By Laura Bigbee-Fott

The summer my son learned to use our big riding lawn mower, we began having to replace hoses on an almost weekly basis. Having mowing help was great, but it was starting to become expensive! We have almost an acre cultivated in cut flowers and every 5,000 square-foot bed is irrigated with city water, so we have hundreds of feet of well-placed garden hoses reaching out in every direction. I finally realized that I needed to learn to repair rather than replace those hoses.

We have all three learned not to mow directly over the irrigation lines, but it still happens (and I’m as guilty as anyone!). Now we keep hardware on hand for quick fixes. It’s actually quite simple and has saved us a lot of money. I’ve also changed brass ends that have come damaged or leaky ‒ and securing connections between faucets and hoses to stop leaks saves money on water bills.

Below are a few important repair tips I learned by trial and error:

Heavy metals
Use ONLY brass and metal fittings made by Gilmore (no, I do not receive any compensation from this company, but their products are first-rate). Don’t use plastic fittings or the repair kits that have perforated wire mesh that you tighten down onto the hose; these always leak in my experience. The heavy metal fittings might be a tad more expensive, but this is definitely a case of getting what you pay for.

In the wash(er)
Before you replace a leaky connection, try using rubber washers and a spool of plumber’s tape before cutting off and replacing the hose end. Sometimes you can salvage an old connection with just these two inexpensive items. The best rubber washers are the reddish-brown ones, not the black small “o” rings that often come with hose repair kits. The former will only run you a couple dollars more and they are worth it. Use a flat head screwdriver to help “seat” them into place inside the nozzle.

Sharp objects
Use a pair of sharp pruners or heavy-duty kitchen shears rather than a utility knife to cut the hose to make repairs. I can tell you from experience that using a utility knife is a great way to cut and injure hands and fingers. Hoses are made to be tough, thus they have many layers. They also tend to roll and move while you’re cutting them ‒ it’s much better to firmly grip the handle of pruners or shears.

In hot water
Boiling water is your friend. I boil a kettle of water, then transfer it to a thermos. I dunk the freshly cut hose end into the water to make the hose more pliable. The fittings must be tight, so if you skip this step, you might not be able to insert the hardware far enough into the hose to keep it from leaking or even blowing off once carrying a full load of water. As the hot end of the hose cools onto the hardware, it will form a seal that should keep the fitting from leaking for a long time to come.

Happy Gardening!

Laura Bigbee-Fott is a Davidson County Master Gardener. She owns Whites Creek Flower Farm and runs a floral event and wedding design business called Everything Blooms.

By Laura Bigbee-Fott

Are you tired of mowing? Would you rather grow food and flowers than Bermuda grass? Well, you’re not alone! There are lots of folks out there doing just that. In fact, on my farm I have turned previously bulldozed, hard pan clay into lovely, friable, healthy soil.

This time around I’ll cover several ways to turn your lawn into garden beds.

Rototilling
You can rent or buy a rear-tine tiller and till up your soil, but there are two problems with this method. The first is that if you have Bermuda grass in your lawn, every little piece of grass chewed up by the tiller will now form a new grass plant. Bermuda grass is actually an exotic invasive and is the bane of nearly every home gardener’s existence! The second problem is that many healthy soil organisms are killed and their tiny ecosystems destroyed.

Lasagna gardening
Patricia Lanza coined this phrase in her terrific book by the same name. This technique is all about creating layers of everything plants need to grow and thrive right on top of your lawn. First, place cardboard over the grass, then create layers as you would when making a lasagna (hence the name). Layer compost, straw, bone meal, and other soil amendments; then plant directly into the mix. Over time, nature will combine all the elements you’ve laid down to create wonderful garden soil. Purchasing all the amendments can be a little expensive, but if you’re only starting with a small area, this is an extremely fast and ecologically sound way of creating a garden bed.

Building raised wooden beds
Some people like the tidiness of raised beds, which are lovely and orderly and quite easy to weed eat. However, they can be expensive in terms of lumber as well as the soil needed to fill them. If you go this route, make sure you inoculate any purchased soil with compost as well as native soil to entice all the local soil biology to take up residence in your beds. These beds will also need more water and will tend to be drier than planting directly into the ground.

Occultation
This is the process I use on my farm. It has been used widely in Europe for many years. The term refers to the practice of using heavy tarps to block the sun from reaching the grass underneath. This eventually kills the grass but leaves the soil structure intact. It also requires quite a bit more planning because once the grass is killed, you generally follow up with at least one, if not several rounds of cover cropping to build up the soil and further smother any weed seeds that try to germinate. Each successive cover crop is also tarped to raise the level of organic matter in the soil and feed the microbiology present in it. Once the soil is loose and friable, I plant it out and deeply mulch it with a combination of leaves, straw, spoiled hay, and grass clippings. See “after” photo at right.

Whatever method you choose, have fun ‒ and happy gardening!

Laura Bigbee-Fott is a Davidson County Master Gardener. She owns Whites Creek Flower Farm and runs a floral event and wedding design business called Everything Blooms.