How to Maintain Garden Hoses

 A skilled gardener knows that a hose is essentially a gardening tool and that they must be maintained and stored properly for it to its job. No gardener wants the frustration of a tangled or cracked hose or the wastefulness of a leaking hose.

Storage

Properly maintained a hose can last for a good many years and part of this maintenance includes putting the hose away after every use. Putting the hose away is obviously a simple task but it prevents the hose from being stood on, rotting from soil moisture or get run over by a lawn mower. The best way to put a hose away is to keep it on a crank and simply turn to reel it in. Make sure whatever you hang your hose on properly spreads out the weight to avoid any kinks developing and regardless of how you store it make sure it is not in the sun. Make sure to empty all the water and remove any attachments to the hose before putting it away for the winter. The open ends do allow for the expansion and contraction of the freezing of water the repeated freezing and thawing will weaken the fabric of the hose.

Coiling a Hose

This can be done properly with a crank but it is useful to also have the knowledge to do it yourself and it can be done in a few simple steps. Turn off the water to the hose. Hold the hose a few feet from the spigot. Bend an about 3 foot loop in the hose. Keeping hold of the hose, reach a foot or 2 further from the spigot in the same direction as the previous loop and stack these loops onto each other until the whole hose is coiled.