I am currently finishing up a sit in Virginia. It has been in the 90’s everyday with no rain. I was shown what plants to water but I underestimated how much it would need. It’s an extensive property and some shrubs and plants are not doing well. I feel really guilty about it. The plants I was shown to water are mostly ok.
@geocachelinda You can only do your best, that sounds like extreme heat. I’ve tried to look after relatives outdoor plants in Spain, but it was mighty hard at times to keep them looking ok.
On a sit in France, I had complicated instructions for watering. And then she showed me a tall cypress that had suffered irreparable damage when she had left the garden in the care of her husband one summer…
Water the garden in the evening when the sun has gone off the garden. Give a good soaking and this will enable the plants to take up water in the relative cool of the night.
If you water in the full sun, leaves can be scorched.
This practice is not only for super hot climates, use it for mild temperate climes like the UK too.
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One of my house sits on this site…was for plants! I had to water plants for 6 days in the summer in the US. 80s/90s and humid.
It took me two hours. I watered beginning at 05:00 (I work remote, beginning at 08:00), was done before the sun came up, took a shower and then started work. I made sure I watered enough to form puddles near the bases of the plants.
The home owners left in my review that the plants had never looked so good upon return! Watering pre sunrise or as the sun is coming up is better than watering the plants as the sun has gone down, that way the “bucket is full” so to speak at the beginning of the day versus filling it at the end. My own sprinklers turn on at 05:00 and are off by 07:00 on the days they turn on.
Does that make sense?
Either way…if some plants appear dead, they are probably just dormant. Plants are resilient, they grow back just fine! Not watering for a summer (as @pietkuip inferred by a lady’s husband) is much different than a week or two.
IF she mentions that in a review of you that you killed her outdoor plants in 90 degree heat with no rain…just write a response exactly what you wrote here!!! You can’t control 90s with no rain for days/weeks at a time…the world knows we have more important things to worry about.
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It’s definitely happened to me. A giant yard, with no sprinklers or drip system and unbelievable heat. My husband even put down a bunch of mulch for them- they had it delivered before they left but hadn’t put it down.
But, still, a few plants burned in the sun, or didn’t get enough water.
The homeowner never thanked us for the mulching, gave us a nice review for the car care but scathed us in an email saying that we did a poor job in their garden.
So, best you can do is be honest, and if they say something in the review just put in your 2 cents.
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I have done a sit a few times where the garden is open under the National Gardens Scheme so needs a lot of water. It always seems to be hot when I go and it is usually for a week or 10 days. I love the garden and enjoy being in it because it’s like paradise, however if there is no rain I water for 2 hours early morning and evening. They always say don’t worry about it, but I would hate it to die. There are lots of pots and a greenhouse as well. They treat me as a friend and I have visited when not housesitting.
I was asked to water multiple plants indoors/outdoors but no hose pipe or outdoor tap- the only way was to fill watering cans using a cup from a tiny sink that was too small to get the watering can into! It was a pain in the butt!
In the water butt, you mean? 
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