How to Buy the Right Garden Hose

You have a right to expect that the garden hose you buy will serve you for many years, but most gardeners find that they have to replace their hoses far more often than they’d like. How do you choose a durable garden hose that won’t kink, won’t leak and won’t let your down? Check out these tips from Family Handyman on how to check out a garden hose before you buy it.
Try to Put a Kink in the Hose
The last few years have been big ones in the gardening hose industry. You could have gone years without hearing about hoses unless you were specifically looking for one. The past few years, the airwaves and your inbox have been crowded with advertisements for flexible garden hoses, coil garden hose, shrinking garden hoses and even more specialty hoses for your home and garden. How do you decide which one is a good gardening hose for you?
First, ignore the advertisements and hype. When Consumer Reports did an investigation on those amazing shrinking hoses, they found that they simply didn’t perform as advertised – and their Facebook page was inundated with messages from people who had been disappointed by hoses that leaked, exploded and otherwise made things even worse. Instead of believing the marketing hype, do a few tests of your own on the garden hose you’re thinking of buying.
First, try to bend the hose at a 90-degree angle. The thicker the walls of the garden hose are, the more difficult it will be to bend at an angle. A cheap vinyl hose will easily form an angle – and will almost certainly kink in use. A better quality garden hose, including many well-made polyurethane hoses, will resist bending. With the highest quality hoses, the best you’ll be able to do is make a U shape where you’re bending it.
Second, try to kink the hose deliberately. Uncoil a couple of feet of the garden hose and try to coil it back in the other direction. If it develops kinks before it’s been used, you can just imagine how it will kink after it’s been baking in the sun for a few weeks.
Finally, check out the garden hose fittings and choose one that has solid, heavy, cast-brass fittings. The fittings on your hose determine how securely it will connect to the faucet. Flimsy stamped fittings or plastic fittings can bend, break and crack, resulting in either a useless garden hose that can’t be attached to the faucet at all, or one that sprays water at the connection.
A high-quality garden hose can be your best friend when you’ve got watering and washing tasks to do outside. Don’t depend on a hose that will only let you down.

Can You Use a Garden Hose Indoors?

Your garden hose is a trusted companion, helping you with your gardening and outdoor work around the house. You can hook up your garden hose to your outdoor faucet and cart it around to anywhere you need it using wheeled garden reels. Your hose can help you get water to the furthest reaches of your yard and driveway without having to haul it around in a bucket – why can’t you have the same convenience indoors? With a few accessories and some forethought, you can have the same convenience your garden hose offers you outdoors for your indoor gardening adventures.
Coil Garden Hose
The coil garden hose was created specifically to help with watering needs in tight spaces like patio gardens, but in most cases, manufacturers assume that you’ll be hooking up your coil garden hose to an outdoor water spigot and bringing it around to the patio. Apartment dwellers may not have that luxury. Even those that have patios large enough for a container garden may not have easy access to an outdoor water hookup. The coil garden hose may be easy to store, but in most cases, it needs a little help to be an efficient indoor garden hose. Exactly what other accessories you need will depend on a few important factors.
Water Source
You’ll have either two or three sources of water for your watering needs: your kitchen faucet, your bathroom faucet and your washing machine hookup. The easiest choice for connecting a garden hose indoors is your washer hookup because chances are that it’s already threaded to accept a garden hose. If you don’t have a washer hookup in your apartment, you’ll probably need a faucet hose adapter. They’re easily available at most hardware stores or online.
Distance
The distance you need to travel will determine the length of garden hose you need. In most cases, a 25 foot garden hose will suffice, but in larger apartments – or if you have to bring the hose from the back of the house to the front – you may need a 50-foot garden hose. In either case, a 1/2 inch garden hose is likely to be your best choice. It will deliver enough water pressure to get the job done and offers less risk of flooding your kitchen and living room.
If you’re going to be connecting a garden hose to an indoor faucet and carrying the hose through the house, you’ll want to be sure you’re using a high quality, drinking safe garden hose with solid brass garden hose fittings. A sturdy brass fitting is far less likely to warp out of shape, and will make a secure, water-tight connection to your faucet so it doesn’t leak all over your floor.
Likewise, if you’re going to use a kitchen or bathroom faucet, be sure to choose a high-quality, well-made hose-to-faucet adapter that won’t leak and spray water all over your kitchen.
There’s no reason to haul buckets of water through your house to water a patio garden just because you don’t have an outdoor faucet. With proper attention to details, you can easily adapt an indoor faucet for use with a good quality garden hose.

