Back from holiday to dried-out plants? A 'secret ingredient' in your kitchen can save the day

Fresh from a relaxing holiday, one of the worst things to come back home to is a plethora of dried-out, wilting and dying plants.

If you left it too late to discover the genius hack that keeps plants watered when you’re away, or the person you asked to keep them watered forgot, you might be ready to write them off. But there’s a clever trick involving a readily available "secret ingredient" that really works - and rather speedily.

Award-winning garden and landscape designer Matthew Wilson shared the best way to revive your dried-out potted plants using nothing more than water and a few drops of washing up liquid, and you’ll start spotting signs of revival almost overnight.

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show medallist took to his social media, where he explained that, yes, even the professionals can forget to properly plan for the heat and plant care when going on holiday. But, thankfully, there’s a scientific reason why a few drops of washing up liquid can “save the day”.

He explained, “If you have this situation where the compost has really dried out to the extent that it's moved away from the edge of the pot and you can see a gap down it, then the secret weapon is washing up liquid.

How to use washing up liquid to revive dried out plants

“What you do is you add a few drops to a watering can," Matthew advises. "Make sure you do it after the watering can is full and not before because if you do it before, you just get bubbles. Then water that onto your pots."

“The reason it works is very simple. The ingredients in the washing up liquid [are] basically a cellular structure that binds water to things. It's what makes it clean your pots and pans.

“It does exactly the same thing in compost. It binds the water to the compost. In modern peat-free compost, they are inclined to dry out and this really works, trust me.”

In a follow-up video, he proved why we should trust his advice, showing the improvement his own "near-death" plants had made overnight after the first washing-up liquid watering.

While they hadn’t restored themselves to full glory, the plants that were all but dead had started to show signs of revived stems and leaves in a matter of hours.

Offering further advice, Matthew explained that a wide range of washing up liquids can be used for this hack, including greener or more eco-friendly brands.

He also explained that watering your plants with this mixture "once or twice is usually enough" to see it start to revive. After the first couple of times, it’s okay to return to your normal watering and maintenance, prepping plants for any future heatwaves and making sure they see out the rest of the summer.