31 Backyard Improvement Products | HuffPost Life

Promising review: “I have lacrosse players and dogs and this stuff is amazing. My yard looked like an abandoned lot before this and it literally ‘grew anywhere’ just like it said. The bag I planted last year actually came back strong this year so I put more down and it is working like a dream!” — chchmom

Grampa’s Gardenware Co. is an Oregon-based, family-owned small business.

Made with a bamboo handle and powder-coated steel, it uses a simple lever system to made weeding easy.

Promising review: “Oh my god, I friggin’ love this tool. I bought this on a whim given we bought our first house and know nothing about caring for a yard. Boy has it come in handy. Our new house had a ton of weeds in the front yard and this tool helped me get most of them out in no time. In fact, the process of yanking out the weeds was strangely satisfying! I don’t think anyone can say that weeding is fun but this tool made it as close to fun as you can get, especially when you see a long root along with the weed you pulled.” — JG

Promising review: “No assembly required, super easy to put up, and adds so much character to our backyard. It’s also very comfortable to sit in. I’m only 5ft tall, so I’m able to sit cross-legged with extra room.” — Amazon customer

Copper Hummingbird is a small biz based in Tucson, Arizona. Nancy Biggins, the founder, worked as a zookeeper in the hummingbird aviary at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, so these feeders are the real deal.

Promising review: “This is beautiful. I ordered two so I could hang one off the other. Within a day I had birds flocking to it. The copper is so pretty and looks great. Highly recommended.” — Jennifer Serafin

Promising review: “I love the size and the fact that it takes five minutes to set up and five minutes to take down. Very portable and lightweight to carry. Very sturdy. I would highly recommend.” — Kathi

Promising review: “These are great. They are large enough to hold large drink tumblers like a Yeti, they will hold a beer with a thick foam koozie, they will hold a giant Fosters can, and yes, it is large enough to hold a bottle of wine. They are made out of metal and seem pretty durable. Each one is two pieces that screw together and they have a small tab to help you push them into the ground with your feet. The only thing I would improve is to make the foot tab a little larger, otherwise they have my stars.” — Jamawama

Promising review: “With three dogs, two small and one large, scooping the yard is a never-ending job. But with the Arm & Hammer swivel bin and rake, there is no more bending to pick up the doggy droppings. I am able to easily use the rake to push the droppings into the bag covered bin. When I am done cleaning up the yard, I just simply remove the plastic bag from the scoop, tie it off, and dispose. I do spray the rake off with the hose sprayer and then clip the rake onto the scooper for easy storage. I really like this handy scooper. It makes a very icky job much easier to handle.” — Kelly Eldred

Promising review: “I have a small three-tier water fountain in my patio, naturally the birds in the community have come to rely upon it for drinking and bathing. I literally sprayed this product and walked away, I actually left it on overnight, I got busy with other tasks. When I checked back all of the mold was gone, everything, with no damage to the painted stucco wall or cement and no scrubbing. Literally spray and leave.” — Mark

Promising review: “Good size. I’m 5’4″ and I bought it for my 3-year-old and 2-year-old for the spring and summer. I didn’t need anything huge; I have a nice size deck and we spend a lot of time on the deck so I wanted something big enough for them to have some wiggle room to keep cool but not too big so it wouldn’t take up to much room. I also purchased an outdoor grass rug to put it on to protect the bottom of it and keep it from getting splinters (just a suggestion if you plan on using on the deck). It has a drain plug so cleaning and getting fresh water is not hard at all.” — Majestic 0220

Promising review: “I have a 3-month-old lab that I wanted to start introducing to water on a hot summer day. It was perfect because 1. He likes to chew everything and this one can’t pop and doesn’t seem like it would puncture easily. 2. The sides kind of fold down if he was slowly getting in but then I could easily reform it. 3. Super easy set up and clean up. Now I don’t have to have a huge ugly plastic pool propped up on the side of my house.” — LBella