Hate to Water? Try a New Garden Hose

You don’t have to look far to find the war stories written by people who have been beaten by the lowly garden hose. Look, we all know that garden hoses are out to get you. They coil around your ankles, catch on patio table legs, and hide in the lawn just waiting to trip up your lawnmower, but they’re a necessary evil. Without a garden hose, most gardeners would be consigned to hauling bucket after bucket of water from the spigot to wherever the soil is too dry to support healthy plant life. And frankly, even wrestling with a recalcitrant garden hose is better than hauling water around your vegetable garden and lawn 2 gallons at a time.

That doesn’t mean you have to like it, though, and all over the Web on gardening discussion groups and gardening blogs, gardeners vent their irritation with the garden hoses they love to hate. Do any of these sound like a garden hose you’ve owned?

It’s so heavy that by the time you’re done watering, your arms and shoulders ache from dragging it from one spot to another.

The plastic garden hose fittings cracked and broke the first time you tried to tighten it to the spigot – which you had to do because it insisted on spitting water in your face every time you turned it on.

Or the soft metal faucet connector decided to tangle with the car and got all bent out of shape when it lost. You’d think you could bend it back into shape, but no.

Kink-free hoses just aren’t.

But what about those new-fangled garden hoses? If you haven’t been tempted by the folksy TV ads promising you that a coil garden hose will take up just a few feet of space on your patio but stretch to three times its length to reach every corner of your yard, you’re just not frustrated enough yet. In fact, the past few years have seen an explosion of new  garden hose styles to take the place of your not-so-trusty 1/2 inch garden hose in all its leaky infamy. If you’re in the market to replace your current hose, you’ll have an embarrassment of choices, including drinking safe garden hose, heated water hose, coil garden hose, 3/4 inch garden hose, one inch water hose and more.

Don’t put up with your old, bulky garden hose another day. Check out the new styles of hoses available to make your gardening chores so much easier.

Specialty Garden Hose Applications for Your Specialty Needs

Sometimes a standard garden hose just doesn’t do the trick. Every gardener, farmer and homeowner knows that the garden hose is one of your most important tools, but what if you need more than just a good way to get water from your outdoor faucet to where you want to put it? There are a number of specialty garden hose products that may meet your needs.

Cold Weather Watering

Your livestock still need watering when the temperatures drop below freezing. A standard one inch water hose won’t do the trick – standing water freezes in the hose and can cause even worse problems. What’s the solution? A heated garden hose can keep the water moving and the hose blockage free. There are a number of heated garden hose options on the market, but the best one – the GatorHyde Freeze Free Hose, offers some features you won’t find in many. The hose plugs into any GCFI protected extension cord and has an electric cuff to protect the plug for weather damage. Even better, it has some very nifty energy saving features that you won’t find anywhere else. The heated garden hose turns on when the temperatures drop to 35 F. and back off when the air temperature reaches 48 F., so it’s only drawing electricity when you need it.  It’s also drinking water safe, so you can feel comfortable using it to supply water for your RV or to fill water troughs for livestock.

Small Spaces

The wrong garden hose can make it a real challenge to garden in tight spaces like patios and small garden beds. The Mean Green coil garden hose is the perfect solution. The coiled hose is a retractable garden hose that easily stretches to its full length so you can reach all your flowers and lawn, then retracts to its original size for easy storage. In between, the coil garden hose is easier to navigate and maneuver. It’s lightweight, made of durable and safe polyurethane, and won’t ever kink. The industrial strength coil garden hose comes in three colors: green, blue or yellow, and is available in lengths from 15 feet (coiled length just over 2 feet) to 50 feet (coiled length 66 inches).

