One of the problems I have with taking summer vacations is getting my houseplants watered. Sometimes when I come home from a week on the boat, surrounded by water, I find my houseplants wilted from the lack of it. This trick, and its variation, works wonders for both my plants and my conscience.

I put a few old towels down in the bathtub, put the plants on the towels and then run an inch of tepid water into the bottom of the tub. The towels stop the pots from marking up the tub and soak up quite a bit of water. With the fuzz from the towel reaching up to touch the soil through the holes in the pot, the soil tends to stay damp for a long time as well. I dont put any more than an inch of water in the tub as I dont want to drown my sweethearts, just keep them dampish for a week or so.

A variation on this is to put an old dishrack upside-down on the bottom of the tub, and fill the water to just over the rack. Take a cloth shoelace and shove one end up the bottom hole of the flower pot as far as you can get it. Set the pot on the old dishrack and trail the shoelace over the edge of the rack down into the water. The shoelace will act as a wick, drawing moisture up into the soil ball and keeping your plants happy. This doesnt work as well as the first trick.

One thing I do when I get home after an extended trip is give my plants a bit of a shower. This is particularly useful with larger plants such as banana trees and citrus plants. They both seem to love the warm water shower and although it is messy drying the pots off before moving them back to their windowsills, it is a considerate thing to do for your house plant pets.