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.