Skip to main content

Tips to protect your garden hose from freezing temperatures

When the last of our garden harvests are beginning to disappear from our kitchens, and the once green and luscious garden is now droopy and sad, it’s probably time to start winterizing our outdoor tools. This doesn’t just mean putting the rake and shovel into the shed. It means winterizing out water sources as well. You might end up with a rusty hand rake if you leave that out all winter long, but if you forget to winterize the hose bib to your house, you could have a much bigger and more expensive mess to clean up.

orange hose on frosty grass
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Why you need to protect your hose during winter

Maybe you use the hose to get water to your backyard chickens, and the idea of taking off the hose and having to carry your watering systems further in the freezing cold sounds like a horrible idea. Unfortunately, it’s the best idea to keep your hose, water lines, and home safe during those frigid months. You might be wondering what happens if you leave a hose connected to the house. It can’t be that bad, right? Wrong. A hose that’s still attached to the hose bib can burst at the seams. Not only could it ruin your favorite hose, but the freezing water can go all the way into your home and burst a pipe inside the house. This creates a huge mess that could cost you thousands of dollars in repairs and damages. So no, it’s not worth it, don’t risk it; winterize your hose and take the extra steps to bring water to your animals.

When should you winterize hose bibs?

This will depend on where you live and when the average date for freezing temperatures is. You can find this information through Google or use this link to find your area and figure out when those dates are. Once you’ve found your dates, you’ll want to go back two weeks, and that’s when you should winterize your hoses. This will protect your water sources from a cold snap that might be a bit early.

hose bib
Image used with permission by copyright holder

How to winterize your outdoor water sources

Okay, so hopefully, we’ve scared you enough to convince you that you need to protect your hose and home from water-related disasters. So how do you go about correctly winterizing your hose? Luckily for you, it’s one of the easiest and least time-consuming home maintenance projects you’ll come across.

Remove the hose from the bib

No matter how many you have, you’ll want to remove all the hoses from any hose bib around your home. To make life a little easier, we recommend turning off the water and letting the rest of the water flow out of the sprayer before removing the hose. This will allow the hose to be handled more easily later in the process and avoid getting your pants all wet when the hose inevitably leaks all the water out of itself.

Disconnect the sprayer nozzle

Now that the hose has been drained and removed from the bib, you’ll also want to remove the sprayer nozzle. Even though we’re protecting the hose by removing the pressure of the spicket, the sprayer nozzle could still be damaged by keeping it on the hose. So to ensure you don’t have to buy a new one every year, remove the sprayer and store it next to the hose.

Store the hose in the shed

You’ve now protected your home from disastrous water leaks, but hoses can still be damaged and broken by sitting outside all winter long. It’s best to coil up the hose, allow the water to run out of it as much as possible, and store it in a shed, garage, or basement until next season. This will make your hoses last longer and perform better next year. You could make life even easier and invest in a retractable hose!

Drain any sprinkler systems

Some of you might be lucky enough to have a sprinkler system for your lawn, garden, and landscaping. If you do, it’s vital to winterize them as well. You might have a professional set up to do this, but if not, you’ll also want to disconnect the sprinkler system from the water source and drain them. The last thing you want to deal with next spring is a broken pipe in your system that you have to find. This likely will result in you needing to dig up a portion of the system, ruining your perfectly manicured lawn.

Consider an insulated cover

Now that everything is safe, winterized, and ready for even the harshest winter, you might want to consider one last thing. This step is optional, but if you’d like to be extra safe or live in an area with extra harsh winters, it might be a good idea to invest in an insulated cover for your hose bib. These are simply an extra layer of protection around the bib to reduce the risk of a burst pipe.

You can now cozy up with a chunky sweater, a cup of tea, and a good book, knowing your home is safe from a frozen burst pipe. Still not convinced you need to winterize your hoses? Check out this gallery of what burst frozen pipes can do.

Editors' Recommendations

Rebecca Wolken
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Rebecca's has written for Bob Villa and a Cincinnati based remodeling company. When she's not writing about home remodeling…
How will the summer solstice affect your garden? What you need to know
Everything to know about gardening around the summer solstice
Parent and child having fun by garden

While you may be diving into the ocean during summer vacation season, your flowers will be focusing on something different: how long the daylight lasts. Summer solstice gardening is an important concept when it comes to making sure your plants are growing and blooming on schedule. This is the longest day of the year, the time when your garden will be receiving the most light. Unsure about how this will impact your garden? This simple guide will explain everything!

What is the summer solstice?
The summer solstice, also known as midsummer, is the halfway point of the summer. The solstices, especially summertime, is important for gardeners because of the effect on how their plants flower in their garden. The summer solstice, specifically, is the summer day that has the longest sunlight and shortest night, and plants use the length of the nights to cue the release of hormones for flowering and fruiting.

Read more
14 incredible morning shade plants that will thrive in your shady garden
These flowers and vegetables will love morning shade and afternoon sun
A black walnut tree in the afternoon sun

When planting a garden, your landscape and ideas may not always line up with what's best for the plants. There are tons of beautiful flowers that need full sun, which can be frustrating if your garden is shady. The good news is that there are just as many stunning flowers that enjoy the shade! Not all plants are alike, and while they all want sunlight, they don't all want the same amount or the same kind. If your garden has morning shade and afternoon sun, then these are the 14 morning shade plants you should know about.

What kind of light is morning shade?
There are five categories of sunlight that gardeners fit all plants into. There's full sun, partial sun, partial shade, dappled sun, and full shade. Each type has a long list of plants that love that kind of environment. Morning shade with afternoon sunlight would qualify as partial shade, but it is a specific type.
Many plants prefer the less harsh light of morning light and then want to be shaded during the hottest part of the day in the afternoon. There are, however, many plants that love being shaded in the morning while soaking up those bright rays in the afternoon heat.

Read more
Focus on color: The most vibrantly purple plants to add to your garden this season
Want more purple in your garden? Try these gorgeous plants and flowers
A field of lavender flowers

Purple is a popular color when it comes to flowers, and it's easy to see why. With lighter shades that can relax and soothe you, darker shades that add depth, and bright purples that are exciting and cheery, there is a purple flower for any garden. For flower bed layering, purple blooms also provide your garden with bold, yet not-too-overwhelming pops. To find the most beautiful purple plants out there and learn how to care for them, read about our top purple plant picks ahead.

Lavender
We couldn’t write a list of purple plants and not include lavender! Lavender is an incredibly hardy plant that's typically perennial in climate zones 5 through 9. Its delicate purple blooms and calming fragrance are highlights of its appeal, but they aren’t the only ones. Lavender is also an easy plant to take care of. It grows prolifically and is incredibly forgiving with occasional bouts of neglect. It appreciates full sun and well-draining soil for lush expansion across your garden bed. You only need to water it when its soil feels dry—there's not much need to fertilize it, as mixing in compost when you first plant it should be sufficient.

Read more