The most important ingredient to any garden is water.  We amend and condition our soils in order to manage the water content.  We mulch in order to retain water.  Water is so essential to a successful hosta garden. It would only make sense that an instrument to measure the daily rainfall is a very valuable tool.

For several years I have had a very simple and inexpensive rain gauge near my side entrance in front of a clump of Hosta ‘Olive Bailey Langdon‘.  It is mounted on a short post pounded into the ground in a bed of Thorndale English Ivy.  The gauge is not mounted under any dripping trees or roof line.  These would interfere with the accuracy.

Hosta ‘Olive Bailey Langdon‘

When there is more than ample rain in the spring to make the gardens flourish it is still interesting to know how much rain is falling from the sky.  In the summer it is more valuable to know what fell on my garden that day.  Do I need to water that new tree or hosta or lawn to insure survival?

Summer rains are frequently widely variable over a very short distance.  This makes a gauge all the more valuable.  You cannot rely on the local weather man to tell you the rainfall on your garden.  Even a friend 10 miles away could experience a very different result from that last thunderstorm.

Think about where you could mount this great gardening tool in your garden.