From drinking safe garden hose to lightweight polyurethane garden hoses, you’ll find garden hose choices that meet all of your need when you shop carefully. Don’t settle for a cheap garden hose from the local big box store. Figure out what you need, and then shop for your ideal garden hose online.

Do You Know Someone Who Could Use a Garden Hose Gift?

A garden hose is generally one of the last things to come to mind when it’s time to buy gifts, but the right garden hose could be the perfect present under some circumstances. Can’t think of a single time when a garden hose would be an appropriate gift? Here are a few times that the right hose for the garden or home just might be the most thoughtful gift you could give.

Housewarming Gift

A high-quality garden hose is one of the most used and useful tools in any homeowners’ garage or tool shed, but many new homeowners don’t think about that hose until the first time they need it. A 1/2 inch garden hose won’t be the most glamorous gift the new homeowner receives, but it will probably be the most useful. Make it even more useful by including a selection of garden hose accessories to go along with the hose. You might include a variable spray nozzle, or a Y-connector that allows you to attach two garden hoses to one outdoor faucet, or look through the selection of garden hose reels to find one that will look great in the new yard.

Wedding or Shower Gift

Again, a garden hose is not the most glamorous gift the happy couple will receive, but it’s definitely a wedding gift that will help them in setting up their new household. Most folks think about the interior when choosing wedding gifts. The bride- and groom-to-be will probably get all the kitchen accessories and appliances they’ll need – including duplicates. There will be towel sets and duvet covers and china and glassware and flatware. Unless they’ve asked specifically, though, it’s not likely that many wedding guests will think of giving them gifts relating to the outside of the home. Trust me. The first time they go to wash the car, water the garden or hose off the driveway, they’ll appreciate your gift of an appropriate garden hose enormously.

New Apartment Gift

You don’t have to own a new home to appreciate a garden hose. People who live in apartments need to wash their cars and hose off their patios, and many garden on the patio or a yard. Acoil garden hose is an excellent choice for apartment dwellers who garden in tight spaces. If they don’t have access to an outdoor faucet, consider including an adapter that will allow them to attach the garden hose to the kitchen or bathroom faucet.

A garden hose may not seem like much of a gift, but there are definitely situations when it’s a gift that will be greatly appreciated and see a lot of use.

Four Reasons to Hate Your Old Garden Hose

Most serious gardeners – and a lot of homeowners who don’t garden – have a love-hate relationship with their garden hose – and there’s not a lot of love in that equation. Despite the fact that the garden hose is the single piece of gardening equipment that most gardeners use every single day during the gardening season, a lot of folks don’t put a lot of thought into buying the right one – and once they’ve bought one (usually the cheapest one they can find that meets their minimum requirements), they often don’t realize just how much of their time and energy they spend dealing with a recalcitrant, balky or downright surly garden hose. Is it time to replace your old hose with a shiny, new one that will do what you want it to – without getting all kinky and spitting water at you? Here are four reasons to hate your old garden hose enough to replace it with one that will do the job so much better.

It Doesn’t Reach Where You Want It to Go

Okay, admit it. You’ve done this: you stretch the hose as far as you can – usually going back to unkink it when it decides to get curled up on itself – turn the water as high as possible and aim the water for the one corner of the garden where you garden hose doesn’t quite reach.  Among other things, that kind of stretching isn’t good for your garden hose – it puts stress on the garden hose fittings and makes it more likely that it will separate from the tubing. More importantly, it makes it a whole lot harder to water the whole garden effectively.

It’s Got Splits and Leaks Here, There and Everywhere

Cheap hoses split and break with alarming regularity. Most commonly, they leak around the faucet, where they don’t attach properly. Better quality hoses are made from materials that resist splitting and separating from the garden hose fittings, so you don’t end up patching them with adhesive tape.

