Can a gardener ever have a vacation?

Japanese maple early morning sun. Nikon D3200

Can a gardener ever have a vacation? What do we do with all of loved ones in the garden? I have to say, I am a bit worried. The last time we went away for any length of time was two years ago. We left in March for 3 weeks to India. March is a great time to go away, I found out. There is not much upkeep at that time of year. March is time to get ready for the growing season. Moving plants. Widening beds. Adding mulch. But not much upkeep. I came back to a yard that didn't look as to have missed me.

We are headed back to India. This is the busy time of year for the yard. Mowing. Sometimes twice a week. Weeding. Every day. Watering. Yes, watering. Oh boy. What are we going to do? A few years ago we had gone down south for just a week and came back to sweltering heat and drought conditions. I think it was 102 degrees for the last couple of days. We lost one of the Ginkgo trees we had planted earlier in the year. One survived and is doing well.

We have had lots of rain in the last 60 days. Of course, the rain stopped a few days ago and the temps went up into the upper 90s with a heat index of over 100 for the last few days. It is drying up. Not now! Why'd it have to be now? I've mowed for the last time and hope that it doesn't get too unruly.

So this is what we are doing. Hit or miss. We don't have a sprinkler system. It would never work for us since we are always moving stuff around and adding new beds every year. We water with the old fashion sprinkler at the end of the hose and soaker hoses. I'm not going to worry about the trees, shrubs or flowers. We will water them in the next couple of days before we leave and hope mother nature does her thing. The potted plants are another story. We will move them all to the backyard under the shade of the trees, water them well and once again, hope that MN comes to the rescue.

Some of the indoor plants on their summer vacation in the yard.

Some plants will do just fine with little water. The succulent bed is good and the Desert Rose (adenium) should not skip a beat.

Adenium, Desert Rose

I will be off and on for the next couple of weeks, not sure if I will get the chance to post from India. I will be posting about plants, trees and flowers I see in India, especially the Mughal gardens around the Taj Mahal and other famous gardens. So stay tuned and check back often!