I watered plants for my neighbor, who had those coil hoses. What a mess! They did not neatly recoil, but rather worked themselves into a kinked up knot and it was way more trouble to get them straightened out than the good old standard kind.

We inherited some honest to goodness rubber hoses from my husband's uncle. They are heavy to pull, but they are, hands down the best we've ever had. They don't kink, they don't bend, and they don't burst. Really good ones.

I know what you mean about sticker shock. We added one new one this year. Couldn't believe the prices. We got a good heavy duty rubber one at Sam's Club for $25.00 (120 feet), which was by far the best price we found for the quality. Lowe's was asking $50 for a shorter one.

I hate the coil hoses. They're awful. Mine got tossed out this year, because I refuse to subject anyone else to it!
Ditto on the heavy rubber hose. The rest are not worth the money. Great price at Sam's, what a find!

I hate the coil hoses! Do not waste your money on those. Rubber hoses are so much better because they don't kink.

I've never used the coil hoses, but they look like trouble to me, lol. I just keep thinking how the phone cord always gets tangled, and those hoses remind me of the phone cord. (Okay, yes, I'm showing that I live in the dark ages because I actually still have phone with a cord, lol!)

I'm considering buying some of those heavy duty hoses. I haven't priced them yet, but considering I've had to replace my hoses (all six of them!) for each of the last three years, I probably would have saved money if I had just pried open the wallet and bought the heavy duty ones to begin with.

A friend of mine had some nice heavy duty hoses. I think they were Sears, and they had almost an octagon shape to them as opposed to being completely round - well, at least on the outside. I have no idea whether this contributed to their ease of use (and lack of kinking) or if it was just for show.

:)
Dee

First my husband complained incessantly about the coil hoses, then he threw them out. If you just stand in one place and squirt, they won't kink but the minute you step away a few feet it is a tangled snake around your feet. Dismiss the thought.

In addition to the price, the gardener's supply hoses were in silly colors. Who wants a purple ribbon running through their garden? I wish more hoses were plain black or dark brown, which are less visible than green. My vote? Go for the best quality you can afford.

I just received a FrontGate catalog in the mail yesterday, and they offer a hose reel that "reels in 100' of garden hose at the flip of a switch!". I think it says it can handle a 3/8" hose (I need bifocals, can't read the fine print anymore). That isn't a very wide hose is it? And it's $119.50. I can't believe it would work as easily as they say.

One of these days I'm going to splurge on a good quality hose, but I still want a water cart.

the hose is your most important tool in the garden.. spend the money to buy the best... and you will never have a problem...

link below to what i use ...

i have some going on 20 years .. and they are still great ...

and i wasted more money on replacing cheap hoses than these ever cost me ...

this is one place.. you will regret going foo foo .... i also have NEVER heard a good word about the spiral ones ...
ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Thanks for that link ken. Good to have another choice. I'm still using rubber hoses that I bought at Sears which never have developed a link or kink. Probably 10 years old now.

Thanks for the link, Ken. I'll try to find the Gilmour. Hopefully I can get them in my area; if not, Amazon.com has the different lengths with free shipping.

Yep, I agree with the consensus on the coil hoses. My neighbor got one from home shopping network. I took care of the watering while they were away, would never purchase a coil hose in my life. And they had three of them connected together. What a tangled mess.

And since we're talking about hoses, I should start a thread on spray nozzles. I can't find a spray nozzle that lasts for more than one season before it starts leaking. Ugh!

A slinky, a slinky,
A wonderful, wonderful toy...

NOT!

Okay, okay - guess I'll skip the coil hose :0p

i bought all mine in livonia.. i cant believe there is some mystical boundary stopping them from you on the other side of detroit ...

listen ... to the typed word ... build the gizmo .. use the old hose along the fence line ..put in a spigot in the far corner.. the other corner .... and the corner opposite the site of the spigot ....

and just move the hose from spigot to spigot .... as you water ... moving a 25 foot hose.. is 1/4 the work of dragging a 50 foot hose... etc ....

i truly dont understand your aversion to watering...

at the end of the day.. at dusk.. there is nothing more peaceful than standing in your garden.. and watering your plants... the sky turning pink.. the birds singing their last songs of the day .. your toes damp ... the heat of the day waning .... and a life giving drink to your babes ... HOW IN THE HECK HAVE YOU TURNED THAT INTO SOMETHING TO DREAD ..

come on girl.. focus ... the garden is your aerobics and your therapy ... YOUR ARE DISSING THE THERAPY PART ...

solve the darn hose issue.. and learn to enjoy the peaceful moments at the end of the day ... wasnt this a wine commercial a few years back.. lol ...

carpe hosum ... seize the hose!!!!!

ken

ps: do you have the link to the gizmo.. i can reload the pix if they are no longer in the post ...

Ken - yes, have the great directions you posted a while back about hooking up the gizmo.

I know there are folks who love watering, I am just not one of them. At all.

My aerobic exercise consists of power walking, thankyouverymuch. Nothing gets rids of stress for me like pounding the pavement - rain or shine. Gardening is more of a creative outlet for me.

I'll see if I can find the hose this weekend when I'm out and about, some place around here has those, I'm sure.

To go at this from a different direction...

If watering is such a chore for you, why don't you design a garden that avoids it? It's not like you live in an area where plant life is almost by definition dependent on humans providing water for life.

There really aren't very many garden jobs that the garden can't be designed to drastically minimize/totally avoid. So to a certain extent, garden personalization is going to be figuring out which ones a particular gardener doesn't like, and and how to get rid of them.

