Watering Wand: A Cool Tool For Your Vegetable & Fruit Garden

A cool watering tool that will save your back and some water.

Let's face it, watering can be a bit of chore.  If you haven't tried a watering wand yet, I want to encourage you to think about getting one.  My watering wand  cost about $30 and has some really nice features.

Benefits of the Watering Wand

A watering wand is like a traditional hose nozzle but mounted on an long arm so you have greater reach.  Gardeners with hanging baskets usually have one because it allows them to water plants above their heads.  However, a watering wand is equally valuable to traditional vegetable gardeners because the wand lets you place water directly at the base of your plants with the following benefits:

• More Efficient Water Use -- You use less water because you are not watering the entire garden bed.  Just the area around  your vegetables.
• Fewer Weeds -- Weeds will grow between your plants if given the opportunity.  If you are directing water to your plant roots, and minimizing water going into open areas in your garden bed, you starve weeds for the moisture they need to grow in these open areas.  That means fewer weeds competing with your plants for nutrients, and less back-breaking weeding for you.

Nice Design Features

The watering wand I purchased has a couple of nice features that are worth mentioning:

• Choice Watering Settings-  By rotating the head of the wand you can choose from a variety of watering settings including, shower, mist, jet, fan etc.  Normally, I use "Shower" for watering, but I do find it useful to have other settings for watering seedlings, or cleaning off pots.
• Pivoting Watering Head - the head pivots so you can more precisely control the flow of water. 
• On/Off Trigger - The trigger allows you to turn the water on and off at will without having to go to the main water valve for this.
• Flow Control Adjustment - In addition to the on/off feature, my watering wand has a valve located on the handle that allows you to adjust the overall flow of water through the wand.  This is really nice because it allows you to dial the water flow up and down depending on the type of plant you are watering.  For example, you would want to lower the flow for more delicate lettuces but increase the flow when you move to a fruit tree or other large plant.

With Mother's Day and Father's Day Upon us, a watering wand would make a nice gift for your favorite gardener.