Five Things Your Garden Hose Would Tell You If It Could Speak

If you’re like most homeowners, you probably own at least one garden hose. Chances are, in fact, that you own one “good” garden hose, and the extra one that you can’t attach to the spigot but will work when coupled to another hose, and the one that split last summer but you’ve mended with duct tape and use in the rare event that you have to get your hose all the way around the house to the driveway. If your garden hose could talk, it would probably tell you a thing or five about how to properly care for your best gardening tool.

Buy a Quality Hose from the Start

The aisles of the big box stores are lined with cheap bargain hoses, mostly made of vinyl with little or no reinforcement. They can cost you from $8 to $12, and will last you just about the amount of time you’d expect from those low prices. Even with excellent care, a garden hose made from cheap vinyl will age and crack quickly. Worse, it will make your gardening life miserable by kinking at the worst possible times and refusing to connect properly to the spigot. A good quality garden hose, often reinforced with nylon or natural fibers, will last you for years. They’re more flexible, wear better and are made with garden hose fittings that won’t bend and warp out of shape, so you’ll be able to connect it to your spigot as easily in 10 years as you did when it was brand new.

Don’t Leave Your Garden Hose Lying on the Lawn

Aside from the fact that a loose garden hose is a tripping hazard, the constant contact with the ground encourages rot and can shorten the life of your hose. Invest in a garden hose reel to store your hose when it’s not in use. As a bonus, you never have to worry about running over your hose with the lawnmower when it’s rolled up on a reel.

Don’t Replace, Repair

Accidents happen, even to the best quality garden hoses. If your hose suffers damage, there are ways to repair it using garden hose fittings, couplings and other specialty items and tools. You don’t have to lose your investment just because you accidentally backed over the end of your hose.

Empty Your Hose Before Storing It

One of the advantages of rolling up a hose on a garden hose reel is that it naturally empties all remaining water from the length of the hose. Standing water can breed bacteria and leech chemicals from the lining of the garden hose, spraying unsavory things like lead over your vegetables and your soil. The few extra minutes it takes to properly drain your hose is well worth the time.

Take Advantage of Specialty Garden Hoses

If you have a special need, there’s probably a garden hose designed to fit it. A drinking safe garden hose is the best choice for young families, for example, where young kids often drink from the hose. A coil garden hose is the ideal choice for a patio or enclosed space, while a heated garden hose makes it easy for you if you need to use the hose regularly throughout the colder months.

Whatever your choices are, make sure that you care for your garden hose properly and it will serve you well for years.

The Best Garden Hoses Money Can Buy

Garden hoses – is there any piece of garden equipment that is less respected and more likely to cause problems than the lowly garden hose? The litany of complaints about the garden hoses people own is endless – they’re too short, they’re too long, they kink up and cut off your water supply in the middle of watering the vegetables. Worst of all, they spring random leaks and splits that consign them to the trash heap and have to be replaced every year or two.

If that sounds like your experience with garden hoses, it may be because you’re buying cheap hoses to save money. If you’re in need of a replacement garden hose, take some time to determine the best garden hoses for your needs – and avoid the cheapest garden hoses in the gardening aisle like the plague.

Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Garden Hose?

Actually, yes. When your garden hose is much longer than you need to reach the places you want to water, there’s far more tendency for it to get kinked or bent and damaged. In addition, because the water has to travel further from the faucet to the nozzle, the water pressure at the nozzle is greatly reduced. Figure out how far your hose needs to reach and buy the size closest to that length. If you commonly only need 25 feet of hose to reach your garden but occasionally want to get the hose around the front of the house to the driveway, but two garden hoses – a 25-foot hose for your regular needs and a second garden hose to extend its reach when you need to get to the driveway.

What Difference Does Hose Diameter Make?

The diameter of garden hoses directly affects the water delivery capacity of the hose, but it’s not a linear projection. For example, you don’t get twice as much water capacity from a one inch water hose as you do from a ½ inch garden hose. In fact, a ¾ inch garden hose will deliver twice as much water to your garden in the same amount of time as a ½ inch garden hose. The most common sizes of garden hoses sold for home use are ½ inch garden hoses and ¾ inch garden hoses.