BTW, most of my watering comes directly after the words 'Mommy, can I play in the sprinkler?' Aside from that, I'm rarely watering more than twice a year.

Well, for me, the "dread" in watering (and really, it's not dread, just a pain in the neck) is the time factor. It takes me an hour and a half to two hours to give my garden a good, deep watering. That's valuable time I could be spending doing other things that desperately need to be done. As a result, I often end up not watering as deeply as I should, which we all know not only doesn't help the plants as much, but then they just need to be watered again!

This year I'm trying to water certain beds on certain days, to cut down on time spent all at once watering. I can't believe, after all the rain we had this year, how incredibly dry the soil has been. After the gorgeous weather we've had this past week, I also can't believe that I find myself wishing for a nice rainfall. I didn't think I'd ever wish for rain again after this spring, lol!

:)
Dee

Mad Gallica - I agree, but only to a certain extent.

I do place tough-as-nails drought tolerants out by the street and on the one side of the house where I know I just won't water - they do fine there, and it looks nice w/o any input from me.

But I want my yard to be more than sedum, lamb's ear, lavender, and salvia...

My biggest problem is mature maple trees - I don't care how you slice and dice it, gardening under/around maples is tough. I love the shade they provide, but my beds, portions of which are a ways away from the trees, suffer because of their greedy roots - they suck the moisture out of everything, even if the plants are a good 15-20' away.

As long as I get a good rain once a week I don't have to water anything except my pottery. My beds are well mulched, amended, and what I consider to be "right plant right place" rules for the most part. I did not have to pick up the hose once this season (outside of for the pottery) until a couple days before 4th July, because we had adequate rainfall. The spring and early summer displays here were glorious.

I have resigned myself to the fact that many plants look a little worse for the wear once the summer dryness sets in - lack of rainfall has been the pattern in this area for years now - and I can live with that. I refuse to be out there watering all the time - time is too short, and watering a lot gets expensive. I will, however, water the pottery on my patios (I have two patios) a couple times a week, and will water the beds perhaps twice a month with a good, deep soaking with the sprinkler, that's really all they need. For the most part, outside of a little leaf scorch here and there, stuff in the beds is generally fine w/o a lot of supplemental watering.

But just because I don't do it very often doesn't mean I still don't *hate* doing it!

I am the fool here, though - when we moved in DH told me I could put in a sprinkler system and I said no because I didn't think we'd be living here that long (didn't want to be at this house more than 5 years). Now that I'm in my 10th year here, we don't have the money for the system, other more important things need to be done first (just had siding/gutters/house painting done, and new furnace and a/c is next on the list).

I'm telling you guys now, though - my next house *WILL* have an automatic sprinkler system. PERIOD.

I'm lazy, I put in drip irrigation for 2/3rds of my yard last summer (would have done the whole thing, but I would need to tunnel under or slice my driveway to get to the rest).

I do go out and watch the rainbow through the misters I have in my vegetable/herb garden area (mostly to get a section of "pottery" as mxk3 put it).

This also means that I don't have to worry about my neighbors calling to tell on me for watering on off days (besides the set-it and forget it mentality, who can tell when I'm dripping or when I'm not anyway).

~Chills... (who also has a great black rubber 50 foot host that he considers a very wise investment)

I have a big, thick rubber hose. I think it is craftsman brand from Sears. Very nice. They go on sale alot and you can use a coupon.

last bump for today .. ken

Bump it all you want -- I still *HATE* watering!

I actually love watering. The way to do it is a glass of wine in one hand, and the hose in the other!

Geeze, just put in a drip system. Easy to install. Hook up to a $30 timer and most of the work is done for the year and subsequent years.

I brought the light weight gadget hose 3 yrs ago and I love it. It is the as seen on tv thing. I had to buy three 50' to reach my patio plants but I love it. It is light and if I drag it over a plant there is no damage. The best Seen on TV gadget I have ever purchased.

I still have the old heavy rubber hoses I purchased 30 years ago but this light weight hose is my favorite. If they die I will have the old heavy rubber hose to use until l replace my lightweight ones. I am getting to old to be lugging those heavy rubber things around.

I have a lot of 3/4" diameter rubber hoses. They're heavy but they put out more water faster, and they don'tt kink. I bought a brand with a lifetime guarantee and it's been honored twice. These hoses last many many years though.

The coil hoses are "miniature" in diameter and put out water much much more slowly. If you don't like watering, you'll really hate these curly hoses. I bought one only because I wanted a hose that had safe to drink water for the bird bath and dog dish and I also water a few plants in hanging baskets, all within short range of the spigot so I can more easily avoid tangling. Still, I have to be extremely careful handling it so as to avoid tangling. Recommended only for special circumstances, not for watering in ground plants.

I have an ancient rubber 100metre hose which weighs a ton, often spends the entire summer fully unrolled (grass actually grows over it) and is heavy work winding it back onto it's frame...but I have had it for 20 years whereas those spiral jobs have been tried, and failed and finally dismissed as unusable, unreliable and nowhere near long enough to get to the bottom of the allotment.

Oh. Drat. Hoses. How I hate thee! Hurts because I found the perfect $2 garage sale hose for the front, while the one for the back, despite all my best efforts, is making my head hurt. i even bought two more yard sale hoses recently in an attempt to find the perfect 'one', yet I fear they are not quite 'right'...I'm going to put them all downstairs and deal with them next spring.