Garden Hose Timer

There are some things we simply tend to water at the same time everyday. For example, when it's super hot, I water my lawn briefly at dusk, maybe for an hour or so.

Its' very easy, especially with a house full of kids and activities, to either forget to turn on the hose/sprinkler or maybe even worse, forget to turn it off. This is just one reason why a garden hose timer is an essential item for many of us! I also water the veggies at the same every day. Again same issue.

Also, many of us are not always home all the time, but our plants and lawns still need watering. In my mother in law's case, it is the turning off that is critical. She is a master gardener (and a bit of a space case too) and she's been known to empty her well when she's forgotten to turn off the water to her multi-hose watering system!

As with many things, you get what you pay for, sort off. Some cheap units are okay, but may be difficult to program, not flexible, and unreliable. We'll look at a few that are not expensive but are real winners. Hopefully one of these is perfect for you! For me, even though I'm a technical guy by trade, the last thing I want is a difficult to program timer! The VCR was always too hard, despite creating software systems that run major enterprises during the day. Ease of use is critical for me and many of you too no doubt!

The first one we'll look at is the Orbit 62001 Lawn and Garden Digital Watering Timer. This is incredibly popular, and with very good reason.

The price is right, it is very flexible, and very easy to program -- my 7 year old could probably do it.

I like what one reviewer says, "The timer is a no brainer as far as programming it goes. It's very simple and the basics are on the lid that covers the program panel."

The controller slides out so you can easily set the watering times and then slide it back in.

And flexible it is. Want to only water on specific days? No problem. How about several times at day at specific times? It lets you set up to 4 different watering periods per day.

"It is the best on the market and very reliable," from Mns in Orinda, California pretty much sums it up. Click Here to read all the reviews.

A simpler and cheaper unit is the Orbit 91213 One-Dial Garden Hose Digital Water Timer.

Think simplicity and reliability, but not as much flexibility. It has a large size display for easy reading as you can see, and oversized features so it's easy to use. Everything is controlled by one dial, with a manual button for watering overrides.

This one is as simple as it can get, and simple is good!

Click Here to read the reviews and see what owners have to say about this unit.

Now what if you have more than one hose to control? It's simple enough to use some sort of dual hose garden adaptor, and they work quite well, but what if you want independent control of each hose?

The Claber 8410 Aquadue Duplo Dual Hose Water Timer (what a mouthful!) gives you exactly that functionality. It allows complete independent programming and operation of two hoses from one faucet with up to 3 starts per day per line.

It does both daily and weekly programming, and has a large screen for easy reading. It's also happy with hot or cold water, and high or low pressure (like from a rain barrel).

Downsides? It's more complex, hence more expensive and definitely more difficult to program, but it certainly gives you some awesome capabilities and flexibility.

If you've never used a garden hose timer, trust me, once you do you'll never go back! They are simply such convenient items you'll wonder how you (and your plants) ever lived without them!