The Nozzle End Is Deformed and Misshapen

Speaking of garden hose fittings, cheap hoses often have fittings made of tin or other soft metal that bends and deforms with the slightest pressure. You never have to worry about your hose fitting your faucet when you invest in a good quality garden hose with solid brass or high quality plastic fittings.

It Could Be Poisoning You

You knew your garden hose was out to get you, but you probably didn’t realize that it’s trying to poison you. A number of consumer watchdog groups have tested the water that comes out of typical cheap hoses and found alarming amounts of lead and other chemicals. The solution is a drinking safe garden hose if you drink from your hose or fill kiddie pools with it.

Why put up with a gardening tool you hate when you can eliminate the problems and make your gardening much easier with a new garden hose?

Give Mom a Summer of Fun Gardening with a Garden Hose for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is coming up fast. Have you decided on a gift for mom yet? Before we go any further, let’s get one thing out of the way. Mothers do not hate practical Mother’s Day gifts. In fact, mothers love gifts that show you appreciate the things she loves to do and see how hard she works. So what do you get for the mom who loves gardening and working around the outside of the house? How about replacing that worn-out old garden hose she’s been lugging around the yard and driveway for years?

Oh, I know. You’re thinking, “A garden hose? For Mother’s Day? Are you kidding?”   Not at all. Here’s why a new garden hose makes a great Mother’s Day gift for a mom who loves to spend time in the garden.

The Right Garden Hose Makes Gardening Easier

Unless you’re the one doing the yard work, you don’t realize how much time gardeners spend wrestling with a balky hose that insists on kinking up – usually all the way across the yard from where you’re standing. Aside from that, older garden hoses can be bulky and unwieldy, wrapping themselves around patio furniture and getting caught on garden edging. And if she works in a small space, a coil garden hose practically stores itself, saving her a ton of time every time she waters her plants. Don’t you think mom would rather spend that time doing the more fun part of gardening?

A Bigger Garden Hose Gets the Watering Done Faster

No, not a longer hose – a fatter one. In fact, a 3/4 inch garden hose delivers water to the plants twice as fast as a 1/2 inch garden hose. And because you get stronger, steadier water pressure, mom can take advantage of the variety of garden hose nozzles on the market for specialty uses like misting. Again, mom can certainly find better ways to use her time if she can get the garden watered in half the time, right?

She’d Never Think to Buy One for Herself.

Well, if it sprang a leak, she might, but chances are she’d just patch up the old thing and keep right on using it. It can be hard to justify replacing a trusty old tool when it still does the job, especially if the only one it inconveniences is mom. So, rather than spending the money to buy a high-quality, durable garden hose, she’ll keep wrestling with it and dragging it around, making more work for herself.

A new garden hose may not have the bling factor of a pretty birthstone ring – you know, with all the kids’ birthstones – but you know she’ll never take it off and lose it in the flower bed, right? Mom probably won’t ask for a new garden hose for Mother’s Day, but you can bet she’ll appreciate it every single day of the growing season.

Garden Hose Tips to Make Your Chores Easier This Season

Why work harder than you have to? When the temperatures spike into the red, the last thing you want to be doing is dragging a heavy garden hose from one end of your property to another. If you take the time to get the right garden hose and garden hose accessories, you won’t have to. In fact, the right garden hose selections could make your whole summer a lot easier. Check out these tips from an experienced gardener to find out how choosing the right hose and using it efficiently can help you get your chores done more quickly so you can enjoy your garden more and work in it less.

Multiple Hoses on One Faucet

Do you need to take your hose in multiple directions? If your gardening chores take you from the front yard to the back yard and around the side of the house to the driveway, consider using more than one hose. A multi-faucet manifold lets you hook up more than one garden hose to your outdoor faucet at the same time, so you can hook up the 50-foot 3/4 inch garden hose for watering the garden and the 25-foot 1/2 inch garden hose for watering the front lawn without having to swap them out each time – and without having to push your water through an extra 50 feet to get it where you want it to go.

