Don't throw away your old garden hoses there are many uses for them.
By Ann Winberg from Loup City, NE
Cut a 6 inch length, split it. Use it on bucket handles to avoid hurting your palm.
This page contains the following solutions.
Use pieces of a leaky garden hose to cover a metal handle on a bucket. Trim to handle size and slit the hose down one side. Slip it over the handle and secure with electrical tape.
My garden hose has been left outside neglected too many times but it still has a purpose as saw blade covers! Cut the hose to the length of the blade and slit down the side so that it can be slid over the blade as protection.
If you have an old or cracked garden hose lying around it's pretty easy to turn it into a drip irrigation hose. Use an ice pick or other sharp implement to poke holes in the hose.
Use your old garden hose as a border for your garden. It keeps rabbits out because they think it's a snake.
Cut a length of hose from the end that you screw onto the tap. Make it long enough to reach your laundry tubs from the hot water tank faucet.
To stop the splinters, measure the length and the thickness of the handles. Go to your auto parts store and request a water hose that has a diameter smaller than the wheel barrow handle and a length just an inch longer than the combined length of both handles.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
How can I recycle an old garden water hose that has a hole in it? I am not interesting in trying to repair it but can I use it for something else?
By Betty from Lubbock, TX
Add some more holes and use it to make a soaker hose for your flowers or garden.
I made a sprinkler out of mine. You can also make a slow-drip hose to water your outdoor plants & flowers.
First dry out the hose, then take an old soldering iron & use the end of the hot soldering iron to poke holes in the hose every 1 or 2 inches. Wait several seconds between holes for the iron the reheat. You can buy a soldering iron for around $5 & if you wipe all the rubber off the soldering iron while it's still hot you can still use it to solder with later.
You can use this hose to slowly feed your plants & you can even bury it underground if you like & just drip the water slowly. Or you can use it as a sprinkler above ground. I made mine for an area where I was going to have a ditch dug for additional wiring & used it to wet & soften the ground before digging.
Before using your new hose, cover the end of it with Duct Tape or a screw-on hose attachment that you can close to keep the water in so the pressure will build up & make the water squirt out of the hose. It works best if you align the holes (when poking them) along only one side of the hose. Place the holes up for an above-ground sprinkler & down for an underground drip-feeder.
If you want to make a drip-water hose, you'll have to first know where you are going to bury it. Simply measure the area BETWEEN the plants & don't poke holes where there are no plants. Underground drip-watering is a very effective way to water your plants & conserve water because hardly any water evaporates so you can also water during the warm part of the day.
You need more holes further away from the spigot & less holes closer, because there is more water pressure closer to the faucet.
You can also repair almost any hose.
They sell all the pieces to repair them at Hardware stores & also at Big Lots (the liquidation store).
I have seen people who have to tie their small trees up, use it to cover the string so the string doesn't touch the tree branches. They do that at the parks over here, all the time. I like the soaker hose idea, it uses less water.
If you have fruit trees, put it in them to keep birds away.
How do I use an old hose as a planter?
By lpiascik
Use an old retired garden hose and some zip ties to make a useful garden basket. It could even be used as a planter. This is a page about making a recycled garden hose basket.
Old hoses can be recycled in a variety of creative ways. This page shows you how to make a hose wreath.