Promising review: “You will not be disappointed. I just moved out to the country and have been working out in the garage late at night. With the weather getting warmer, I’ve had the garage doors opened and mosquitos, gnats, and everything else have been finding there way into my garage, so I had to do something about it. I bought this and hung it next to my garage door opener because there’s an outlet there and it is way better than expected. I have dead bees, stink bugs, gnats, mosquitoes, and other bugs that I do not know what they are. My 8-year-old son keeps asking me to remove the bottom tray so he can see all of the dead bugs that got zapped. Again, you will not be disappointed, I’m extremely happy I bought this!” — Chris & Jenny

Promising review: “The only problem I have with this chair is that I only have one of them and the whole family now fights over it! Seriously, it is THAT comfortable and relaxing. Pretty easy to put together. My husband got it all assembled in less than an hour and then proceeded to open up a beer and fall asleep in it next to the pool, HA! I like to take my laptop out with me and work in it as the moveable umbrella shades my screen. Love love LOVE it!!” — Erin S

Promising review: “Great product at a good price. Used this power washer to wash my stucco house for pre painting. Unit worked as advertised. Fairly quiet, but yet powerful sprayer. Great customer service and would highly recommend this product to anyone.” — Boy Wonder CTS

Promising review: “I really researched and shopped around before I purchased this from Amazon. I cooked my first pizza on it and it came out like a pro!! We will be using this especially during the summer as it pretty much stay in the triple digits here (the Mojave Desert). I cannot believe it took less than 10 minutes to bake an entire pizza. I recommend that you go to the KettlePizza website to get pointers from some of the celebrity chefs that they have videos of. These pointers really did help me to cook a perfect pizza!” — Kim Suzanne

Promising review: “Love this inexpensive organizational tool. Tired of seeing toys etc. everywhere on the deck. We took all of our floats, noodles, toys and placed them inside this cart. LOVE IT! We highly recommend this.” — Larry B.

Promising review: “Excellent! Easy to use and clean up. My outdoor patio is a little rough and it took a full gallon to cover 200 square feet.” — RLB

Promising review: “My metal barstools were left on the balcony all winter because of a surprise three-day blizzard. After being buried in snow all winter I thought for sure I would have to throw them out when I saw them in the spring. Looking at them now after using the product, no one would suspect that they weren’t new ones!” — Mom@home

Promising review: “Got this on a whim after reading some reviews. I didn’t expect it to immediately become the fam’s new favorite! Lay back and you are half in, half out of the water so you aren’t baking from above or freezing below — just what we wanted. It holds your head well out of the water and feels very supportive/stable. I’ve had it for about a month now and only had to blow it up the first time, the plastic is fairly thick and doesn’t lose air through seams or the nozzle. We have a full-body foam float that cost about $120 and it never gets used any more. Everybody takes turns on this one. Great deal for the price; I just bought three more of various colors. Go ahead and try it.” — JB

Each light cycles through red, blue, white, and green.

Promising review: “My pool is so old school and boring that I bought these to liven it up and what a difference!! My pool went from ‘meh’ to WOW! The balls are easily inflated by mouth like a beach ball. Once inflated, a few hours in the sun and they are charged and ready to go. They light up after dusk ( it has to be rather dark). There is no manual way to power them on or off; they glow all night long. The changing colors are vibrant and very beautiful. They have a loop at the top if you would like to hang them. They would be magical hanging in a tree or from a pergola. I really liked how easy these were to fill and charge, and I like the solar power and the amazing color display. They make my inner child happy.” — J. Matheson

Best Balcony Bars makes…the best balcony bars, whether you’re looking for space-saving outdoor furniture or you want to turn your patio into *the* place to be.

