Gardening is one of my favorite things to do. Not only do I get to enjoy all the yummy homegrown vegetables and fruits from my backyard raised bed garden, I also enjoy the therapeutic benefits from being outdoors and accomplishing something with my hands. One of the challenges for me is finding time to water my plants, weed the garden, and feed the garden. With two kids and a husband, sometimes I can't even find the sprinkler attachment! When I do use the sprinkler, it waters everything, including the walkways, which makes more places for me to weed. And without the sprinkler, the water straight out of the hose tends to disturbs seeds and seedlings by creating holes in the raised beds. What I really needed was a soaker solution but since my raised beds are only 3 feet square, most soaker hoses were much too long. We were recently in a Dollar Tree and I saw these big crayon banks for collecting coins. They were brightly colored and only cost a dollar. I wondered if they might be a great watering system for my garden! The bright color would make the watering device easy to see and the long shape of the “crayon” would distribute the water across the plants quickly. I recently learned about the new Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder, which allows you to feed your plants the right amount of nutrients while you water with any device. Could we turn the dollar store crayon into a device that not only gently spreads water across my raised beds but that also feeds the plants with Miracle-Go®? Yes we can and yes we did! Here's how I made my own watering device to water the garden using a giant crayon from Dollar Tree:
We brought the crayon home and used a ruler to mark holes one inch apart along the length of the “crayon” in 5 rows. We used a drill and 1/16″ bit to drill a hole at each mark. We popped out the stopper in the crayon bank and added in a 1/2″ slip x 3/4″ FHT PVC fitting in the hole. We added super glue around the rim of the connector and then sealed it with a bead of clear caulk. After allowing the caulk to thoroughly dry, the watering device was ready to go.
Another challenge I had was feeding my plants efficiently and regularly. I am so glad I found out about the new Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder which allows you to feed your plants the right amount of nutrients while you water with any device, switching between water and Miracle-Go® with the flip of a switch. Simply attach the feeder to your spigot and you can feed using ANY watering device!
We installed the Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder on the backyard spigot and then attached our usual hose to the LiquaFeed® Universal, which stays in place always. Here's how easy it is to install the Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder on any hose:
Using the switch on the Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder we can switch between watering and feeding, making it easy to feed our plants any time. I attached my new crayon garden soaker to the hose and laid it in the garden beds. I then switched the LiquaFeed® Universal to the “feed” position and turned the hose on. The Crayon Soaker dispersed the water over the entire bed, feeding Miracle-Gro to my vegetables!
I really like I can use the hose and any watering device to make sure that I am only feeding areas I want to and can avoid areas I don't want to feed, like the walkways in my raised bed gardens. The Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder saves time because I don't have to remove it in order to use plain water and it makes it easy to remember to feed my plants since I'll see the LiquaFeed® Universal every time I use the hose. LiquaFeed® Universal turns any hose into a feeder with the flip of a switch! Once the LiquaFeed® Universal is installed, the Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® All Purpose Plant Food can easily be switched out to use any of the 3 varieties of LiquaFeed Plant Food: All Purpose, Bloom Booster Flower Food, and Tomato, Fruit, & Vegetable Plant Food. Apply every week for bigger, healthier plants and vegetables. I can't wait to see how big my tomatoes get this year after using the new Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder.
Get Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder on amazon.com and at local home and garden retailers. And as for the crayon soaker, you really don't have to get a crayon; use any plastic container you have around the house! With Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder, you can turn any device, crayon or no crayon, into a feeder to keep your plants healthy.
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Now you can water and feed your garden at the same time with almost any device. The Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® Universal Feeder connects to the spigot and allows you to easily feed your plants for a beautiful garden all season long.
Miracle-Gro® sponsored this blog post. The opinions and text are all mine.
