How to Store Garden Hoses in the Growing Season

Your garden hose is one of the most critical, yet most often neglected (or even abused) tool in your garden. Here's how to preserve the life of your hose by taking care of it during the growing season.

Things You'll Need

• Garden Hose Racks
• Garden Hose Reel Carts
• Garden Hose Reels
• Garden Hoses And Attachments
• Plastic Garbage Cans
• Coffee Cans
• Common Nails

Instructions

1. Buy good-quality hoses. Cheap plastic hoses will never coil correctly and will form kinks.

2. Drain all the water out of the garden hose when you are finished using it for the day. Water left inside will heat up from the sun and expand, causing the material to rupture.

3. Remove all nozzels and sprinkler heads when you are done with them. Water trapped inside the hose may cause the fabric to expand.

4. Coil the hose at the end of the day. Storing the hose in a coiled position will prevent kinks from developing.

5. Connect the end fittings. Fasten the male and female ends of the hose together to prevent spiders, earwigs or slugs from making a home inside your garden hose.

6. Store drained and coiled hoses up off the ground to prevent them from rotting. A dedicated hose hanger or an old plastic garbage can cut in half are perfect for storing hoses.

Tips & Warnings

• Make a hose hanger by nailing a coffee can to the fence. The nails should be driven through the bottom of the can.

• If you can't master the technique of how to coil a hose, leave it stretched out straight along a garden path.

• Don't hang your hose on a nail, which may cause kinks - the enemy of all garden hoses.

• Never store hoses with kinks in them! Kinks weaken the fabric and will eventually cause leaks.