How to Make a Soaker Hose for $0

If your weather has been anything like ours, you just might be watering your garden this summer.  We got tired of using the hose and sprayer so we took one of our old hoses that already had a few leaks and kinked something terrible and we made ourselves a handy dandy soaker hose and it cost us exactly $0 - that's right, nothing.  It was free.  We like that.

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to make a soaker hose:

1.  Select the garden hose you want to use for the project - maybe an old leaky one, a cheap one you picked up at an Estate Sale or just an extra one you have lying around.

2.  Locate a piece of scrap lumber or wooden sawhorses to support your hose.

3.  Using a 1/16" drill bit, drill a hole approximately every 2"-3" - drilling completely through the hose.  Depending on the water source you'll use, you may want to begin drilling the holes at a certain distance from the end that you hook into the water.  This will prevent water from dripping out onto nothing if there is space between your water source and your plants.

4.  Take a moment to shake out the little bits so they won't interrupt your waterflow once you put the hose in use.

5.  If you don't envision connecting your hose to another, cut off the male end of your hose and tie or clamp it with whatever you have available.  If you think you may one day connect it to another hose, just tie or clamp it off.  You can leave the male end intact, if you wish.  

Our hose is hooked up to a rainwater tank so the only pressure on our hose is gravity and baling twine worked well to secure our hose.  If your water source has any kind of pressure behind it, you may want a stronger, more secure method of clamping your end off. 

6.  And there you have it, a DIY soaker hose.  Hook 'er up and put that baby to work!  It may take a few minutes for your hose to fill up entirely and begin soaking from end to end - how quickly that happens will depend, again, on the pressure coming from your water source.

We've been using our hose for a few weeks now and it's so nice to just hook it up and let it go for 20 minutes or so.  Our hose is long enough to go the length of one whole row with just a few feet leftover.  I really like being able to position it on the ground, right up next to the plants.  It's been saving a little time and a little money by being able to use our rainwater tank instead of the spigot on the house.

Linking up with the Homesteader Blog Carnival, Homestead Barn Hop, Frugal I Did It Tuesday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways and Rural Thursday.