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greta1956

large watering container for balcony gardening

greta1956
17 years ago

The largest watering container I was able to find on the web is 6 liters. That would still require multiple trips to the faucet. Surely someone has invented a kind of indoor "rain barrel" that holds maybe 5 to 10 gallons (instead of 60, as the outdoor ones do) that could be mounted on casters, and moved from bathroom shower, etc. (where a funnel attachment would allow one to collect water without putting the device in the tub or shower) and then wheeling it out to the balcony. I can't believe no one has invented such a thing. (Obviously it would have to have a hose at the bottom for delivering the water to the plants; and possibly a little handpump?) Anyone ever heard of such a thing? Thanks, Greta

Comments (9)

  • marie_in_wa
    17 years ago

    No, but you can buy a thing to screw onto your faucet so that you can connect a hose to your faucet. It's a lot simpler than having to carry water out to the balcony :)

  • jenny_in_se_pa
    17 years ago

    Like Marie said - hose! I have a 50ft "RealEasy" hose that is similar to a regular hose in its rubber construction (but is not like one of those indoor watering tubes or indoor/outdoor "coil" hoses), but has a somewhat smaller diameter than a regular hose which makes it lighter. Plus it has a standard hose fitting and rolls up into its own carrier. Best of all, it takes any standard hose nozzle so you can add your own nozzle if you like the adjustable-spray kind or want a wand type, etc.

    Without the hose, I usually have to do about 6 trips with my 2-gallon watering can to water everything I have out there (and do that twice a week when it's hot).

  • greta1956
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    thanks, Jennie and Marie. You gave me the info I need. I'm trusting you don't have leakage problems with the hose running through your living room (or whatever!). Greta

  • jenny_in_se_pa
    17 years ago

    No leakage. My kitchen faucet is about 10ft from the closest balcony door and using a 50ft hose, that gives me enough to do the whole 40ft of my balcony. I have used different sprayers on it over the years and leave it out year-round (although I keep it against the wall under a table so it stays dry). The hose looks like this:

    {{gwi:1626}}

  • katwomn59
    17 years ago

    I got one of those hoses (on Jenny's recommendation). Found it had Home Depot (or maybe Lowes). Worked very well and a lot better than those small coiled hoses (and way less cumbersome than those big coiled hoses!). I really liked it but I dont have a place to keep it inside and when rolling it up, water does come out of the hose. So I would carry the reel outside to roll it back up. Unfortunately, my balcony is small and it was a bit cumbersome (my faucet is not all that close). And after awhile, I realized that it only took about 5 min to water my plants (I dont have room for a whole lot of plants), but connecting, unrolling, disconnecting and re-rolling took 3 times as long. So I am back to using a 2 gal watering can. BUT one of these days I will move to either an apartment with a bigger balcony, or a townhouse with a small yard (which will mean more plants!) So I am gonna hang onto that hose! If you have a lot of thirsty plants to water (and room to roll it up) I think it is definitely worth it.

    Lydia

  • marie_in_wa
    17 years ago

    Personally, I just got a standard garden hose. When I'm done, I hang onto an end, throw the other end over my baclony to let the water drain, and then I wrap it around my arm (elbow to hand) and stick it in a corner. takes perhaps 3 minutes (including the extra time I let it dangle to be sure all the water is out)

  • jenny_in_se_pa
    17 years ago

    Lydia - have you tried just unrolling the amount you need rather than unravelling the whole thing? Sometimes I only need to do plants at one end and I don't unroll the whole thing and it works fine. I leave it outside all year.

    I'm up on the 18th floor and god forbid that I allow anything to drip or drain over the side of the balcony. It was bad enough in past years when I had the upstairs neighbor dumping a wading pool full over water over the side of the building or emptying her mopping bucket over the side where that nasty water dumped right into my plants (killing a bunch of them eventually). I know here that those people who have furniture out on the balcony have tended to put the larger pieces with backs against the rails and they would certainly get splashed!

  • katwomn59
    17 years ago

    Jenny, yeah I did that. I unrolled it to the length I needed to reach from my kitchen sink to the far end of the balcony, then put masking tape at that spot and just unrolled that much. When I was finished watering, I put the end of the hose in my biggest pot and let the water drain some, then carried the reel out to the balcony to roll it up. But it was still a good bit of hose. It really didnt take all that long to roll it up but in the height of the summer, the temps on my balcony can be 120-130 degrees! So during the week it was all I could do to dump water on my plants and get back into the air conditioning! So the watering can was actually quicker. But I love the hose, and I in the next year or 2 I may move into an apartment that has a larger deeper balcony that will have some shade and wont be so killingly hot. Then I will pull out my hose again!

    Lydia

  • jenny_in_se_pa
    17 years ago

    Lydia - Oh heck I know about running outside fast and watering and running back into the AC when it's hot!! LOL LOL

    I don't pull out the hose every time. Definitely no. But because I have larger older shrubs and now a tree, I do know that I at least need to do what I call "deep watering" on them at least a couple times a month and the hose helps in that case. Otherwise I'd have to double the 6, 2-gallon trips! :-o

    Having all my plants mulched really makes a big difference on how often the plants need to be watered. :-)