Getting soaked

Tired of standing around, spending your valuable time just watering your garden? Then look into "soaker" hoses. Specially designed to deliver a slow trickle of water to every plant along the length of the hose, soakers are perfect for shrubbery and vegetable or flower gardens. Just lay the hose through your foliage and turn on the spigot to a third its full capacity. Water seeps out from the hose's many pinprick holes. Best of all, you can hide the whole arrangement under a layer of mulch or other ground cover. One final tip before buying the hose: Plan how it will wind through your plants, then trace the path with some twine to figure out how much hose you need.

Or, if you use a regular sprinkler to water your lawn but always wake up to a flood because you forgot to shut off the sprinkler at night, get a watering timer. It screws right onto the hose and can be set from 1/2 to several hours. And, of course, you know where to go to get these supplies.