One caveat: if you use more than one hose at a time, you’ll be splitting the water pressure among them. In most cases, you won’t be using them all at once, though – it’s just handy to have the best kind of garden hose for each task without having to spend half your morning unscrewing the hose from the faucet.

Start with a High Quality Hose

Most gardeners would be surprised if they added up all the time they spend wrestling with a garden hose. Cheap garden hoses are more likely to kink, crimp and knot. They’re also more likely to split and leak. The cheap garden hose that seemed like such a great deal in the aisle of the home improvement store could end up costing you a lot more over time. A high quality garden hose is more resistant to kinking, won’t knot and will last years longer than a cheap department store hose.

Pick the Garden Hose You Need

There are all sorts of specialty garden hose choices on the market. Among the most useful and universal – a drinking safe garden hose. You won’t have to worry about lead or chemicals in your kids’ swimming pool or your fresh salad.

Do You Suffer from Garden Hose Frustration?

Garden hose frustration – it’s a malady known to any gardener or home handyperson who has had to wrestle with a recalcitrant garden hose. If you’ve ever fought a heavy hose, dragged it over and around your yard, cursed it when it insinuated itself around your ankles – or worse, under the blades of your lawnmower – you know exactly what I mean. It’s also a malady with a sure cure – the right garden hose will cure you of it for years to come. Finding the best garden hose, however, can be a little trickier. Here’s what you should know when choosing a new garden hose.

Polyurethane – The Best Material for Your Garden Hose

In past years, the cheapest garden hoses were made – are still made, really – of PVC. It’s heavy, and it leaches chemicals into water that sits in the hose for any length of time. That can be a major concern if you drink from the water hose in your garden – and before you say you’d never do that, think again. Do you fill children’s swimming pools from the garden hose? How much of that water do you think your kids’ are swallowing? Do you water your vegetable garden with your garden hose? That water is leaving chemicals and other contaminants, including lead, on your tomatoes and green beans  -- and while that can be washed off, it’s not as easy to wash lead and other contaminants out of your garden soil, where it gets taken up by the good you’re growing.

So what’s the solution? Check out the newest lines of polyurethane garden hoses. Polyurethane is lightweight and pliable. It doesn’t require the chemicals and heavy leads used to cure PVC, thus there are no chemicals to leach into your drinking water. It doesn’t kink easily, making it far easier to maneuver around your yard. The biggest drawback of a polyurethane garden hose is that it’s usually more expensive than a cheap PVC hose. Even there, though, you’ll usually come out ahead. Because polyurethane doesn’t bake or freeze and is impervious to the UV rays of the sun, a polyurethane garden hose will last you for years longer than a standard PVC hose. When you factor in the multiple replacements you’d need to last as long as a PVC drinking safe garden hose, you’ll find that a polyurethane garden hose is a bargain.

This year, say goodbye to garden hose frustration. Shop online to find the right garden hose for your needs and live in harmony with the hose.

Surprising Things You Can Do with Your Garden Hose

Everyone knows that when you want to water your garden or wash your car, your trusty garden hose is the first tool you pull out of the shed. Watering and washing are only two of the many things you can use your garden hose to do, though. Do you know you can use your garden hose to help you lay out a walkway? Or that your worn-out garden hose can make it easier to carry a heavy bucket from one part of the yard to another? Here’s a list of surprising things you may not have known you could do with your garden hose.

Lay Out a Curving Path

Whether you’re laying out a walkway or designing the curving edge of a flower bed, your garden hose is one of the best tools at your disposal. A good 1/2 inch garden hose is flexible enough to curve where you want it, and heavy enough to stay put when you lay it down. You can even leave it in place while you dig along the curve to make sure that you get the outline you want.

