If you are a gardener as I am, you have probably gone through your fair share of watering cans over the years. I always used to use a metal watering can, I loved the sound they made as you put them down on the path, but the problem was that they grew rusty after only a few months, especially quickly after adding caustic nitrogen fertilizers to the water when I was tending my plants and vegetables. So I changed to a green plastic watering can instead.
The advantages of a green plastic watering can over metal are obvious. They don't weigh as much and it doesn't matter what kind of chemicals you put in them, the plastic will remain unaffected. Old metal cans get dented easily, there is no chance of that with a green plastic watering can. One big problem I also had with a metal can was removing the rose. Once the tiny holes become clogged with leaves, rust or other material, they are impossible to remove without some mole grips, and squeezing too hard to get the rose off can mean distorting the spout, so the rose never goes back on again!
A quick rinse out under the outside faucet and I can remove the rose easily for cleaning any time, without having to call my husband or search the garage for the grips. They are very easy to keep clean and never get rusty or dented.
Even though I have a large garden and have hundreds of trees, shrubs, vegetables and flowers, I find that I use my green plastic watering can nearly every day. It's so much easier than unrolling a big old hose pipe and fighting it over to a remote patch where one small plant may need some TLC.
There is one major complaint I have about all gardening tools though, it doesn't matter what size they are – from my small ruse pruning secateurs to large gardening forks and shovels – why are they invariably green, black or brown? When you are working in a large garden, it's very easy to put a tool down and go off to do something else and forget where you have left that tool. Surely if a company could come out with a range of fluorescent orange tools they could be found easier? I don't know how many times I have found a piece of gardening equipment months after I used it, all rusty and rotten!
I don't have that problem any more though, I spray paint the handles with bright pink fluorescent paint and I have a piece of yellow Caution tape wrapped around my green plastic watering can. Now I can find anything in just a few minutes. So if any gardening equipment company is reading this, perhaps you could send me a few bucks for my great idea! Could you possibly start producing some neon pink plastic cans, instead of the green plastic watering can I use now please?
My neighbor was always asking to borrow tools and never returned them, but now I can point to my spray painted hoe and say that's mine, I need it back. I do draw the line at lending him my green plastic watering can, I use it every day and there's no way I am going to let it out of my sight!
