You might have a holiday coming up soon but are wondering what to do with your plants while you’re away. A gardening expert has shared his easy solution to keep plants watered until you get back home
A gardening expert has shared one way you can keep your plants watered while you’re on holiday (stock photo)(Image: Getty Images)
A gardening guru has shared his savvy tips for keeping your plants quenched while you’re on holiday. For many, tending to their garden is a cherished part of daily life, offering satisfaction from nurturing a thriving array of flora.
Whether you’re growing a variety of plants or trees, they all require consistent care and attention. With holiday season approaching, you might be wondering how to keep your plants hydrated. Known to his fans as Joe’s Garden on social media platforms, Joseph Clark has been dishing out monthly sustainable gardening kits for the past couple of years and wrote the book ‘Garden To Save The World’.
With a TikTok following that exceeds a million, Clark regularly shares his horticultural wisdom online. In a recent TikTok video, he gave his method for ensuring his plants remain watered during his time away.
Clark advises: “This time of the year loads of us are going away on holiday but it’s important we still keep our garden and house plants watered so simply gather up a few different size bottles and start to heat up an old metal fork. Poke a small hole in the bottom of each bottle and another small hole in the cap.”
He then suggests taking some Q-tips or cotton buds, snipping them in half, and placing one piece in the bottle cap and the other in the base of the bottle. His final step involves filling each bottle with water.
Clark remarked: “After a few minutes you’ll notice some small droplets from the bottom Q-tip and if you remove the swab or the cap from the top it will release the pressure and speed up the flow of water. Place these bottles around all of your plants then let drip irrigation work its magic and keep them well watered for a good few days while you’re away.”
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In his TikTok video’s caption, the green-fingered enthusiast advised that ideally, you should get family and friends to tend to your plants when you’re not around, but if that’s not possible, he considers this trick as the “next best solution to help give your plants a slow release drink.”
This technique can “buy you some time until you get back home” but Clark emphasised that it’s crucial to remember that this method will sustain your plants for “around two to five days depending on a few factors, such as the flow, weather and the size of your bottle.”
He elaborated: “This method of watering, which is commonly known as drip irrigation, is used around the world in most farms, plant nurseries and garden centres as it is a super targeted way of getting water exactly where you need it, helping not only to water each specific plant, but also to reduce water waste.”
He also revealed that whenever he’s away, he prefers to “set the flow to its slowest possible setting to prevent water running out too fast”.
However, if using this method for containers, he stressed the importance of checking for drainage holes in the bottom to prevent waterlogging, which can be just as detrimental to plants as a lack of water.
Clark’s TikTok video has garnered widespread praise from viewers, with one commenting: “This is a fantastic tip! Works better than praying for rain.”
Another user responded: “This is a really great solution! Thank you for sharing.” Others echoed the sentiment, describing the hack as “what a great idea, thank you”, “brilliant”, and “very clever.”