Watering Tools

There are so many tools for watering, everything from your everyday watering can to sprinklers that look like little tractors and travel the length of your hose while watering. If you're not lucky enough to have a built in sprinkler system (as I suspect many of us are not) the choices can be daunting. So here are the best tools I can recommend for making any watering chore easier.

1. A good, old-fashioned oscillating sprinkler

This is the best sprinkler I have found for watering a lawn and adjacent beds. It covers a failry large area, and covers it evenly. Best of all, they're cheap and you can find them anywhere.

2. A rain wand

These are invaluable for watering hanging pots, garden beds, filling bird baths....you name it, you can water it with one of these. I have one that has adjustable settings for everything from a fine mist to a full on stream of water. I use it constantly.

3. Soaker hoses

These are the best, most efficient, healthiest way to water flower and vegetable gardens. You hook it up, and the water trickles out of pores in the rubber hose, delivering water directly to the root zone of the plants. This way, you don't get water on the leaves, which can cause fungal problems, and you don't waste as much to evaporation. Perhaps best of all, you can just leave them in place during the growing season. Simply cover them with mulch, and you'll never know they're there.

4. A long hose on a garden hose reel

Before I got my house, I didn't really see the point of a hose reel. Now that I have my house, and a large yard, I can truly appreciate how much time a hose reel saves me. In my yard, I have a 200-foot long hose attached to a hose reel. I can reach anywhere in my yard with the hose, and it takes me mere seconds to wind it up. Even more important, I never have to remove kinks or tangles from my hose before I can water.

5. Watering Can

I know, I know...what do I need a watering can for when I have all this other stuff? Say you just need to water one of the pots on your front porch. Do you really want to have to unreel a hose, turn on the water, reel it back in and all that? Of course not. Fill up a watering can and take care of it. Sometimes the low tech way is the best way.

I hope this helps you narrow down your choices for watering tools. It will keep your plants healthy until you're able to get that automated sprinkler system you've been dreaming of! ITGO