Pad a Bucket Handle

Are you replacing your worn garden hose? Cut a few lengths of hose to use for other projects. If you have a metal bucket with a wire handle, for example, a length of garden hose makes a great padded cover for the wire. Just make a slit along one side of the hose and slide the tubing over the handle with the slit facing up. The vinyl hose will keep the metal handle from cutting into your hand when you’re carrying it.

Empty Your Hot Tub

You don’t need a pump or siphon to empty the water out of your swimming pool or hot tub. All you need is a short length of garden hose. Drop one end of the hose into the water. Suck through the hose until you have water flowing, then leave the other end of the hose hanging lower than the hose inside the pool. The water will continue to drain on its own.

Clear a Clogged Drain

Water pressure is one of the quickest ways to clear a clogged drain. Connect your garden hose to an outdoor spigot and drag it through the house to the drain that needs clearing. Push the end of the hose into the drain, and wrap a towel tightly around it. Have a helper turn on the hose outside so that you can keep an eye on the drain. Within a few minutes, the running water should clear the clog from the drain.

Your garden hose is good for a lot more than watering your flowers and washing down your house. If you’re looking for a replacement for your old hose, look for one that fits all of your needs. These days, there are all sorts of specialty hoses for different purposes, including coil garden hose, drinking safe garden hose and heated garden hose. Consider your needs and then choose the one that meets them best.

What Features Are Important to You in a Garden Hose?

When you’re shopping for a new garden hose, what features do you look for? While many people may think that a garden hose is just a garden hose, gardeners understand the finer points. In addition to the standard 1/2 inch garden hose and 3/4 inch garden hose and one inch water hose, there is a wide range of garden hose options available. They come in standard and custom lengths and diameters, differing levels of quality and have many features that are each designed to suit them for a particular purpose. These are some of the most popular garden hose features you may find when you go looking to replace your worn-out water hose or garden hose.

Drinking Safe Garden Hose

Many older garden hoses – and a healthy percentage of new ones – are made of materials that leach toxic chemicals into any water left standing in them. A drinking safe garden hose must use no lead in the garden hose fittings or to treat the interior of the garden hose. Some states, such as California, require that garden hoses carry labels that identify any unsafe chemicals they contain. In many other states, garden hose manufacturers label drinking safe garden hoses because they’ve learned that consumers prefer them.

Coil Garden Hose

If you hate coiling up your garden hose or reeling it in, a coil garden hose may be exactly what you want. Rather than unrolling to lay flat on the ground like a standard garden hose, a coil garden hose is shaped like a large spring. You can stretch it to three or more times its length, and when you release the hose, it springs back to its original shape. Coiled garden hoses eliminate most kinking problems and are much easier to store than standard hoses, which usually require garden hose reels to keep hoses coiled neatly off the ground and out of the way.

Heated Water Hose

Anyone who has to do watering chores outdoors in sub-freezing temperatures understands the importance of a heated garden hose. These always have a heater at the end of the hose that attaches to the spigot, and some have heating wires running along the entire length of the hose. The intent is to keep water from freezing in the garden hose, increasing the risk of damaging or cracking the vinyl or rubber. You must have a GCFI electrical outlet installed where you can plug the heated hose into a power source safely.

These are just a few of the many garden hose features you’ll find when you’re looking for a replacement for your old, trusty watering tool. Before you shop, think carefully about the features you’d like to have in your water hose, and choose one that will meet all your needs.

A Crash Course in Finding the Best Garden Hose

If you’ve ever had to fight a garden hose that insists on tangling, kinking and catching on the edge of patio furniture, you understand the importance of buying the best garden hose for your needs. The right materials, length, diameter and special features can make your garden hose an ally in your gardening chores. But how do you choose the right garden hose when there are so many choices and options available? Here’s a crash course in choosing the right garden hose.