Hose Materials

For best results and durability, choose a reinforced rubber hose rather than a cheap vinyl hose. Look for brass garden hose fittings at both ends, and invest in a hose that is attached to the hose fitting with a brass collar that allows you to turn the threaded coupling freely.

When you choose the best garden hoses money can buy, you’ll get longer life, better performance and more happiness from your garden. Take the plunge – buy a good garden hose and see how much easier your gardening life can be.

Hints and Tips for Preserving Your Garden Hose

You work hard to make your garden grow, and your trusty garden hose is one of your most important and essential tools. A lot of gardeners end up replacing their garden hoses every year, but you don’t have to do that. If you start out with a good garden hose and know how to take care of it, you can keep it working properly and extend its life for many seasons. These tips will help you buy the right garden hose for your needs and make it the last hose you’ll buy for years.

Buy the Right Length Garden Hose

A hose that’s either too long or too short won’t serve your needs properly. If your hose isn’t quite long enough to reach where you want, you’ll put extra stress and strain on it by pulling and tugging and stretching it to reach. A hose that’s a lot longer than you need is prone to tangles and kinks, which can wear and damage your garden hose. Buy a hose that’s the shortest length that will still reach everywhere you need.

Buy the Right Diameter Hose

You can reduce the amount of time you spend watering by making sure your garden hose has the capacity you need. A ¾ inch garden hose, for example, delivers twice as much water in the same time frame as a ½ inch garden hose. If you’re filling pools or need to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, opt for the larger hose. For really powerful applications, choose a 1-inch water hose.

Turn On the Water Before Uncoiling Your Hose

Before you start uncoiling your garden hose, turn on the water. It will prevent the hose from kinking up as you pull it to your flower bed, sprinkler or garden. The water running through it will prevent the hose from folding over on itself, cutting off the water supply and putting strain on the wall of the hose.

Use a Garden Hose Reel

A garden hose reel keeps your hose off the ground where it can get damaged or rot. It also prevents your hose from kinking up and crimping, both of which can cause cracks and damage to your hose. A self-retracting garden hose reel will make your life easier and reduce the temptation to leave the hose on the ground just this once.

Don’t Leave Your Hose in the Sun

Letting your garden hose bake in the sun when it’s not in use is an invitation to wear and tear. The UV rays will dry out the material and cause cracks which reduce the life and usefulness of your garden hose.

If you start out with the right garden hose for your needs and treat it like the valuable tool it is, it will reward you by delivering water without kinking up, developing leaks and tripping you when you walk across your lawn.

Is Your Garden Hose Hazardous to Your Health?

The garden hose is a common, one could almost say ubiquitous, gardening tool. No serious gardener would be without a way to bring water to the furthest reaches of their garden plots. It’s a bit scary to think that your garden hose could be a health hazard, but it’s a fact. Here’s why.

Many cheap garden hoses are made of polyvinyl chloride – PVC. PVC uses lead as a stabilizer, and that lead can leach into water standing in the hose. In fact, when Consumer Reports tested a number of garden hoses, they found that the amount of lead in water that has stood in a hose can be as much as 100 times the allowable concentration of lead. That’s enough to cause lead poisoning in some people – particularly in small children who are much more sensitive to the effects of lead and whose bodies are much less efficient at eliminating it. And THAT is a particularly troubling because – think about it – who in your family is most likely to grab a cold drink from the inviting garden hose? Children, who are most prone to damage from lead, which can permanently damage their brains and nervous systems.

Should you worry about lead if you water your vegetables and fruit with a PVC garden hose? Research shows that plants don’t generally absorb lead through watering, but plants grown in soil with a high lead concentration can show elevated levels of lead. Soil, on the other hand, does retain lead for a long time – it’s part of the reason that children in urban neighborhoods shouldn’t play in lots where old houses have been demolished. How long does it take to build up toxic levels of lead in your gardening soil if you’re watering it with lead-laced water every day? No one really knows.

