Why I Oughta...

Beginning in Spring 2022, I have talked about installing a second yard hydrant in our backyard featuring a self-rewinding hose reel.  I included it on my 2022 to-do list and failed to install the post and reel in 2022.   I carried that task over to our 2023 list and put it at #5:  install a second hose reel .  I had the hose reel for more than a year, so it was simply a matter of installing the post to hold the reel. This is the third of these reels that I have at the house - the first one is in the garage .  The second one is about half-way back attached to our fence .  This third one is planned for close to the spigot.  I have historically used a loose hose to water the patio containers.  I thought this upgrade would keep things a bit more tidy.   Ahead of digging the hole, I called J.U.L.I.E. and had them mark any underground utilities.  In the photo below, you can see the red line for electrical underground.  And the orange stake is where I wanted to dig the post.  All clear.  I c

This post is simply an entry in the diary to ensure that I track progress against my 2021 to-do list out in the back/front yards .   Number 5 on the 2021 to-do list: " Lay down a new Soaker Hose under the Hornbeams ".  I went out there to try to remember WHY I needed to do this.  Once I turned the hose on, I quickly realized that the hose had deteriorated and had sprung some HUGE holes near the beginning.  That meant that the trees at the beginning were getting watered, but less-so as the run went.  Here's one of the leaks: And, to check the box, here's the new pair of soaker hoses that are now laying down on top of the hornbeam beds: After I run water through them a few times they'll lay down flatter.  then, I'll get mulch applied on top of them and you'll never know they were even there. Crossing #5 off my list.  

  I don't think anybody really knows the answer to that question, do they?  I suppose the low cost (just a few bucks) and the low-tech solve they provide, it isn't the worst insurance you could buy as we head into Winter, right?  In our house, we have frost-free hose bibs, so I haven't really worried about our hose spigots very much during the Winter, but what happens when things change in the interior of your house where the supply pipe isn't being heated the same way as it was the previous few Winters.  Feels like a good time to think about using something like this?  But, I'm not alone in wondering.  There's a thread on StackExchange that details some thinking here . 

Back at the end of May, I posted about how I was trying to sort out my yard hydrant situation .  With our yard being so deep, I needed a way to get a hose about half-way back that would allow me to water everything in the rear part of the yard.  Last year, I solved that (kind-of) by burying a rubber hose underground from the house to a location about 100' or so from the rear boundary.  There, I stuck what is called a "Yard Hydrant" in the ground and called it a day.  That yard hydrant had a place to hold a big mess of hose and had a spigot that would allow me to turn on/off the water from that location.  The problem was that it didn't make using or storing the hose any easier.  And with the Automower in the backyard, I ended up having a sliced hose because I never got all of the hose off the grass.  Hence... why I posted about this project in the first place .   This project made it to my 2019 To-do addendum list , so we can begin to cross that off.  I have a

Last year, I came to the conclusion that due to the size of our property, having a hose that is connected to our main spigot against the house was basically unusable.  The hose would have to be 200+ feet long and would stretch all over the place.  What else?  It would inevitably end up being strewn across the lawn and get nicked up by our Automower.  My solution was this yard hydrant.  I bought this beige color one that has a hose holder attached and simply stuck it in the ground.  It has its own spigot and allows me to turn the water on/off at this point. I ran a rubber hose from the house out about 100 or so feet in the mulch beds.  I buried it just a few inches underground and connected it to the yard hydrant.  Then I have this existing vinyl 100' hose that I can use to run out to the various beds. This eliminated half of the problem of having hose laying around.  But, it still means that I have 100 feet of hose (instead of 200 feet!) that ends up laying around. Posti

Inside of our garage, we had a hose bib installed during construction that I intended to use to water inside the garage, on the driveway and out front of the house.  But, when we actually started to use the hose in this area, it quickly became apparent that we had to be thoughtful in terms of where/how we stored the hose.  At first, I considered something like the (highly regarded) Eley hose reel with a traditional hose.  I came across it from Laura on Garden Answer in this video .  But, in thinking about how much the kids are involved in the hose (watering the flowers, playing with the water, etc), it seemed like if I wanted the hose to end up wound up each and everytime, I was going to have to find a self-retracting hose reel.  GeekbeatTV ran a review of a retractable hose reel from Flowmaster that seemed right for us.    Our Home Depot sells the same Flowmaster reel but under the Gartenkraft name .  And after it came home with us, it sat in the garage for a month.  Then I figu

I picked up this hose nozzle as a gift earlier this year but have yet to put it through it's proper paces.  What...with the lack of 'hose weather', right? This thing is super simple but is highly endorsed and is labeled as being used by 'wildland firefighters'.   From the DuluthTrading listing  come some big boasts: BULLS-EYE NOZZLE NEVER LEAKS, NEVER BREAKS. Proven on firelines by U.S. and Canadian wildlife services, the small but powerful Bulls-eye Nozzle saves water and gives you more power, in an emergency or just around the yard. A simple twist adjusts the force from maximum to heavy spray to pinpoint stream. Sprays up to 600 psi! If there's a way to break something...trust me...our family will figure out how to do so.  Stay tuned for pressure-testing that claim...