Sunday, February 20, 2011

The soaker hose...

I started the day bright and early today with my sweets, Paul, by getting yet another FULL truckload of manure this morning. Still, these beds are not filled. Sheesh... After I unloaded the truckload of crap I was ready to make this soaker hose. I feel silly but I was really excited about the hose. I've never used a soaker hose before and I thought it would be an awesome easy thing to make! I did a little web surfing and I found this article.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6550336_diy-soaker-hose.html

Let's see I have a drill... I have old unwanted hoses... Sounds like a good free DIY up cycle project to keep me outside for a while! :) By the by, Today was amazing! Soo pretty outside! I was pumped!

So, I sorta followed the instructions.. I never follow directions exactly, I make my own rules. Anyway, I decided I wouldn't drill holes in the hose between the beds and I left about 2 feet from the connection end so again I wouldn't just water the straw. I also just guessed the 3" mark, I didn't think it was necessary to be exact.
2 weeks ago Amanda went to home depot and got end caps for the hose.


I borrowed a cordless drill from my big bro. I used an old drill bit and started drilling holes.


Everything was fine then the drill ran out of juice when I was half way done! Ugh... So I got an extension cord and brought my old plug in drill outside to finish the job. This project was more difficult and tiring than I expected.


I put the soaker hose back on the beds in the correct places, I connected the hoses, turned on the faucet and excitedly followed the water down the hose and when I got to the garden beds I waited patiently for water to flow out of my brand new one of a kind soaker hose!!


IT WORKS!!!


kind of... :(

***

Ugh... what a disappointment. I hope I don't have to buy a new one, that's so wasteful.
What's the deal? I was not expecting this not to work. I need to figure out a way to make the water pressure from my spicket stronger or I need to figure out a better way to water these beds. I suppose I can just use the old garden hose spray head thingy.
HRMPF!!
I won't give up... I just need to do some troubleshooting.

P.S. Yeah I made trellises. They might be over kill but I wanted to be sure they were tall enough for the yummies... :)

2 comments:

  1. Probably your holes are too big. I think a hammer and an ice pick would have worked fine. At this point, you could use duct tape and wrap every other hole to see if you get enough pressure. Then every other hole again until it works...

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  2. Ahh!!! Genius! Judy you're so smart! :) Paul said something about wrapping a towel or cloth around the whole hose.. I said that was ridiculous and difficult. Duct tape though... Gee whiz easy peasy!

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