Options to Choose From

Garden hoses come in many different sizes. The most common are 25, 50, 75 and 100-foot lengths in a variety of diameters. A low-cost 1/2 inch garden hose will deliver about 9 gallons of water per minute. A 3/4 inch garden hose will deliver up to 23 gallons per minute if you have good water pressure. Keep in mind that your garden hose will lose water pressure over distance, but wider diameters will lose less water pressure. If you need a long garden hose, have low water pressure or if your garden hose will be running uphill, get a larger diameter hose to compensate for the lower water pressure.

A quality garden hose will be made of rubber, vinyl or a combination of rubber or vinyl. The best garden hose options are reinforced, which lets them bend without kinking and provides more strength and durability and a longer lifespan. You’ll also want a garden hose with solid brass garden hose fittings and couplings.

Expect to pay for quality – a decent quality 50-foot garden hose will cost you about $30. Specialty garden hoses, like a coil garden hose or a drinking safe garden hose, will cost more, but they’ll last you for years.

Specialty Garden Hoses

Safety is a major concern and garden hoses are no different. Be aware that many garden hoses aren’t suitable if the water that goes through it will be used for drinking or human contact. A lot of the hoses on the market are made with recycled materials that contain known carcinogens, and many promote the growth of bacteria and mold that can be picked up by the water passing through them. If you’re going to use your garden hose to fill a swimming pool for your little ones or if your kids will be running through the filter, consider investing in a drinking safe garden hose.

Finally, if you’re going to invest in buying the best garden hose, don’t leave it unprotected. Pick up a good garden hose reel or other storage solution that will help prolong its life and keep it clean and kink-free.

Neat Tricks with New Garden Hoses

Worn out garden hoses and cheap garden hoses are the sources of more problems than most people realize. These are just a few of the issues you can resolve when you replace your old, worn-out garden hose with a new one that meets your needs.

Leaks at the Faucet

The biggest cause of water spraying and dribbling at the faucet connection is a poorly fitting garden hose fitting. The best garden hoses are made with solid brass garden hose fittings that won’t warp or bend when you accidentally step on them (of course, if you’re constantly stepping on your garden hose, you might look at the selection of garden hose reels available at a good garden supply site online). Garden hose fittings made with cheap metal alloys may not hold the thread pattern or may wear over time, so that your garden hose doesn’t connect right to the faucet. The end result is a lot of wasted water and a fair amount of frustration.

Kinky Hose

There are times when a little kinky might be good – but not when it the kink is in your garden hose while you’re trying to water the lawn. Cheap plastic and vinyl garden hoses are much more likely to fold, bend and kink when you’re trying to pull them straighter. Even worse, those kinks are far more likely to become permanent. If you’re trying to do your gardening and household tasks with a kinky garden hose, trade it in and invest in a new hose. The selection of garden hoses available these days includes coil garden hoses that store in very little space – and never kink – and reinforced garden hoses that resist kinks.

Split Hoses

Once a garden hose has kinked, it’s much more likely to spring a leak or worse, to just completely split. While you can repair it with duct tape – over and over again – it makes far more sense to replace it with one of the new top quality 1/2 inch garden hoses or 3/4 inch garden hoses that will withstand rough handling without splitting on you when you need them most.

Low Water Pressure

While garden hoses can’t solve all of your low water pressure problems, the diameter and length of your hose have a direct effect on the power of the water coming out of the business end of your nozzle. Every extra foot that water has to travel to get there reduces the amount of water pressure. If you’re using a hose that’s longer than you need to reach where you need to put the water, consider buying a shorter garden hose. Experts will tell you that if you sometimes need a longer hose, it’s better to buy two shorter garden hoses – one to use most of the time and a second one to extend its reach when you need it.

Garden hoses may not be on the top of your list of fun gardening accessories, but the right garden hose can make your gardening a lot more fun to do.

What to Do with Your Old Garden Hose

As you're planning for spring, did you get a new garden hose? If you’ve invested in a high quality new garden hose – maybe even a fancy coil garden hose or a heated garden hose for outdoor use in cold weather – you may be wondering what to do with your old, worn hose. Here are a number of things you can do with your old garden hose instead of throwing it away.

