Miracle-Gro Garden Feeder with Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food, 1 lb.

Why it's worth it

The Garden Feeder arrives filled with Miracle-Gro's all-purpose soluble plant food and meters it for you — fill the jar to a line, hook up the hose, squeeze the trigger. It covers about 500 square feet, so it suits beds and shrubs more than a full lawn.

This is the one to hand a first-timer. There's no ratio to set and nothing to calculate. You fill the jar to the marked line for the area you're feeding, attach it to the hose, and pull the trigger. If the word venturi makes you want to close the tab, start here and worry about dilution charts later.

The catch is that it's built around Miracle-Gro's own water-soluble powder and it's happiest with that. You can't dial a custom rate for a third-party liquid concentrate the way you can with the Ortho. What you get in exchange is a system that's very hard to get wrong, and for a lot of people that's the better trade.

From our review of 5 hose-end sprayers for lawn fertilizer, by Genevieve Dubois, Home & Living Expert

What we like

• +This is the one to hand a first-timer
• +The catch is that it's built around Miracle-Gro's own water-soluble powder and it's happiest with that
• +Coverage is the other limit

What to know

• –The reservoir is the weak point
• –Leaks turn up here too, usually at the hose coupling, and they cost you pressure and reach