It is 6am, the car's packed, the kids are settling territorial disputes on the back seat and you've run through the list in your head: tent, credit card, keys, passports, ferry tickets – all clear. Filled the bird bath? Before you know it you're running around the garden in a last minute dash to water seedlings and flowers.
Here's a checklist of summer holiday jobs that might make leaving your garden to its own devices for a few weeks a little easier.
Water
1. Give everything a good soak the week before you go away. Deep watering less often is better than light, frequent watering. Watering for longer encourages good root development and means plants can cope better with limited water. When you do water, do so in the early morning or evening; you'll lose less to evaporation this way.
2. Mulch your garden – a 5cm layer is the best way to keep soil damp and to keep down weeds. You can use almost anything for mulch: fallen leaves, old straw, bark chips, gravel or stones. Make sure soil is damp before you apply it.
3. Ask a house sitter or neighbour to do general watering jobs for you, or install an irrigation system with a timer switch set to water in the morning or evening. Although it's better to have a professional install an irrigation system in the long run, larger home stores and garden centres sell the necessary DIY equipment for rush jobs.
4. Group pots and containers of plants with like needs together for easy watering and care if someone is watering for you. Keeping containers in light shade will moderate temperature to
5. Make sure any automatic watering system you have works properly – you don't want the tap to run all day for two weeks. Fix any leaking pipes, too.
6. Top up the bird bath before you leave.
Weeds
7. Weeds are easiest to pull up from flower beds when they are young, so spend a few minutes removing them before you go away. That way they won't be well-established – and difficult to remove – when you come home.
8. Pour boiling water on weeds between pavers to kill them - it's much easier than digging them up by hand. The weeds will wilt and then brown off after a few days. Use weed killer selectively and only as a last resort.
Produce
9. Throw a summer party to use up all the vegetables in your garden or allotment before you leave. While you're at it, invite friends to pick fruit and vegetables while you are away.
10. Summer is wonderful for fresh, herby salads, but salad leaves can bolt and go to seed if neglected in the heat. If plants like parsley and basil are going to be past their best upon your return, cut large bunches and dry them to store for the rest of the year. Pesto is also a smart way to use up basil quickly: blend with olive oil, parmesan and pine nuts, and season to taste. Play around with alternatives like parsley, rocket and walnuts.
11. Pick all the fruit you can – think plums, peaches, tomatoes – before you leave and freeze or preserve it.
Plants
12. Clip your hedge tightly before your go away: unusually long, untidy hedges are a sure sign you're out of town. Trim a young hedge lightly on top to encourage it to bush out. Older hedges need to be cut with the base wider than the top to stop them from becoming top heavy and to enable light to fall onto lower growth. Lay down newspaper or plastic sheeting to collect the clippings and then use the clippings as mulch beneath the hedge.
13. Don't feed the lawn if you're going away. Instead mow it with a raised blade to prevent the grass being sunburnt. If the grass is long on your return, keep the blades on your mower raised for the first cut, and lower them gradually with each successive cut.
14. If you are consistently away at the same time each year, abandon annuals for waterwise perennials. A general rule of thumb is that grey- and small-leafed plants will survive without much water.
15. Put off fiddly jobs such as sowing seed and transplanting until after your return so you can give plants adequate care and protection. That way the five tiny poppy seeds your mother-in-law gave you may have a chance of survival.
16. While you're away, look at public parks and open gardens for new ideas such as planting combinations or accessories that could sit happily in your own garden. That said, resist the temptation to buy plants that will struggle to survive in your home climate.
Security
17. Store garden ornaments out of sight, especially if they're usually in the front garden. You may think no-one else wants the cement David you inherited from Uncle Brian last year, but you'd be surprised at what people steal. Engrave or mark with invisible ink valuable statues, sculptures, pots and benches.
18. If you think your favourite bench or pot will be nicked while you're away, anchor it to the ground – use a length of chain and a cement ring bolt to stop it growing legs. Cementing pots to the ground is also an option.
19. Move garden tools such as ladders, spades, forks and hoes indoors so they can't be used to break into your house. If you don't have room for a ladder indoors, bolt it to a wall away from the house.
20. Put a crocodile in your moat.
Have we missed anything? Tell us how you prepare your garden before a holiday in the comments below.
