A gardening expert has shared a free and simple method to keep potted plants watered while on holiday, using just a bucket, string, and a stone. The trick, posted by TikTok creator Michael Griffiths, who posts as @Themichaelgriffiths and is the author of The Easy Garden, has attracted close to 70,000 views and thousands of likes.
The wicking method
Michael’s method begins with a bucket filled with water, placed above the level of the pots. He cuts several lengths of string and soaks each one until fully wet. Once saturated, he gathers the ends and attaches them to a stone so they stay submerged, then drops it back into the bucket. The other ends of each string are fed into separate plant pots and pushed into the compost, allowing moisture to travel along the fibres.
In his caption, Michael wrote: "The wicks water them only when the compost dries. Lasts about a week — bigger bucket, longer trip."
Viewer experiences
One person commented that they had tried a similar method but the string dried up. Michael suggested using cotton or wicking string. Another person said they use the method and told fellow social media users it 'really works'.
Additional holiday gardening tips
BBC Gardeners' World Magazine offers further advice for those preparing gardens before a trip. They recommend watering pots well, placing saucers beneath them to collect water and increase humidity, and moving them to a shady spot. If moving isn't possible, covering with shade netting or fleece can help.
The experts also advise eating or storing any crops, mowing the lawn, and deadheading flowering plants before leaving. They explained: "Deadhead flowering plants before you go, but also remove flowers that are fully open. This will stop plants running to seed, and means that existing buds will be blooming when you return."
On lawn care, they said: "Mow the lawn just before you leave to encourage good growth and keep weeds down. Don’t cut it too short, as it will be susceptible to drought. If the weather is forecast to be hot, set the blades high."
