Garden taps

A good garden tap makes life sublime. Well it is a step towards it at least. When we moved in here the first thing I did was get a plumber around to put in more taps. One to each main garden area. Now I can use a short hose from many different places rather than drag a long hose out and have to wind it up all the time (this I never did anyway). Also make sure your taps are between the house and garden. That way you can turn on your sprinkler and not have to run through it like we did at our last house.

I also believe that all good garden taps needs to be a comfortable working height and hold a minimum of two heads. One with a hose fitting and a simple timer and one with an open end like a household tap. This ensures that there is always a tap free to wash your lovely vegetables and hands on the way to the kitchen. Mine has a third head with a shower fitting for watering the humans too.

A timer is awesome for throwing on some water after we have picked a few veggies and salad greens for dinner. Our sprinkler is raised to get above the nearby plantings so all we have to do is simply flick the timer on for 30 minutes or so and the main garden is watered. This can all be done with a hand full of veggies and a kid hanging off your back. Wonderful.

The last picture above is of a bad tap. It is one we didn’t get to earlier. It is so low that I have to bend over to use it, it’s lost in the plantings, has only one head and my son fell on it and hurt himself a few days ago. In fact, it is so horrendous I will go and make a new head immediately.

Here is my basic method. Remember I am a sculptor and gardener not a plumber!

First gather some plumbing parts, hemp and tools. Thread tape is fine (10 turns around) but I prefer to use hemp because it is so forgiving.  It soaks up any water and expands therefore filling any small voids. It is also 100% natural.

Second fit them together. Lovely. I love the Dr Seuss look with as many kinks and bends as possible. My plumber was horrified at the idea of anything but a nice neat new end so I make these myself.

Once complete, find your water main and turn it off. Install the new tap head. Turn the system on again and check for leaks. Turn the system off, fix leaks… repeat until water tight. Congratulate self on a job well done.

I personally love recycling bits. For old taps a good supply of new washers is super useful. If your plumber is the same as mine and you don’t have the capacity to make your own feel free to get hold me for some lessons or custom made tap systems.

Happy watering.