Have to leave my plants for two months!
So I just accepted a paid gig to go housesit for the summer. The money is good, the responsibilities light, and I'll pretty much have until August to write uninterrupted. The problem is, it's in Dallas, and the distance between there and Houston is such that it's not really practical even to visit, at least not on a grad student budget.
I gave my neighbor in the same lot 100 bucks to see them through until July and then check in how she feels about it for the rrst of the summer. Do y'all think that's enough? I have five roses in their first season, one hibiscus almost a year in my care, and the adopted orphan peanut. The roses are all getting kinda monstrous and two are taller than me:
I just topped them off with some extra potting medium, bloodmeal, and mulch (since they seem to have eaten a couple inches' worth of what was in their pots). My neighbor has instructions to water them with two gallons each about every other day, if not every day, and to give them fish emulsion weakly, weekly, or a full dose biweekly. The pests aren't too terrible with the wasps and dragonflies and spiders helping out, and there's no sign of blackspot or mildew on them so far. We even went over an emergency hurricane protocol-- basically push them up against the outside wall of the house and hope for the best. I'll ask her to deadhead next I see her. They won't get the same attention as they do with me, but do y'all think that's as much care as they would need for two months?
I'm also just bummed I won't get to see my roses in all their summer glory. Especially now that they're bigguns!
How do y'all deal with having to leave your gardens?
Comments (20)
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f.rosario margate
5 years agoYou're right, Lilyfinch, I forgot about the fall flush, when it might be cooler out-- or relatively cooler for Houston. Might even be better to see them after a scorching summer!
Oh, Summersrhythm, if only I could. I did that with my hibiscus when she was a littlun (didn't even have to cut her down), and it was great to roadtrip with her. But the roses are still getting established, and I don't want to interrupt their growth this early with a hard summer pruning. Despite them being so tall already-- Lady of Shallot and Brother Cadfael are well over 6 feet, and Jude the Obscure is fast catching up. They're also at least 50 pounds heavy each with their pots topped off. I have thought about renting a Uhaul or a big pickup truck if I had to move to a different permanent location during the end of dormant season, when they'd need to be cut down anyway. That'd be a big to-do, but definitely would take them with me in that scenario.
I insisted on getting the largest containers I could afford, not factoring in how heavy dirt is, especially when soaked! The plants themselves must be a couple pounds more. Things you overlook as a newbie gardener.
Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agof.rosario margate thanked Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
javiwa
5 years agoGood luck with the writing this summer, OP. DH himself is buried in his laptop, trying to meet a July 5 grant deadline. May I ask what varieties of roses you planted? They're beautiful -- we live about 20 miles SW of Houston.
aplysiac_5b: We travel for two weeks every summer, and I'm always a bit of a nervous wreck worrying about my yard. Being away is what's kept me from trying my hand at container gardening all these years. I started to google faucet timers and systems a couple of weeks ago, and it was mind boggling. If you would, please point me to a video or two you thought were particularly helpful. I bookmarked this Orbit timer -- would this be a good start?
...to be used in conjunction with a kit such as this, from HD?
TIA.
f.rosario margate thanked javiwa
aplysiac_5b
5 years agojaviwa
5 years agojaviwa
5 years agof.rosario margate
5 years agoThanks for all the comments and advice, y'all. I can't really commandeer our one hose in the yard for a timed faucet, or arrange my plants any way I want since it's shared with half a dozen neighbors and is also our back parking lot / cookout area. Luckily my neighbor who's plantsitting is just at the end of the row of roses, so she's not going out of her way much to water them. They get a lot of help from spiders, wasps, ladybugs, and lacewings, so hopefully they won't need any spray for the summer.
I wish I had my own yard, or a car so I could take at least one plant with me, but that's not happening for a minute. They're pretty heavy and even the littlest one has a random tall cane-- baby's too big :( I think about asking my neighbor to facetime the plants but it'll be funny to have her hear our conversations lololol.
@javiwa, the roses are all David Austins: Munstead Wood, Lady of Shalott, Jude the Obscure, Lady Emma Hamilton, and Brother Cadfael. They all seem to be doing well here with nothing fancy, no spray. LOS, JtO, and BC all want to climb and are about 6 - 7 feet tall in their first season, but LOS seems the only one with flexible canes at that height. Lady Emma is the most floriferous and well-mannered one so far:
I don't worry about her much :)
Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
5 years ago
suncoastflowers