If there is no friendly soul to water for you I have in the past filled buckets and containers with water then torn long strips off an old towel to act as a wick, put one end in the water and the other across the soil to the plant, try it now before you go to get the positioning right and to see if it works.......

Or you can purchase automatic water systems that are purpose built.

Yes, it's called friendship,
If you loose all those plants because you relied on twitter then you deserve to loose them,
Ask a friend to oversee your tunnel why'll your away,
Even if you had a timer device fitted to spray the tunnel it wont work if we have any electric cut/off's, And again someone to over see why your away is a good safer bet than relying on twitter.

Relying on twitter? I was on about the weather forecast on twitter not a social network site to look after my plants lol! I did ask a friend to water them for me last year but let's just say their Idea of watering and mine were not the same.my problem is it would have to be someone very trustworthy as you can only gain access to my garden from though my house

I always thought this was a friendly site geeeez :) but thank you pang for the advice I will try the old towel trick;)

leave the doors open too to help disapate some of the heat that [if we are lucky] will build up.
the wick idea works over short distances especially on staging. not so sure it would over soil though. give it a go an see before you go as suggested.

Worked on grobags, theres something called 'leaky pipes' that keep the soil moist and others that are on a timer

Treefern, this IS, by and large, a very friendly site... I'd try Pam's suggestion it 'should' work.

Hi again Treefern,
It is a friendly site, but if you only give half the story 'facts' then how can anyone really help?
Your now saying you did try a friends help ref watering and she/he didnt do it your way "but we're you honest enough to tell these people how you wanted the job done?

Some people are just not gardeners (most of them work in b&q etc have you seen those people using a hose pipe?)

And now your saying not only is it your watering a problem "but" you've to let people through your house to do such a favour!!" So it's a double wammy of a problem.

Going away for a week is'nt so long and as has been said keeping the heat down by leaving the doorway open will help "but this can also be a cat entry problem"

Just as an idea, would it be possible to ask who ever did the watering last time "but be as kind as you can and tell them just how much watering your plants need?
Poss, every other day?

Plus if they went through your home last time then not only are they looking after your plants but also if anything was to go wrong inside the house then you've got someone knowing about it and could help.

Other than these few idea's the only other one i can think of is take a chance on the timed mist spray set up and hope the electric stays power cut free.

Come on Dungy, you're being a wee bit hard on her?
I think asking the friend to do it again and explaining more exactly what to do might be your best bet Treefern - don't let worry spoil your holiday!

i did get the battery operated timer [hoselock i think] for the greenhouse 5 yrs ago as I have a similar problem of access being only through the house. Friends live too far away to expect them to do daily visits and I wouldnt want the neighbours going through the house. [I'd have to tidy up first :o)))] . it needs connecting between the tap and the hose pipe and then there are smaller drip pipes from that to the areas. A faff to set up originally but after that its set for years. you can alter the frequency and duration of the watering to suit.

Thank you all for your advice :) I will go out and purchase one today and ill make sure too give my life story the next time I ask a question just incase there is any confusion;)

I didn't have a problem with your question Treefern , it was perfectly understandable..:-)

I'm looking for watering tips also, thanks for posting this Treefern, next week looks particulary sunny here so a little anxious.