How to care for seedlings while on vacation

Growing season is in full swing here in my zone 6b garden. I'm planting seeds both indoors and outdoors every two weeks and the beds are starting to fill up with lots of lovely little plants. Once the season starts, it is hard to take a break. There is always something to plant, transplant or water! Taking a vacation and leaving baby plants unattended can be stressful but  I just returned home from a week long trip and the plants I have growing indoors under grow lights never looked better. Here's how I kept my seedlings alive and happy!

My vacation set up, before the trip.

Originally I had planned on taking my plants to a friend's house along with my grow light set up so she could take care of them for me. It became obvious however, looking at the number of plants I have growing, that that wasn't going to be possible ( I'm lucky enough to have a room where I can set up two large tables, one for the grow lights and one for trays of seeds still germinating).

The solution was actually quite simple, as the best answers often are. I had two problems to solve. I needed to keep the plants watered and provide them with enough time under the grow lights with a period of darkness each day.

For the watering, I made sure that all the seed trays had no holes, then filled them three quarters of the way full of water, effectively creating a water bath. I did this for the  germinating seeds as well.

For the light, I put my two grow lights on timers which turned the lights on at 8am and off at 9pm.

Vacation set up after the trip.

Simple! As you can see from the photos, not only did the plants survive, but they thrived. I didn't lose a seedling.

What do you do with your seedlings when you go away?

See you in the garden,

Sue

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