Dream Gardens: Holidays that grow on you

You can also get your hands on seeds, bulbs and other gardening goods with no customs regulations or airline weight restrictions to worry about. So really indulge yourself in garden centres, specialist nurseries and plant sales. But plants don’t enjoy long hot days shut in a stifling car boot so when you’re packing for your hols it pays to plan ahead.

Nurseries and garden centres can usually provide cardboard boxes to hold plants you’ve just bought so they don’t bounce about and break but do take some old newspapers or plastic sheeting so that spillages don’t make a mess.

Take a couple of old screw-top plastic drinks bottles filled with water, too, so you can give new purchases a quick drink.

Besides watering the compost it’s worth sloshing some over the foliage to help keep plants cool.

And since most gardeners tend to accumulate plants steadily during a holiday rather than buying the lot on the last day don’t try to store them in the back of the car until you go home or they’ll cook.

Instead prepare a “holding area” for them back at your holiday base. Try to find somewhere cool and shady where the plants can get good indirect light but not scorching sun and check them daily in case they need watering.

Elsewhere you’ll probably have to keep them indoors – perhaps in the bathroom, or the shower cubicle of your caravan.

It’s no bad thing to leave them in plastic carrier bags since you can leave a little water in the bottom to keep the roots moist and the foliage humidified and it also makes them quick and easy to move.

Don’t be tempted to leave packets of seed or bulbs in the car; it’s easy to tuck them into a map pocket and forget about them, but the heat builds up alarmingly when a car is left parked in the sun and it can badly affect them, so shift seeds straight to your suitcase or keep them in a drawer.

There’s nothing like a holiday for spotting bargains, treasures, “finds” and impulse buys that you would never find back home and, if you need an excuse, a few nice things for the garden make the very best holiday souvenirs.

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