watering while on vacation

I am going to be going on vacation and will not be home for 8 days i am worried about watering. i am going to soak them real good before i leave and i was thinking about buying some Aqua Globes as an automatic watering, has anyone used these before. i grow outside so maybe it will rain but if not are these my only way to go?

you could try water crystals or getting a friend to water but i always have bad expeirences with asking friends to water plants.

What are you growing in? What size pots? Since I grow in 5g pots I just double water it and it's fine for 1 1/2 weeks until it starts to droop. Just over water it on the day you leave and you should be fine.

the Wick Method

not sure what size there decent size one might be bigger then 5 gallons maybe more like 10 but it also has 2 plants in it and seems to suck down water pretty fast. it dose get hot up here in PA, seems i am giving them a real good watering every other day. the smaller pot maybe a 5 gal has a plant in it about as tall as me at 5'8 and if i dont water it almost everyday it dry and starts to droop. theres prolly more roots then dirt lol but they are growing well.