I think we have used every kind of hose reel, hanger, pot, etc. ever produced. And you know what we like the best? We keep a hose at every spigot and neatly coil it flat on the ground behind a bush each time we use it. Neat, handy, and honestly the least effort, in our opinion. The problem with reels is how heavy they get as they fill up, thus making your arms increasingly more tired as you get near the end of the job. By coiling it on the ground there is no weight on your arms. (The battery powered ones run out of power remarkably fast, and who wants to make a special trip inside to hunt for more batteries that you may or may not have?....This of course, tells you a bit about how organized I am about such details.:)

Ooooh, I hate dealing with the hose!!!! I bought a wind-up one something like 12 years ago that is a small self-contained unit that I can carry (not a big wheeled contraption). I love that thing because it's portable, but have had the leaking problems. DH patched it over the years and it has held up well outside of that. I have never seen another one like this, so I won't toss it. I've tried two different models of flat hoses - waste of money. The cloth models constantly spring leaks because the cloth is easily punctured (especially around thorny rosebushes!), they don't wind up as easily as the ads make you believe, and the plastic model I had had terrible water pressure. I had sprinklers installed at my other house, but when I moved here I didn't want to spend the money because I didn't plan on living here this long - what's that old quote - "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans". Yep.... So I'm still here, dragging the $#!@ hose, and swearing up and down that I am getting sprinklers at my next house if it's the last think I do! Bloody right!!!!

Newfie, thank you for that DRAMM recommendation. I saw one at a nursery this past weekend and bought it. It is working great!! I really missed the shower function. [g] I have retired the brass nozzle to the drawer as a backup. I also changed the w*ashers in the hose today and things are looking up. Thanks again! Spedigrees, I have an update. We watched that video about fixing the spigot and tried working on it. We had both spigots, front and back leaking and the valve inside the basement that turns off the water to the spigot was dripping too. [g] DH took part of the front spigot to the Hardware store and they gave him new w*ashers that fit it. And a new w*asher for the valve in the basement. Both of those are fixed and have stopped leaking. The back spigot which is the worst, he didn't get off because the screw is stripped. So that is still dripping but barely. When we have a little more time, we are going to get that off and replace it. We found another video showing how to do that. Now that the spigots are getting better and I have a new nozzle. I went out to water this morning, happy as a clam, I started to wash out the birdbath and I heard a rush of water behind me and looked over at the hose reel....would you believe it was gushing water?! I shut off the water and unraveled the entire hose. There are two on the reel and it looked like the second hose was no longer connected to the first hose. Because it broke off! I had to take the hoses off the reel and fool around with the hose and the quick connects and the washers and ended up having to ditch the first hose and connect the hose to the spigot to use it today. Another water related job for next weekend! Brother! Is there such a thing as a water curse? lol.

2 hoses...2 ways I do it. Front of the House: Hose is attached to faucet and spread out neatly behind a shrub. There is plenty of room between the shrub and house where I can re-lay it out after use. Back of the House: I have one of those hose tubs. I don't carefully re-roll the hose every time it goes back in the tub. I'm too lazy for that, but I do make sure when I "stuff" it back in the tub it's not tangled. When I pull it out, I do have to arrange it, but I'd have to arrange it whether it was perfectly rolled up or neatly stuffed. I've learned the key to making sure my hoses are not eyesores is to get green garden hoses that blend into the environment. Years ago I bought a couple yellow hoses. Problem was no matter where they were or how I tried to camouflage them (aside from putting them in the garage after every use), they were visible from great distances and the first thing that caught my eye in my yard. I'd take pretty pictures of my house and all I could see was a stupid yellow hose somewhere. Kind of like someone giving you the Bunny Ears when your picture gets taken. New house, got green hoses, and even in the messiest, tangled state...or neatly rolled, I don't even see the hoses unless I'm looking at them. Gayle