Plants are on the deck. Best location for sun.
I want to ask an elderly townhouse neighbor to water them which requires her to come into our house. DH says he thinks she will go through everything and it's a privacy issue for him. know this lady has taken care of cats for another neighbor and it's OK. I do not want to hire someone to do this..it's a no brainer to me.
I don't have any close friends in the area and don't want to pack the plants in the car and drive them an hour to inlaws or another friend's place.
The compromise would be to put them on the porch where they risk not getting enough sun, a better option than letting them die, though it will probably rain.
What would you do?
I would have the neighbor come in. I'm not paranoid.
Or I'd tell my husband its HIS issue to deal with since he wasn't happy with my plan.
How long are you gonna be gone? I'd put em on the porch.... if you actually knew her better it would be easier for your husband to not feel worried.
I'm getting ready to leave for 7 days with a cat in the house and I really dont trust anyone coming in my house either. So my cat will be on her own.
A week is not that long. Healthy plants are not going to die in a week or two as long as they get some water.
We have neighborhood teens (whom we know, and who's families we know) water our plants, bring in the mail and feed our fish/rabbit/cat when we're gone (the dog goes to BIL's house.)
Sure they probably snoop around but honestly, who cares? If you've got anything racy or illegal going on just stash it someplace secure.
What does your husband have to be paranoid about? Whatever it is, just hide it!
How long are you going to be gone?
I would put the plants outside, for whoever, to care for them/water them.
I wouldn't want whoever, to be in my house.
Not even if that were my own sibling.
I wouldn't want her or whoever, to go through my things.
I know, it will happen.
Put the plants outside.
Or take it to your neighbor's house, for her to take care of.
Then, a woman I know, had her neighbor do this. Come in the house and water her plants etc. Well the neighbor woman returned her house key to her. Fine.
But later, one day, my friend came home. Heard a noise IN her house. She looked around. AND IT WAS THE NEIGHBOR WOMAN who watered her plants for her while she was on a trip. HOW did the woman get in her house? Well... before she returned the keys, she had made a copy.... of... her... house... keys. And, unbeknownst to her, the woman was letting herself in and out of HER, house. When she was caught, a can of tomato sauce was in her hands. She had come, into her home, to get it because she had run out and needed it to make dinner.
HOW"s that?
Real story.
You can never tell, what a house sitter or neighbor is going to do.
So my friend, had to have all her locks, changed.
How long are you going to be gone? All summer? I can't imagine if you are gone a week or 2 they will die that quickly. But then again, I don't have a green thumb. I wouldn't want anyone going through my house unless I really knew them. Hope you figure out something that works for you. Good luck.
plants are not worth having someone trapesing (sp) through my house,
I assume everyone is judging mychoice of wall color and level of dust bunnie-ness. I have issues and i know it.
Talk to DH again and if he really feels strongly I would not have her do it.
is there no other compromise for her to get to the back yard?
what about the water balls you can buy that slowly release over time? Check an almanac and see how much rain you might get?
Since there is an issue between you and your husband about the lady coming to the plants, can the plants come to the lady?
Maybe you can ask your neighbor to keep the plants at her house and keep them watered. If your husband's not comfortable with her coming in that's perfectly understandable. What if she were to forget to lock your door or something?
You should respect your husband's opinion. Therefore, ask her if you can leave them on her porch or patio. Bring her some REALLY good gift back--she will not want the pay. She is from a different generation where neighbors were neighbors. OR WAIT! Even better--take her to lunch when we get back AND give her a nice box of chocalataes from wherever you go.
I like that you are making her feel useful.
We have outside spigots on our house and we have hose reels/hoses attached to them all summer long.
It's easy enough for someone to come over and use the hoses to water outside plants/gardens without having access to the inside of our house.
Also, many people have irrigation systems (drip hoses) in their gardens and it's easy to use a timer to turn the water on for a set time and it automatically turns off again.
If you will be gone for a week or two, a few weeks in a less sunny spot will not hurt the plants (as long as they are not in total darkness).
They won't dry out as fast (requiring a little less watering) and they'll survive till you get home and can move them back to their ideal spot.
Our neighborhood waters each others plants, collects mail/newspapers, and even baby sits chickens (feed/water and take eggs) while neighbors take trips for a week or two and no one has keys to the others houses.
They have water crystals that you can work into the soil of the plants that absorb water and release it again slowly - which reduces how often you need to water the plants.
It's the same stuff they use in disposable diapers, so you can get the crystals from there to use if you want to.
You can also make systems using plastic soda bottles to make your own drip watering system.
Drill a tiny small hole in the bottom of a soda bottle, bury it partway in the soil, fill the bottle with water, and the water will drip slowly into the plant for several days.
You have a lot of options that will preserve both your plants and security.
I wouldn't feel comfortable with the neighbor having access to my house either. I would check with your local garden center and see if they have the devices that water plants over time. Or you could place the plants in your back yard and have them on a timed sprinkler.
