I don't know where you are or what the weather is going to be like while you're gone, but here's an idea for if it's going to be hot.

One year when we were going to be gone for two weeks, we took a cheap hose and draped it across all our deck plants (about 12 pots). It was attached to a timer at the tap end, set to go off once a day for ... can't remember how many minutes. We drilled small holes in the hose above each plant, then turned the hose on to make sure each pot was getting water. Worked great! Could have used less water pressure on the hose though. When we got home, we saw one of the pots had the dirt disturbed too much where the water pushed into it. All the plants survived great though!

That was years ago. The hose is now being used in the shade garden, still attached to a timer at the tap. All those little holes in the hose work to give a lot of the plants under the trees some extra water.

You live in a humid climate, right? I'm sure they will be fine even if they only get watered once by your house-sitter. If you have a sprinkler system for your grass, put the pots out in the grass area where they would get sprinkler water.

Soak them thoroughly before you go away. Cluster them together in the shade and they will be fine. If you aren't leaving for another week, you can do a trial run just to see how they do that way.

-Babka

shes in metro detroit MI ...

i would not put them out in a full sun lawn just for the lawn sprinklers ... its the black pot in sun... that would not be approved ..

ken

Than i don’t worry.

The sprinkler we have is called “Claudia”:-)

think the timer is a good idea./. I didn’t think about that myself duh!

thanks guys!

You can leave them in a shallow pan or a childs backyard pool (thrift store) with a half inch of water. However, if you have someone coming once or twice, just leave them in the shade as suggested.

Ken, I should have clarified that the pot in sprinkler path should be in a shady area. When I saw the pictures of Claudia's yard, it looked like she had a lot of grassy area that was under large trees. I would never recommend a fully sunny area either. I should have been more clear for other readers.

Thank you popmama! I also completely forgot to mention in this posting which zone and how my garden situation is!

i just came back from Lowe’s with a timer. Was only $30. :-)