Watering Cans

I have been spending a little time thinking about watering cans. The first in my armoury are the two galvanised iron ones that I have, one being a family heirloom. The modern one holds undiluted worm juice, ready to pour into the other in very small quantities. I need to get a 9l Hortico-style plastic can for that, as I think the worm juice is eating through the tin. I think they are out of the same maker, just a long time apart - the modern one has a screw for the rose (which I never use), and the handle pivots, but they are otherwise the same.

Then, there is the little 1.5 litre (?) Hortico one, that lives on my potting bench. I have to be careful with that, as the dog got to the last one and gave a fair chew of the spout, and it no longer poured properly. But I do like the colour purple.

Then, there are these ones, above, from the reject shop, at $2 each. Which is what started me thinking about watering cans. I needed three small watering cans for my vats of water, and was not prepared to pay the price for three Horticos, so was left with these. I have had various green dinosaurs and pink elephants (and everything in between) in the past, but they neither pour well or load fast.

I was pleasantly surprised by these - the long spout makes it easy to be exact with the application, and the bestest thing (apart from the price) is that they do not block up. Lots of stuff gets into these vats. The worst thing? You cannot pour a lot at once, as it spills over the side of the spout. But I still like them for this application: grab the spout and swing it through the vat and it is full.

However, this is the ultimate. It is the Decor version of the famous Haws English watering can. I see they now do a plastic one too, but the metal ones were more than $140 here when I last checked. And not easy to source.

I found one of these about 12 months ago in my local nursery, and know it was somewhere over $30. So I was delighted today to see one in Garden World in Springvale Road in Braeside (Melbourne) -  one of my favourite places. However, I don't think the $8.95 tag with it referred to it. I reckon mine is worth the price I paid, but I make sure I keep it in the garage, and not out in the sun.

The wonderful thing about this style is the upturned rose, which allows a large quantity of very gentle water to be applied to lines of seeds that have been direct-sewn in the garden. The conventional ones can be a little aggressive, and wash fine seed around. The little precision attachment is said to be good for filling self-watering pots. Certainly it would be easy to reach small seedlings in the middle of a bed.

Probably a bit late to drop hints for Christmas, so you can get one ordered in to a local nursery. But there is always a birthday or next year.

Or this:

This is how we water punnets of seedlings. A can with nail holes in the bottom, in a bucket of water. Nice, gentle and inexpensive.

It is a watering can!

Any garden bloggers out there have a favourite watering can? I would love it if you blogged yours, and left a comment here with a link. If there are enough, I will repost them in another post.