Luckily, there is a solution – replace your old PVC hose with a drinking safe garden hose. These hoses are made from rubber or have an interior coating that prevents any chemical leaching into the water that passes through it. They come in all sizes and diameters, so you should have no trouble finding a ½” garden hose or ¾” garden hose in 25-foot and 50-foot lengths, the most common garden hose sizes.

And if you go to the trouble of buying a drinking safe garden hose, be sure to follow these other tips for making sure your garden hose is safe for drinking water.

-          After use, drain your garden hose and store it on a garden hose reel to prevent standing water inside it.

-          Keep the hose out of direct sunlight, which can heat the hose to high temperatures and incubate any bacteria inside it.

-          Let the water run for a minute or two before drinking from the hose or filling drinking containers from it. That will flush out any standing water that might be harboring bacteria.

Specialty Garden Hose Products – Should You Own One?

Getting water to wear you need it may seem like a simple process if you have a garden hose, but there are more variables to the equation than most people imagine. When choosing the best garden hose for your needs, you should consider a number of different factors including the quality of the hose, its diameter and length, your water pressure and any special watering needs you may have. When you evaluate your actual needs, you’ll find there are many specialty garden hose products that can get the water where you want it in the way you want it any time you want it there.

Garden Hose Diameter, Length and Water Pressure

Water pressure can be a major factor in how well you’re able to water your garden or wash the car. While a pressurized garden hose nozzle can help with low water pressure, when water has to travel a long distance, a nozzle may not be enough. The diameter of the garden hose you choose can make a huge difference in the water pressure at the business end of the hose.

First, the obvious. The bigger the diameter of your garden hose, the more water it can carry at once. A 1 inch water hose carries more water more quickly than a ¾ inch garden hose, and the ¾ inch garden hose carries more water than the ½ inch garden hose. But it’s not a straight linear progression. A 1 inch water hose doesn’t carry twice as many gallons as a ½ inch garden hose. In fact, the ¾ inch garden hose delivers twice as many gallons in the same amount of time as the ½ inch garden hose. In most cases, a 5/8 inch garden hose or ¾ inch garden hose will be sufficient for your watering tasks.

The distance your water has to travel through the hose also affects the water pressure at the nozzle. The longer the distance traveled, the lower the water pressure will be. Most garden experts recommend that you buy a garden hose that is just long enough to reach the distance you most commonly need. If the furthest corner of your garden is 40 feet from the faucet and your driveway is 70 feet away, choose a 50 foot hose for everyday watering chores and purchase a 25 foot garden hose that you can connect to it for those times that you need to reach the driveway.

Specialty Hose Products

Soaker garden hoses are a good option for watering vegetable gardens that need deep soaking. If you use a garden hose year round, a heated garden hose can make your watering chores much easier. A coil garden hose offers convenience and easy storage when you don’t need a lot of flexibility and distance. If you use water from your garden hose on edible plants or if your children and pets typically drink from the garden hose, consider purchasing a drinking safe garden hose.

Choosing the right garden hose can make your life easier and prolong its life. Before you make your choice, consider what type is the best garden hose for your needs.

Garden Hose 101 – Tips for Getting the Most from Your Watering

Your garden hose is supposed to make your watering chores easier, but too many gardeners end up having to wrestle their garden hoses into submission. Choosing the right garden hose and treating it right can make your gardening chores easier and safer. It kinks, splits and spews water all over the place – except where you want it to go. What can you do to maximize water output and minimize hassles from your garden hose? These tips can help you make short work of watering your garden so you can get on to doing more fun things with your outdoor time.

Choosing the Right Garden Hose

The number one garden hose tip of all time? Buy the best garden hose you can afford. A cheap hose will make your life miserable. It will kink when you try to go around corners, double up on itself and constrict the water flow, mildew, split and leak, probably at the faucet where the garden hose fittings are attached.

