Stop Fighting Your Garden Hose

Every morning, it begins – the epic battle of the garden hose. I want to pull it in one direction. It wants to go in the other. I want to reach the front flower bed. It wants to curl around the legs of the patio furniture. It insists on leaking at the faucet and spraying at the garden hose fittings at the nozzle, dribbling water down my arm and along the side of my shirt. And just when I think I’ve finally shown that 3/4 inch garden hose who the boss is, the water stops dead in its tracks, held back behind the kinky bend that the hose has somehow managed to develop. On the other side of the garden.

If the battle of the garden hose sounds familiar to you, it may just be time to replace your unruly garden hose with one that will be docile and helpful. While there’s no personality test to weed out homicidal garden hoses – you know they exist! They’re the ones that wrap around your ankle when you’re just trying to give your tomato plants a nice long drink of water.  There are some tips that will help you find the right hose for watering your garden, washing your car, watering your animals and filling your swimming pools.

Always Buy Quality

Remember how your mother always said if you buy a classic, good quality blouse, you’ll wear it for years? That’s true of garden hoses, too. If you invest in a high quality garden hose made of superior materials, you won’t have to replace it for years. Considering the amount of use you’ll get out of it, that’s a considerably amount of service. Prices for quality hoses vary depending on the length and diameter, but you can figure on paying at least $40 for a typical 50-foot 1/2 inch garden hose that will last you for up to 10 years.

Pick the Right Size

Longer is not always better, and sometimes fatter gets the job done more efficiently. If water pressure is a concern in your area, consider getting a hose with higher diameter – a 3/4 inch garden hose delivers twice as much water In the same amount of time as a 1/2 inch garden hose. Always choose a garden hose that’s long enough to reach where you want to go – but not a whole lot longer. The longer your hose is, the more likely it will be to catch on furniture and house corners, not to mention, wrap around your ankles and drag over your lawn, kinking and twisting as it goes.

The right garden hose can make your life a lot easier around the outside of your home. Stop battling with your hose and start enjoying your gardening time so much more.

Tips to Extend the Life of Your Garden Hose

Dealing with a leaky or damaged garden hose is annoying and can be expensive. If you’ve invested in a drinking safe garden hose or a heated garden hose, you want to make sure that you get your money’s worth. While it’s not difficult to repair a garden hose that’s sprung a leak, it can cost you a pretty penny to buy garden hose fittings and clamps to put it back together again. It’s so much easier to avoid the problems in the first place – and it isn’t that difficult at all. These tips can help you extend the life of your garden hose through season after season of use.

Start with a Quality Garden Hose

There are hundreds of cheap hoses on the market. Just walk down the aisles of your local big box store or hardware store and you’ll see garden hoses in all lengths and diameters in a range of prices starting at less than $10 for a 1/2 inch garden hose with cheap  garden hose fittings to more than $80 for a good quality 1 inch water hose with multiple layers of reinforcement to make the hose more flexible and tougher. Which one is the right one for you? That’s something you’ll have to decide, but in general, you’ll want a lightweight garden hose with heavy-duty brass garden hose fittings. The higher quality you can afford, the longer your garden hose is likely to last under normal conditions.

Turn Off the Water

Don’t just turn off the hose valve and leave the water running at the faucet for long lengths of time. Constant water pressure inside the hose will weaken it over time.

Coil Your Hose When You’re Done with It

It’s tempting to just leave your hose where you last used it, especially if you use it in the same place day after day. There are a couple of problems with that. First, you’re letting water just sit inside the hose where it can breed bacteria and weaken the inner walls. Second, you’re offering a delightful, shady, moist, cool shelter for garden insects that you’d rather not have nesting in your garden hose. Third, and worst of all, it leaves your garden hose laying on the ground where it can be walked on, driven over and, horror of horrors, become just one more casualty of the lawn mower. If you invest in a good quality garden hose reel, coiling your hose is a simple matter of turning a crank. As it coils, the hose will automatically empty itself, so that you’re not letting water sit in it for days.

The better you treat your garden hose, the longer it will last. Considering how expensive a good-quality hose can be, it just makes sense to take some precautionary care to keep it in good repair.