Antique Watering Cans

Step back into yesteryear with these beautiful antique watering cans. The have beautiful long necks and galvanized patinas. They'll create a peaceful gardening routine.

I garden because I love growing my own fruits and vegetables and because it is a peaceful way to spend a few hours. After I grow my seedlings from seed and finally plant them in the ground, I turn my attention to keeping them properly watered. My garden hose doesn't reach the far ends of my garden, so I use my antique watering cans to water there. There is something tranquil about carrying a galvanized watering can with a large spout, watering the plants and returning for more water. It's also a great way to grow stronger. After a summer of lugging water everywhere, I certainly don't need to go to a gym.

My Antique Galvanized Watering Cans are Filled With Memories and Water - and Often Flowers

I grew up gardening with my family. We didn't do it for exercise or as a hobby, we actually ate all of the food we grew. I have lots of brothers and sisters and from a young age our job was to water the plants. We'd take a galvanized watering can and walk up and down rows of plants carefully watering below the leaves. I loved watching the carrots, squash, lettuce, broccoli and pumpkins grow. Every day from July through October, there was a vegetable or fruit bursting forth. When I'm gardening now, I remember those happy days. I use an antique watering can because it reminds me of the good times with my family. I also love the way it looks sitting on my back porch or in my potting shed. Yes, some times I turn it into a vase. My husband, Matt, would tell you I fill just about everything with flowers.

When I'm shopping for antique watering cans, I always look for interesting shapes and patinas. Galvinized means that the metal that was used to make the watering can was dipped in a zinc mixture. That kept it from rusting. That's important if you plan to use your antique watering can for caring for your garden. I love antiques of all kinds, but I don't baby them. I use my grandmother's antique china for dinner every night. There are antique quilts on my beds and I put my feet on an antique footstool while I watch television. I pick most of these things up on eBay or at yard sales. They don't cost that much, but I adore them. The scale and detail of these items is much different than what is produced today. If you look carefully at the seams that hold an antique watering can together and look at one made today, you'll see the difference.

Antique Galvanized Watering Cans

Buy them on eBay

Hand Painted Watering Cans

Paint Your Watering Cans and Proudly Display Them

My grandmothers painted and embellished everything. From the antique watering cans I find with faint designs on them, I think this was a popular folk art pastime. Many of these women didn't have the money for expensive arts and crafts projects. More than once I saw my grandmothers take a little paint from the can, while my grandfather was painting the house trim or barn windows. She'd find her other carefully stored paints and start to decorate watering cans, flower pots, perhaps even a pail. Under her steady hand, these became art projects.They made everyday chores less dreary.

Yes, I'm a picker, I meet people at flea markets and they tell me they've got 10 acres of stuff. I take their address and If Matt and I are out in the van near their place, we stop in for a visit. I find the best stuff back in the corners of barns. When I see the faint shadows of antique watering cans with the outlines of fruits and flowers, I think of the woman who painted those designs long ago. Of course I have to bring them home. If I have time, I take my paints and I restore those watering cans. I admit that I usually add a few flourishes of my own.

Antique Hammered Copper Watering Can

Available on eBay

Watering Cans Ready to Keep Fruits and Vegetables Growing

Perhaps Ready to be Vases or Flower Pots or Rustic Chic Christmas Decorations

A person can never have too many watering cans

Antique Watering Cans in an American Gothic Dispaly

I love to think of my home as an art gallery. I look at my every day objects and pretend that I am a museum curator. I think that antique objects can have a forlorn quality that I love. This is especially true in the Autumn and winter. Instead of filling these antque watering cans with bright and cheerful flowers, I leave them empty or perhaps had branches with leaves. As the Autumn ends the branches become bare and suit the winter landscape in Maine.

As you browse through the variety of antique watering cans on ebay, think of your shelves, wooden chairs, the top of a rustic bookcase or the edge of a dying vegetable garden. I keep hoping I'll see the ghost of a gardener as she's looking for her flowers to water.