Got a garden? Ok – got a garden hose? Don’t tell me you water the flowers or the lawn with a big ol’ bucket? Anyone who has a garden needs a garden hose and some of the related equipment, to be able to provide water for thirsting plants in a sensible way. There are all sorts of nozzles, sprayers and fittings that work together with the hose itself to provide watering solutions for many different types of vegetation, in many different climates. Compared to the possibilities available, watering your lawn with a bucket is like trying to build a garage with just a sledgehammer: Clumsy and not very flexible. With modern spray nozzles, anything from a hard beam of water to a mild rain is possible, and you might need both – and the points in between – more often than you would think. Some plants are very delicate, and too much water in one spot could harm them. Other plants may be located so far inside a flower bed, that the easiest way to reach them, is to concentrate the water into a hard beam that will reach as far as you need it, and dissolve into light rain, as it approaches its destination. Depending on your needs, there are different types of garden hose available – from cheap vinyl hoses for the small garden, to heavy duty garden hose made of real, reinforced rubber. These hold more pressure and take more abuse than the cheaper variety. Many different garden hose fittings are on the market, for connecting to different types of threaded and unthreaded faucets, or to adapt to different sizes of hose to each other. When you are not busy watering your garden, a garden hose reel is the best way to store the hose in a way that is compact, and still allows for quick and easy use. Garden hose reels can be wallmounted, or they can be portable, with a set of wheels attached. If you find you need a very long garden hose and can’t find one ready made that fits, nothing is easier than getting a special garden hose connector and simply putting two lengths of hose together. If you don’t want to stand there holding a spray gun all day, get a sprinkler to do the job. There are so many types to get, that you will surely be able to find something to fit your needs. Some are good for sprinkling their close surroundings lightly, while others excel in sending water on a long distance journey across your garden, should you so desire. For the easiest possible storage solution, look at a retractable garden hose reel. Some of these don’t even rely on a crank to reel in the hose, but work by means of water pressure!

Whatever your watering needs, there is a garden hose, sprayer, sprinkler or other part that will meet it!

There are many ways to water your garden, but perhaps the most sensible and frugal way of doing it, is to use a soaker hose. A soaker hose is nothing but an ordinary garden hose, except for the fact that is has had a lot of tiny holes made along its entire length. When the hose is connected to a tap and the water is turned on, it will of course seep out of the many little holes in the hose, thereby watering the soil along its length.

What is so spacial about that? Well, most other methids of watering your garden consist of applying the water from a much greater distance to the ground. If you use a spray nozzle or a garden sprinkler, the trick is to distribute the water as far as possible from a single point. Imagine having to dripfeed every square inch that needs water? It would be no fun, which is why we try to cover as much ground as we can by standing still and spraying. This would be fine, except we are wasting a lot of water this way. people tend to water their lawns on hot sunny days, which means that a good portion of the moisture will literally vanish – or vaporize – in thin air, before it hits the ground. Another problem is that we tend to hit the planst from above this way, meaning that the water has to run off the leaves and down to the ground before it can do some good for the roots of the plant. On its way down there, more of it will vaporize. This way is a waste of water – pure and simple, but we do it because it seems the easiest (and therefore best) way.

But you know what? The soaker hose does exactly what we could never do – it dripfeeds the soil inch by inch, for as long as it stretches. Not only that, but because it is lying directly on the soil it is meant to water (sometimes it is even buried underneath an inch of soil), it looses only a fraction due to vaporization. Most of the water makes it into the soil where it can do some good for the plants. In addition to saving water, you also save time. A good way of using a soaker hose is to turn it on after nightfall and let it run for a while. When the sun has set, the vaporization is much less than at daytime, meaning that you will save even more water. With the soaker hose laid out to cover a number of plants that need water, try really soaking the soil around their roots until you are sure the water has reached a good depth. Then give it a few days before watering again. This helps the plant develop deeper roots, since it “learns” to find water downwards, instead of near the surface. If you dripfeed it water every day, the plant will develop a shallow root net designed drain water from the surface. This would make it very vulnerable during drier seasons – like if you are not home to water it for a week or two.

Consider this an intro to soaker hoses, and be sure to read more about this great garden tool at a later date.

Category: Soaker Hose

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