Make a Sturdy Garden Watering Wand.

Frustrated with a cheap watering wand that broke in my garden, I decided to make my own.

Parts List: (shown left to right)

• spray head - 3/4"
• 3/4" female screw-on adapter
• 3/4" male screw-on adapter
• coupler
• 45 degree bend
• valve
• 3/4" copper pipe
• rubber grip

The copper pipe is cut into two pieces. About 36 inches for the main handle and about 3 inches for the end. You can adjust for what's comfortable - I made a little longer than standard wands so I don't have to stoop down as much.

The valve sits between the wand and the hose and allows you control the flow right from the handle. I used the valve and spray head from my old broken wand, but both are available separately at nurseries and hardware stores. I also used the rubber grip from the old wand, but you could substitute a rubber bike handle if you can't find a grip. The grip helps if the wand gets hot from sitting out in the sun.

These copper fittings must be sweated to make a watertight seal. If you don't have the tools for sweating copper pipe, you could substitute the copper pipe for PVC and PVC glue.

Here is the watering end sweated together.

I added a quick connect adapter to my hose and wand so that I could quickly swap the wand with other attachments.

The wand is heavier than most commercial wands, but should hold up to a lifetime of being left out in the garden and stepped on.

If you're into vegetable gardening, you can also check out my gardening blog at http://www.closertothedirt.com