Hose rack hack

Nifty purple hose and nozzle, huh? Those, and the blue rain wand in the center, I picked up at the recent GWA | The Association of Garden Communicators' Annual Conference here in Buffalo from their expo of garden product and plant vendors. They were graciously given by Dramm. I mentioned I had 350 garden writers coming to my garden the next morning and mentioned I'd love to have their products on display – especially considering how humdrum and unnoticeable my hose and rack were.

The hose matched the color of my house trim – and a good number of my plants!

I did ask the good folks at their booth if they made hose holders/racks. Unfortunately they do not – though it was not the first time they've been asked. I'd mentioned my issue that all the affordable racks were boring, utilitarian (or not utilitarian enough), ugly, and plastic. Some of the nicer "design-y" hose racks were expensive, didn't come in many colors, and usually had a crafty, pine-cone-y, Arts & Crafts vibe. That's not my garden's vibe either though.

I saw a really cool one that looked like antlers, but I have no desire to spend $299 on a hose rack.

Never worked well as a kayak rack.

On another note, I hated my kayak rack since the day I installed it on top of the car. It leaned, jostled and I never felt secure with the kayak tied to it. My new rule of thumb? Buy cheap kayaks, but expensive kayak racks.

Cheap, beat up, and ugly.

I also always hated my hose rack too. It was a cheap plastic, discount store, deal that was in an ugly color (sun-bleached military green), beaten to death, cracked, and looked chincy. It was also undersized, since I use two 50' hoses slung around it.

So when we finally bit the bullet and bought decent kayak racks, I had the old rack left over. Four of them. So I took one and screwed it onto the house.

The kayak rack on the house for the hoses works for me. It's a minimalist design, the small protrusion on the bottom with the foam pads holds the other nozzle I use, and the Dramm rain wand. It's a simple black which looks contemporary, and doesn't clash with anything else. Lots of hose can fit on it too. If anything, I'll be thinking of adding some sort of bumper or barrier so the hoses don't hit the house and add wear to the house paint.

And it looks much better with my 50' ColorStorm Garden Hose than the puny, puky. pitiful plastic one!