Promising review: “Beautiful, hand-crafted, custom-fit to my railing. Creator is great to deal with on a custom piece. Everyone compliments it. I eat or have drinks on it every day and prefer it to eating at my dining room table! The second tier is ideal serving dishes, glasses, bottles, and the main tier is ideal for main dishes, computers, and notebooks while optimizing my patio functionality and keeping me at my serene view throughout my day. Great custom piece!” — Travis Horn

Promising review: ” I bought this for my daughter for her birthday. I thought it was so neat, I bought one for myself. I hung it outside of our shed so the wood bees would not drill any more holes in our shed frame. So far so good. The bees are buzzing away. 🐝” — Christie

Promising review: “Got an outdoor can, the kind the mechanical arm on the garbage truck picks up and tips over, with the lid opening by gravity. Placed this on the inside of the lid, near the hinge to lessen the chances of it being scraped off during emptying and no flies/maggots! No apparent odor, just seems to put a big hurt on the fly party that used to be my trash can (litter box contents, remnants of meat, etc.) ” — Michael E. Bradley

Promising review: “My husband and I love to enjoy a glass of wine on our back porch at the end of the day. Unfortunately, so do the bugs. These tops work wonderfully. The silicone outside kind of sticks to the glass to keep them in place, and the metal mesh part lets the wine breathe but keeps the critters out. The only better thing would be if they had some kind of sippy spot where you wouldn’t have to remove them to drink the wine, but I’m not sure how that would work anyway. I’d buy these again, and probably will if we lose any of them.” — DKF

Promising review: “My pool is awesome when it gets into the 100s of degrees here in California. We decided to grab a 20x20x20 triangle and holy cow does it do a number on the backyard! Not only does it keep my pool better-shaded, but it also keeps the sun off of my back patio during the hottest part of the day.” — The Tiki Lab

Promising review: “Great set for the price! I needed a smaller chair and table set for my front porch as it is not very wide and this was perfect. Sturdy build and comfortable. Not hard to put together: all pieces were included and the instructions were easy. Can’t wait to sit outside with a cup of coffee and watch the cars drive by.” — DEBBIE JACKSON

Promising review: “The cats love to sleep on them and they do keep the wetter pathways dry under your feet. They are lasting quite well and although not cheap by any means, they are standing up to cats and people walking on them all day long. They are surviving both rain and sun and wind. We will be purchasing more.” — susan osako

Promising review: “When I bought this, it was totally on a whim. I was convinced that because it was so inexpensive, it would be a cheap piece of junk! Was I wrong! It does a great job of lighting up the table with the three different settings. AND, if you turn it upside-down, you can further vary the brightness. (Sometimes you just want a hint of a glow, rather than a spotlight in your face.) I’m very happy with this, especially since I left it out all summer long with no issues. It was hidden under a closed umbrella, but I’m sure it got a little damp with rainwater and it survived! For just $10, it is such an easy solution for my patio that has no electricity, and therefore, needs something battery powered.” — LouiseN

By the way, some reviewers say this elevated bed is great for cats, too!

Promising review: “I am so happy that I bought this for my pup!! We hang out together outside and I don’t worry about bugs/ants from the ground getting to him, he loves to lay on the hammock as I call it and he looks like a king! The other great part was it took NO TOOLS and I had it together under 15 minutes (and I’m not the savviest).” — Mary

Promising review: “I applied this product on an uncovered deck, which takes a beating from the sun and rain in the summertime and snow sits on the deck in the wintertime. I’ve tried several other wood sealers but nothing we have used holds up as well as this product. When it rains you can watch the water bead up and run off so you know that this product is working. I apply this product every summer to my deck to keep it in top shape. I also apply this sealer to the wooden floor of our covered porch and the boards shine like brand new. Probably would not have to apply every year to the covered floor area but I do.” — Bubba

Promising review: “Scummy water bugging you? I just got this gem of a product last night. Popped it into my hot tub and from the picture I attached, you can see that in just about 12 hours, this little Scumbug ate up all the oil and filth in the hot tub. The water not only looks better, but smells better too! Highly recommended!” — Mickey D.

It comes with 10 hoses and is designed to clean pools up to 30 feet in length.

Promising review: “I bought this pool cleaner as a quick desperation fix as my $500 pool cleaner died leaving a green swamp! Talk about easy assembly! Twenty minutes later it was zipping up the pool including the walls! I couldn’t believe it, the suction power was incredible! My green pool was crystal clear! What I thought was a short term fix and a great value for the money is now my go-to pool cleaner. I recommend this for all in ground pools. It’s a gem! Worth every penny and it will save you hundreds over expensive cleaners but more to the point it works great!” — Steve from Tucson