Hose Diameter

In general, you’ll have three choices when it comes to choosing a diameter – ½ inch, 5/8 inch and ¾ inch. A 1/2 inch garden hose is suitable for small gardens and in places where you don’t need good water pressure. Generally, a 5/8 inch garden hose is preferable to the smaller one. A ¾ inch garden hose is probably your best bet. They’re more expensive than the smaller sizes, but they move water faster and fit more accessories and garden hose fittings.

Hose Length

Most garden hoses are available in 25-foot increments – that is, 25, 50, 75 or 100 feet. Keep in mind that the further your water has to travel, the less pressure it will have when it gets to its destination. The best garden hose length is the one that will just reach where you need it to go. If you actually do need 100 feet of hose, consider purchasing 2 50-foot hoses and coupling them. It’s much easier to hook up the second hose halfway to your destination than it is to wrestle with 100 feet of coiling garden hose all the way across your lawn.

Specialty Garden Hose Styles

A coil garden hose is a good choice if you have a small garden or need a hose for watering patio plants. The coils make the hose easy to store, but can make it difficult for you to stretch to reach the full stated length. In general, if a coil garden hose claims to be 50 feet long, figure that you’ll get about 35 feet of extension from it comfortably.

Heated Garden Hose

If you use your garden hose during seasons when the temperature drops below freezing, consider buying a heated hose. A heated garden hose will remain pliable and prevent ice blockages that can damage your hose and make watering impossible.

A Last Word

Storing your garden hose properly will extend its life – and that’s important if you’ve sunk a bit of change into the best garden hose you can afford. An automatic garden hose reel can make your life considerably easier by eliminating the chore of emptying and coiling your garden hose.

Garden Hose Accessories No Home Should Be Without

Once you’ve got the best garden hose for your gardening and utility uses, there are a few garden hose accessories you should consider. These accessories help you store and care for your garden hose and extend its utility beyond simply pouring water on your garden. Whether your hose is a ½ inch garden hose for basic watering tasks or a coil garden hose chosen for easy storage and good looks, these additions can make your life easier and extend the life of your garden hose beyond one or two seasons.

Garden Hose Reel

Storing your garden hose properly is one of the most important things you can do to extend its life and keep it in good condition. Leaving your hose lying on the ground exposes it to the sun, which can dry out the vinyl/rubber and make it brittle, and leaves it vulnerable to mold, mildew and pests that can damage your hose on the ground. A garden hose reel gets your hose up off the ground and prevents it from kinking and tangling, which preserves its life and makes it easier to coil for storing. There are many different types of hose reels available, including retractable garden hose reels that automatically coil the hose for you, and garden hose reels with turn handles so that you can coil the hose yourself. Most garden hose reels will easily accommodate the typical ½ inch garden hose or ¾ inch garden hose in lengths up to 50 feet. Larger hose reels will accommodate larger hoses.

Garden Hose Fittings

The brass fittings at the either end of the garden hose are called garden hose fittings. Typically, a quality garden hose has solid brass fittings that don’t bend or warp out of shape. A spare set of garden hose fittings is a handy thing to have tucked away for emergency repairs during the season. If, for example, your garden hose springs a leak in the middle, it’s a simple matter to cut out the damaged part, put fittings on the cut ends and have two shorter garden hoses that you can couple together.

Garden Hose Couplings

The further your hose has to reach, the less water pressure you’ll have when the water gets there. While you may need 75 feet of hose to reach the driveway once in a while, you don’t have to always use a 100-foot hose when you’re watering the garden right beside your faucet. Invest in a pair of shorter garden hoses and only couple them together when you need the extra length.

Consider specialty garden hose products for specific uses. If you use your hose to water the garden, for example, choose a drinking safe garden hose, or a coil garden hose when you want an easy-store hose that takes up little space. Whatever you choose, check out the nozzles, sprayers, sprinklers and accessories that can make your garden hose more versatile, easier to use and simple to store.