig up your own system. I found buying them separately was cheaper and better quality than the kit, especially the tubing.

If you look up 'ceramic watering spikes' you should find the ones that you attach a wine bottle/other glass bottles too.

I use these plus mulch.

I have never got drip feeders to work properly, but to be fair, I went cheap.

Cover them up with shade cloth (do you get that in the Uk?) or even an old sheet. Just a week won’t kill them. It makes a microclimate in there that really lessens transpiration.

We have covered our grass (just a small patch) with heavy shade cloth in heatwaves and it loves it - it grows like the clappers under there.

If you have terracotta pots, wrap them in old cloth or something to lessen evaporation and keep roots cool.

Do you know your neighbours? I do my neighbours and she does mine when we go away. Similarly cat feeding.
In the past I've also paid a teenager to water.

If the neighbours can do the ones at the front, surely they can do those at the back?