But not everybody has the luxury of taking holidays when there is an ebb in the affairs of gardeners, somewhere between mid-autumn and late spring. There are keen gardeners who must consider the needs and fixed holiday times of children, partners and others. The following precautions, taken before setting off, could save a lot of heartache and hard work.

If you have a lawn and you can't arrange for someone to mow it while you're away, then cut it as near to the time of departure as you can, and cut it as short as you dare without tearing or otherwise damaging it.

If worried about dryness, don't use the grass box for collecting the mowings but leave them lying on the surface as a protection from the sun.

Grass cuttings (presuming you don't use chemicals) also provide a handy, on-site, water-retaining mulch for beans, peas, tomatoes, tall border phloxes, rodgersias, ferns and anything else that needs a moist soil for success.

Before you mulch with anything, however, the ground beneath must be thoroughly wetted, or else the mulch will sit on the surface, dry out and then blow away in the first big breeze. Also, try to keep all mulches out of direct contact with the stems of the plants as the acids in them can burn.

Pick all vegetable and fruit crops that are ready and give them away or freeze them. If you don't pick them they spoil and it slows any further development of crops.

Sweet peas and some vegetables need to be picked all the time, to keep the plants producing. So if you have a friend who; ll water, they can reap rich pickings of whatever is ripe and ready.

Plants outdoors in pots should, wherever possible, be grouped together in a shady spot out of strong, drying winds and watered well. A mulch of garden grit keeps them moist for many days.

House plants can also be grouped together in shade and if you stand them in trays filled with pebbles and water they'll survive much longer.

With flowering plants in the garden, you simply cut off all those blooms that are either fully open or nearly there, to stop them wasting their energy on setting seed (unless you want to collect early seed from them).

This means they'll still be producing flowers when you get home. The flowers you pick can be made into a beautiful bouquet for the person who will be minding your precious garden while you're away having a good time instead of fretting about the state of things back home.

GET GARDENING

>> If you have some ground lying fallow, you could prepare it to make July sowings of lettuces, mixed salad leaves or quick-sprouting salad rocket.

They all need a reasonably fertile, well-drained, dug and raked soil and some sun for part of the day. Lettuces tend to be heartless and bolt when lacking the sustenance of a good organic compost in the soil.

>> It's a good year for the roses, which need regular dead-heading to keep up appearances, and also as a form of light pruning and, with some varieties, to encourage more blooms.

A summer feed, watering and mulching now will keep up their strength for the rest of the season.

>> Long grass with early bulbs in it can be mown now, to satisfying effect.

If you have autumn-flowering crocus waiting in the wings there, no damage will be done to those by cutting now, before their leaves appear.

DIARY

AUGUST is garden month at Farmleigh, the state-owned Big House set on 27 rolling acres in the Phoenix Park on Dublin's northside. This year, events will be held on Saturdays as well as Sundays, with a talk on herbaceous perennials by Frances MacDonald of The Bay Garden in Camolin, Co Wexford on the bank holiday Monday (7 August).

Events include tours of the lovely gardens and a compostmaking demo with the Farmleigh gardeners and Dermot O'Neill. John Cushnie will set up a stall and show how every kind of plant can be propagated; Eanna Ni Lamhna will expound on creepy crawlies (you are invited to bring your own in a jam jar or whatever) and wild bird man Eric Dempsey will talk about the use of feathers and the wonders of bird migration.

John McCullen will talk about the trees, history and landscape of the Phoenix Park, which at 365 acres is one of Europe's largest enclosed city park, first formed as a royal deer park in the mid-17th century.

Last but most certainly not least, on 26 and 27 August, the well-known and popular organic gardening personality, Bob Flowerdew, will give two talks. The first is 'No Work Gardening', during which he will "enthusiastically pour first cold water then a vat of vitriol on the heads of experts and instant garden makeovers" and demonstrate how to "use wit and cunning to make nature do much of the work for you". His second talk is on organic growing of food, fruit and "owers.

While all Farmleigh events are free, most are ticketed and must be booked in advance as places are limited. Get a copy of the new summer season brochure, available at Farmleigh and at selected local libraries, which will give you PO numbers for each ticketed event. Otherwise, apply online at www. farmleigh. ie for details. Applications for garden events must be in by Friday 21 July.

Farmleigh, Castleknock, Dublin 15. Tel: 01-8155981;

Email: farmleighinfo@opw. ie.