You hear a lot about “chain reaction” these days. But, believe it or not, the rain here this noon is affecting you, whether you are living in Maine, Florida, or Montana.
That may sound a bit mysterious or like a most powerful rain. Actually, it was hardly more than a good sprinkle.
But after getting pretty well soaked, I came in and belatedly am getting at my typewriter. So, as you’ll see, the rain has had its effect on you.
You can say it was a good rain, or you may wish it had never happened – all depending upon your reaction to the material appearing on this page.
Using A Hose For Watering
Over a year ago, I told you how we had put in a plastic pipe system just a few inches below the surface, running from the house to the back end of the yard.
This has certainly paid off this year. I don’t think I need to point out when you must drag a hose out.
Maybe get an extension to reach where you wish to water. You are inclined to pass up using it when and where you should. With an outlet about every 50′ feet, reaching any point in the yard isn’t hard.
In case you have misplaced your copy where this was described, and for the benefit of new readers, here is the sketch showing how this was put in.
Just one word of caution. DON’T try using a pipe too small if you have a long run. Friction drag will cut down on the amount of actual water delivered through a pipe.
While our house supply line is only 3/4″, I used 1″ plastic pipe for about two-thirds of the runout, then cut down to 3/4″ for the rest of the way.
(If I were building a place, I would see that the service supply line was at least an inch. Even larger if I tended to use a lawn sprinkler system.)
You may have noticed that when you were using a long length of hose, you were not getting much of a stream through it.
Friction Of The Water
If the hose was long enough, you would find that the stream would be cut down to a mere trickle. This is caused by the friction of the water against the sides of the hose.
The most garden hose is 5/8″ inches. Personally, I consider anything smaller than that a waste of money and time.
At certain seasons especially, TIME is important. We have even gone so far as to get a couple of lengths (one 50′ and one 75′ feet) of 1″ incheshose.
While it is a little heavy to handle, it does get a volume of water through in a hurry. I think it will produce over twice as much water as the standard hose.
Underground System
The tendency sometimes when using a nozzle on the end of the hose, is to turn it off at the nozzle instead of back at the faucet.
That is handy, but I found out the hard way that I sometimes forget and leave it lying in the sun. Water expands with heat.
While maybe all hose would not swell up to the breaking point, I had this happen to me TWICE.
With the underground system, it isn’t so far to the faucet now, and I think I have learned a bit about this danger.
Hose for Every Season
Maybe I shouldn’t be spending so much time and space talking about the hose, as most of you may consider that Spring is the time you buy your hose.
That is true in most cases, maybe. But there is still a lot of need for using the hose this season.
And here is an economy tip. Many dealers will find that they have an oversupply of hose on hand.
With their season about over, some of them will be willing to sell at a lower price rather than carry it over until the next season.
44659 by J Knapp