A Hose Is A Hose Is A Pathway?
4 Materials
$20
3 Days
Easy
Never let it be said I never try to make something out of trash before I throw it away!
I decided to pull all the bad soakers and hoses out of my gardens. When they spring a leak or get clogged from minerals in the water, I usually just buy a new one (usually after trying to patch the hole and failing), unscrew the bad one and screw in the new one, leaving the bad one lay.
Hey, who out there said I was lazy?
I resemble that remark!
It had been a few years since I had pulled all the bad ones out, there were quite a few (hey, they get covered in the Summer by the plants - you CAN'T see them!)
I had seen somewhere were someone had made a welcome mat with one.
I didn't need a welcome mat, but did need some kind of replacement for one of my paths that had deteriorated. Hey, why not, they were headed for the trash,
it's not like I could hurt them any more than they were.
Gathered my supplies.
You will need:
lots of zip ties,
something to cut with (I used my pruners),
some kind of pliers to pull the zip ties tight (your fingers will thank you),
Oh, and did I mention LOTS of hoses -
depending on how large and how many mats you plan to make.
Any style hose will do.
I used round soakers, flat sprinklers, regular hoses,
even those curly hoses.
This was my first one so it was kind of experimental as far as what size it would turn out.
First cut off all the metal attachment ends on the hoses.
Bend a piece over about how long you would like the mat to be when finished.
Use zip ties to secure the bend/fold together.
Now keep folding/rolling the hose tightly around and around it self securing with zip ties as you go.
Don't be surprised if you get into a wrestling match!
I had no rhyme or reason with the zip ties, I just added one where I thought it needed to, to keep it secure.
If it is not as big as you want it, just over lap the end of another hose at the end of the hose you just finished approx. 1 inch.
Secure tightly with zip ties and continue going around.
When your mat is the size you want and are completely done,
secure tightly with more zip ties.
Turn it upside down and cut off the ends of the zip ties.
Here's my experimental one.
You can see by the different colors of the hoses -
it took 2 +. I needed to snip the 3rd off so it would fit between the edging.
It is the perfect size for a door mat 
Now I would have loved for it to go down that entire straight stretch, but oh well. I have plenty more hoses. 
So this time I started with a l o n g first fold/bend.
When I was done, it completed the rest of that straight stretch.
Yes, I ran out of black zip ties, so I used what I had - white. 
I used a green sprinkler hose next, just to see if it was easier to manipulate.
Yes, it was!
My poor fingers needed a break.
I didn't quite have enough green ones to make it as wide
as I wanted it. But wouldn't you know it, one of my good green ones just sprung a leak! UGGH
You can see the finished/unfinished one in the last photo - it will be finished this Spring. 
I still needed a small one for the curve in the path.
Let me tell you right now - you need a lot of determination to use one of those curl-up hoses.
If I would have known how much I would have to had to fight with it, I would have tossed it!
Silly me thought it would be easy since it was already going in a circle - NOT. It was the hardest one, but it turned out to be the exact size I needed for the curve in the path.
It's on the end in the last photo. Still lots of path left to do.
After all ~
I have plenty of hoses from last year yet to use.
All in all, I'm pleased with the hose mats for my path. I think they will wear well and will provide secure walking when/if the path gets flooded.
Yes, I know the path is not complete -
it is a work in progress....
For more info and photos:
http://dragonflytreasure.blogspot.com/2018/01/garden-hose-recycle.html
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Comments
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3 of 247 comments
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SO very clever, and well done!! KUDOS to you for your creativity!!
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Thank you so much
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Obviously you don't have a lazy bone in your body! I wanna be like you when I grow up.
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Girl! What do you do to all those poor hoses?? LOL!
A wonderful idea, kudos to you!
I wonder if, instead of coil wrapping it circularly, you could gather it back on itself, in an S shape? Then you could make the edges flush together if you wanted, you could also make it form any shape you needed in order to fill that space-like that bend in the walkway you mentioned.
Alternatively, you might keep the circular shapes, which I love, and cut smaller lengths of the hose to spiral wrap those corner triangles or other oddly shaped places. In that way, you fill in the whole path to the walkway, yet still keep those appealing circular mats you already have. They resemble stepping stones, which prompts me to suggest painting the circular mats in different rock tones, then contrasting the oddly shaped mats that you use to fill in the spaces (those corner triangles) with, idk, a blue water tone so it resembles rocks setting in water, or a grassy color maybe? Or for that matter, instead of filling those spaces with more wrapped hose, you could fill them with tall, ornamental grasses or bedding flowers? Just a few ideas.
Again though, great idea, thank you for sharing.
How fun! Harbor freight has multi colored zep ties! But I fear, in the sun, the hoses will outlast the ties? Great use for indoors and with the pets. I wonder if theres another repurposed source for the ties. Like bread wrappers or garbage bag ties? Love these and definately making some to lay on my exposed agate concrete ..its so.....owie to bare feet! Thank you for sharing!