Are Simple Watering Timers the Best?

 Raindrip R675CT Analog Hose Timer

I grew up in farming country, so I'm well aware that farmers simply cannot take vacations between spring planting and fall harvest. Ski trips to Vail or Christmas on South Padre Island, maybe, but Yellowstone for Labor Day just ain't gonna happen. I didn't realize that it could be the same for gardeners, not until I tried to get a neighbor kid to water my newly-planted garden for two weeks in May. That didn't work... but what did work was picking up a hose timer like the Raindrip R675CT.

We'd had hose timers before, with – at best – mixed results. They're bitch-kitties to set, leak like sieves, and generally last about one season. With that in mind, I went for the least expensive model I could find with a name I recognized (no CROSFOMI or RESTMO, thanks). Rainbird, Nelson, Orbit, Melnor, Gilmour; yeah. This one's from Raindrip, the same people who make an assortment of drip irrigation parts like the ones spread all over my garden. 

The R675CT is an analog timer, which means it's a little more... basic. You don't set a clock for the time of day and then go through all sorts of button-pushing to set watering times and intervals. Instead, there are three dials; of which two are involved in the "setting" process. You set the interval between watering events – how often to water, in other words – and the other to set the duration – how long to water. The third is an override dial, which allows you to cancel watering for up to 72 hours in case it's been raining or run water for the next three to 90 minutes.

On the "how often to water" dial, you can set it for any of eleven intervals, from every hour to once a week. On the "how long to water" dial, the eleven settings range from 3 minutes to two hours.

Now here's the strange feature of this timer: it doesn't have a clock. Well, it doesn't have a clock where you set the current time. Instead, you perform your settings at the time of day when you want to water. As soon as you set the "frequency" scale, the timer starts. Say you want to water at 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM; you simply wait until the next time your clock turns 7:00 and set the frequency dial for every 12 hours. Want it to run once a day at 6:00 AM? Well, you're gonna have to be hanging around your faucet at 6:00 tomorrow morning. 

The timer attaches directly to a hose bibb (the technical term for "outdoor faucet"), and a standard garden hose screws onto the termer's outlet. Mine included an adapter so I could attach directly to a drip system if I wanted. The timer runs on two AA batteries (not included), which should be removed when the timer's stored for winter.

Using this timer saved my flats of bedding plants from death by dehydration when I took an unplanned vacation in spring. It was worth the cost.

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Eat Your Heart Out, Farmall!

Nelson RainTrain Traveling Sprinkler 1865

There's a shelf out in our garage, and on that shelf is a pile of lawn sprinklers, and in that pile is a tractor. Yes, a tractor: bright yellow, with tricycle gear, white lugged wheels and a brass hose connector where the drawbar would be if it weren't just 8" high. Oh, and it looks like it's been crossed with a helicopter: there's a "rotor" sprouting out of the body. But it's not a tractor and it's not a helicopter; it's a lawn sprinkler (I did say it's only eight inches high...).

For The Times You Need a Temporary Fence

Zareba 48-Inch Step-In Fence Posts

Every so often, we find a need to put up some temporary fencing. It might be to keep our dogs out of muddy spots, it might be to seal a hole in the boundary fence from a wind-blown tree. Whenever it happens, though, we dig though the garden shed to find a handful of Zareba Step-In Fence Posts.

Each of these plastic posts is 48 inches long, plus the 5-inch steel spike at the end. It has a pedal molded into the plastic just above the spike, with a little fin on the bottom to make it harder for a post to twist in the soil. There are eight plastic clips spread out on one side. To use the posts, you pick a spot where you need a post and stomp the pointy ends into the dirt. You can run string, bare or insulated wire, or plastic tape between posts, sliding it into the clips to hold it in place. The eight clips let you run several strands or put up diagonals.

With a Heated Bird Bath, We're Getting Even More Birds

Allied Precision 14-Inch Heated Bird Bath #145

One of the quickest and easiest ways to get a little “nature fix” in the middle of our Midwestern winter has been to install a cluster of bird feeders in our back yard. We packed up the hummingbird feeders for next summer, and put up a couple of arrays of seed and suet feeders. The neighborhood finches, titmouses (titmice?), doves, juncos, woodpeckers, flickers and cardinals have been welcome visitors – the starlings less so – and we’ve also been gratified to see that a handful of bluebirds has begun visiting. Our home in central Indiana is, according to the bird books, near the northern limit of the bluebirds’ winter range, so we were a bit surprised to see them.

We've got Woodpeckers Galore Now!

Kettle Moraine Cedar Single Cake Tail Prop Suet Feeder 

Downy woodpecker at our feeder

The bird feeders that rim our deck attract a wide variety of birds, which we find to be fascinating and fun as we view the activity from our kitchen. Our back yard borders on and partially includes a small woodlot dotted with standing dead trees (damn you, emerald ash borers!), which supply a steady source of food for the local woodpeckers. The several feeders we put up back in fall have continue to attract three different woodpecker species – the hairy, downy, and red-bellied type – but didn’t pull in the majestic pileated woodpecker we occasionally saw (and heard) working on nearby trees. 

From our research and a friendly bird-watcher neighbor, we learned that larger species of bird don’t like those small suet cages, mostly because the birds have a difficult time maintaining their balance while feeding. The cages aren’t massive enough for a 10 to 12-ounce bird, plus the birds are accustomed to resting their tails on tree trunks while feeding in the wild. We researched feeders that meet these needs, and chose this Kettle Moraine Cedar Suet Feeder with a tail prop.

A Flex-a-Spout on Your Downspout Just Might Save your Foundation

Amerimax Home Products Flex-a-Spout

Check Price at Amazon

Your average homeowner learns to hate water, often within the first year of home ownership. When you aren’t fighting to keep the water within your pipes in the home's interior, you find yourself battling to keep other water away from where it doesn't belong on the home's exterior. That’s why a house or other building has gutters and downspouts: they direct the rainwater that lands on the roof away from the foundation, the farther the better. If too much water gets too close to the foundation in homes with a basement, it often causes moisture problems. If the building's on a slab, an uneven distribution of moisture around the perimeter may cause cracking, even damage all the way to the partial collapse of exterior walls. The flatter the land around your house, the farther away you want that water sent.

Anti-Siphon Devices: Keep Contaminated Water out of Your Water Supply

Lasco Brass Hose Bibb Vacuum Breaker

Gardening enthusiasts, here's one more oddball device you can add add to the list of items that A) you weren’t aware exist, and B) didn't know you probably need. Fact is, though, that if your home sits on a space that isn't level, you probably need a Lasco Hose Bibb Vacuum Breaker.

Why would you want a Vacuum Breaker?

Because of the siphon effect: if water in a garden hose is sitting higher than the hose’s connection to the water supply, the water’s weight will force it back through the hose and faucet, straight into the water lines. If a little rubber or vinyl taste in your drinking water doesn’t upset you, it’s your right. But if you’d rather not have dirty water contaminating your home’s water supply, a vacuum breaker is the simple, inexpensive anti-siphon solution. Even if you don’t run hoses uphill, you may still need a vacuum breaker if you often fill water features or other large reservoirs like an above-ground pool.