Mulching enough during a period of no watering?

Next month our family will leave for 12 days and we currently have pumpkins and strawberries growing. They're doing really well. My husband thinks that mulching will be enough for them to survive this period but I'm nervous... He suggested something like wood chips, which appear to be good for moisture retention. Will this really be enough for 12 days?? Does anyone have experience of using just mulch over a period of one to two weeks?

Without knowing your climate, it's impossible to say. Much also depends on the area you are talking about. I can tell you this. Short of more information, I can just tell you what I would do. I would give the plants a good watering, and if I had wood chips available, I would soak them in water and pile them 6 inches deep around all my plants in as big an area as possible.

Hi Rosa,
Like Trace said, without knowing your area/climate it is impossible to say for certain. Probably be fine? I would definitely do what Trace suggested. Here in Maine, we get enough rainfall that with a good mulch (even a mediocre amount of mulch) I often don't have to water the garden at all for months. However in the southwest US... not so much. If you are worried, is there a neighbor or teen or someone you could have come water them? Even if it wasn't a perfect job, it's better than no watering.

If there is rain predicted during that time frame then the 6" of wet wood chips and a good watering might work.

If not, I would try to rig up something to help with watering similar to those clay pot ollas:

https://permies.com/t/56986/Clay-Pot-Irrigation-Experiment

Or maybe rig up a drip system using a bucket of water and some rope placed on the soil so the water can be wicked to the plants.

I hope you get this figured out so you can have a great vacation.

Oh silly, I forgot there's no location showing!! We are in the North East of England!

Thanks for all the responses so far!

I also feel like the wood chips idea depends on the rainfall during that period. Unfortunately, there's no telling, it's very unpredictable. We can definitely go one to two weeks without rain during summer. We just had a pretty intense heatwave, like most of Europe. But it's also possible to have rain on most days during a certain week.

Rosa,

I just did something similar with some cucumbers that were planted after being root-bound.  Unfortunately we left as a pretty bad heat wave and drought was setting in.  I grow in deep, composted wood chips.  Normally I never ever water but I had to break out the hose for this summer.  

Before we left I watered heavily for about 2 days.  I mean I really soaked the ground with water.  Given the way that the wood chips moderate the water, I was really not afraid of the plants getting drowned out.  We left and came back and the garden was all nice and healthy!  Maybe something similar would work for you?

Eric

I mulched an area with leaves earlier this year, and it rained a pretty good amount this Spring. However, we went 45 days without any rain and with extremely hot temperatures, and the plants did fine.

I didn't water them at all though so they were used to some periods without watering and had put down good roots, so when a real dry period came they were able to take it with no problem. The mulch also held enough moisture that the soil still with some moisture even during the really hot and dry time.