Protect Little Fingers

Little fingers have a bad habit of getting caught and pinched in the chains on swing sets. Protect those fingers from chain pinches by cutting a length of garden hose for each chain. Remove the chains from the hooks that suspend the swing seat and slip the section of hose over the chain. Hang the swings again and let your little ones enjoy their swinging without the danger of getting fingers caught and pinched by the chains.

Protect Big Fingers

Does the handle of your water bucket dig into your fingers when you carry it from the faucet to the car for washing? Make it easier on your hands by sliding a section of garden hose over the wire handle to serve as a cushion. You’ll get a better grip on the bucket and ease the pain in your fingers.

Save the Parts

Before you get rid of your old hose, remove the garden hose fittings and put them away. They may come in handy in the future when you need to make a quick repair. Likewise, save undamaged lengths of garden hose for future projects or repairs.

Wheelbarrow Bumper Guard

Does the end of your wheelbarrow cause scratches and dings when it bumps into the walls or worse, your car? One of the lovely things about a garden hose is that it’s flexible enough to fit around things. Measure the rim of your wheelbarrow and cut a length of garden hose to fit. Using a box cutter or razor knife, slit the hose open on one side. Push the garden hose over the rim of the wheelbarrow to cushion it and serve as a bumper guard.

Don’t just toss out your old garden hose when you get a replacement for it. There are many ways to reuse your old hose and extend its useful life. While you’re at it, take the time to treat your new garden hose with care. Store it on a garden hose reel or in a garden hose jar to protect it from damage, and bring it indoors when it won’t be in use for some time. Take care of your new garden hose and you’ll get years of use out of it.

Tips to Get the Most from Your Garden Hose

Your garden hose may be the most overworked and underappreciated piece of gardening equipment that you own. Many gardeners buy the least expensive garden hose they can find and put it through all sorts of abuse – pulling on it, twisting it, kinking it, running over it with the car or the lawnmower – and then when it springs a leak or fails to perform up to the expected standards, they toss it in a corner or in the trash, then they go out and buy the cheapest garden hose they can find. Really, can you imagine treating anything but your garden hose that way?

If you’re thinking there must be a better way, you’re right. The right garden hose can make all of your outdoor tasks easier. The wrong one can make them more difficult. These tips can help you get the most benefit and advantage out of the garden hose you choose.

Start with a High Quality Garden Hose

If you’ve never used a really good garden hose, you won’t believe the difference it makes in your gardening and outdoor maintenance tasks. Do you fight to get your hose attached to the faucet because the threads won’t line up right? Real brass garden hose fittings don’t bend out of shape, making it easier to attach and detach the garden hose from the faucet. In addition, the better garden hoses have hexagonal or octagonal garden hose fittings, making them easier to grip and tighten when you screw them onto the faucet. That cuts down on leaks at the faucet and allows you to make a good connection without stripping the threads.

In addition, choosing a garden hose made of high quality materials gives you more wear from your hose. A cheap vinyl hose will kink, bend and eventually break. A well-made reinforced rubber hose will be far less likely to kink and knot, allowing you to continue your watering without having to stop and untangle your hose repeatedly.

Choose the Right Garden Hose for Your Needs

There are a number of specialty garden hoses available on the market that can make your life even easier. You can buy a drinking safe garden hose, for example, if you’re concerned about lead or BPA in your drinking water or in the water you use to water your vegetables. A coil garden hose is the ideal choice if you do your gardening chores in tight quarters, such as on a patio or in a greenhouse.

Accessories

Don’t forget to store your garden hose properly when it’s not in use. The best way to do that is to invest in a good garden hose reel. It will keep you hose out of contact with the ground and help drain it every time you put it away, reducing wear and tear on your garden hose.

Why throw away your money on a cheap garden hose when you can buy a good quality 1/2 inch garden hose or one inch water hose, treat it properly and get good service from it for years to come.