This time when we go out to California for a week I am having someone come to the house to water all the pots. No more setting up an elaborate sprinkler on a timer with all my scattered pots gathered into one space to be watered automatically.
In the past that worked, kind of, but I don't have an open space big enough for the sprinkler to reach everything when gathered together in one spot. The sprinkler actually overshoots too wide an arc, and it's hard to adjust it down without losing coverage. And the timers are a pain to set.
So I've hired Tommy Tapia, a handyman in the neighborhood, to come every day and hose water everything. It will cost $20 a day.
I offered to move all the pots to one central location, but he says not to, he'll go around and get to each where it is (there are a couple small pots tucked in the garden, I'll move those out for him). If anything in the ground looks wilted he'll water those too.
This is better than asking a neighbor to do it as a favor -- I really need daily watering even this late in the season (especially this late, the big plants are potbound).