Keeping the garden rosy

The  Kiwi summer holiday season is about to begin and it is easy to neglect the garden then return to a jungle that Amazon explorer Henry Bates would have found daunting.

However, with a bit of forward planning, some of the potential problems can be eliminated or at least reduced. Here are some suggestions.

The Christmas tree

If you bought a live Christmas tree in a pot, don’t leave it inside and don’t repot it or plant it in the garden. Instead, water it really well and find a shady spot for it to rest until you have time to deal with it properly.

Lawns

Apart from making life easier when you return from holiday, a tidy lawn doesn’t advertise the fact that you are away. It’s worth paying someone to keep it trim. Ask them to set mower blades higher than usual as this is kinder to grass if the weather is dry. Some gardeners like to leave the catcher off so that clippings act as a mulch.

Vegetables

The part of the garden that really needs watering most is the vegetable garden. If inadequate moisture is available to plants, they will run to seed and the effort put into sowing and planting is wasted.

Before you head off, plant out all the seedlings you have sitting around in trays or punnets. Apart from reducing the stress — and losses — this ensures winter vegetables, such as Brussels sprouts, are in the ground in time to give decent crops later. Don’t delay if you want new potatoes at Easter. With Good Friday falling on March 30 next year, even the fast-growing spuds such as Swift and Rocket need to be planted by New Year.

Skip seed sowing if you are heading away. Seeds need even moisture to germinate, then careful pricking out (or thinning if sown directly into the place where they are to mature), neither tasks to dump on anyone else.

Get someone to do the watering while you are away, remembering that there are likely to be restrictions on when and how often hosing can be done. If water shortages are a regular occurrence in your area, look ahead and consider installing a water butt or tank for future summers. A water tank not only means you have water whenever the garden needs it, it also has the advantage of being an excellent backup should your local authority’s water supply fail.

Reward your helpers by letting them harvest what they fancy, whether it is tomatoes or turnips, and beg them to cut courgettes as soon as they are ready. That ensures they will keep producing and you won’t come home to marrow-sized specimens which will be, in the words of one writer, "watery and rather tasteless".

In the greenhouse

Allow plenty of ventilation, as steamy air is a killer for many plants and encourages diseases such as powdery mildew. As grapes start to ripen, they need little or no water, making them relatively easy-care over summer.

Outdoor potted plants

Anything grown in a container needs more watering than the same plant in open ground. Standing pots in water is not ideal as root rot may result but nonetheless could save prized specimens from death by dehydration.

Flowers

Deadheading roses before going on holiday encourages new growth but I wouldn’t put it high on my list of "must-dos". Instead, get rid of as many weeds as possible so they don’t produce a million seeds while you are sunning yourself at the beach. Don’t leave weeds on the ground, as they have a sneaky habit of going into overdrive and producing seeds in a last-ditch effort to foil the gardener.

Then, sit back, relax and enjoy your break.