Winter Garden Tool and Shed Cleanup
When you’ve trimmed the last perennials and dug your last tree hole for the season, your gardening tools, accessories and the garden shed itself can have your full attention. Admit it, you’ve been shoving bags of soil in the corners and dropping your pruners in the nearest bucket all year. It’s time to do some cleanup of the tools and shed that have supported you so well all season.
A little time spent caring for your tools, organizing your garden shed, and protecting your potting supplies now can save you frustration—and money—when the first warm days arrive.
Clean Your Tools
Your gardening tools—trowels, rakes, weeders, hand pruners and all the various digging implements—take a serious beating over the course of a growing season. They may still have caked-on soil or sap on them, and maybe even some rust. All of this can shorten their useful lifespan. Clean and maintain now to prevent rusting, splintering of wooden handles and dulling of blades.
Start with a deep cleaning. Scrub off dirt and debris with a stiff-bristled brush. Use steel wool to clean off any rust on the metal parts. Give them a bit of a bath with warm, soapy water. It’s also a good idea to disinfect the blades of pruners and diggers with a 1:9 bleach solution. This’ll prevent the spread of pathogens—we don’t want those tagging along to next spring. Restore and protect blades and handles. Sharpen blades of pruners, loppers, shovels, and hoes using a sharpening stone or file. Once sharpened, apply a light coat of mineral or linseed oil to the metal to prevent rust. For tools with wooden handles, use sandpaper to smooth away any splinters, then apply linseed oil to recondition the wood.
Pro tip! Keep a small bucket filled with sand mixed with mineral oil in your shed. After using your tool, take off any loose dirt and then dip it into the sand and wipe dry. Maintenance made easy! Clean the Garden Shed
All sorts of stuff piles up in your garden shed—seed packets, pot shards, row markers, containers you swore you’d use for seed starting but never did. Cleaning and organizing now will help enable you to put your hands on exactly what you’re looking for when the next growing season begins.
Begin by pulling everything out of the shed (yes, everything). Sweep away cobwebs, dust, dirt, nests and whatever else has gathered. Now empty, you’ll see any holes or cracks that need repairing.
Before putting stuff back into the shed, channel Marie Kondo to thoughtfully remove items you’ll never use or that don’t spark joy. Recycle cracked plastic pots, compost old seeds, and donate or share duplicates of tools. Did you end up with a bunch of miscellaneous items such as spare parts, pot feet and labels? Put ‘em in a bin.
Organize for Convenience
As you return items to your shed, keep the adage, “A place for everything, and everything in its place,” top of mind.
There are a few different ways you could organize:
· By task, e.g. all the watering equipment together.
· By season, e.g. all the spring seeding stuff together.
· By frequency of use, e.g. gloves and weeders put easy front and center. Store similar items in transparent crates or containers. Label and stack for easy access. Pegboard and wall-mounted hooks work wonders for organizing small spaces. It helps to easily store long-handled tools and also gets them off the floor. If space allows, you might consider setting up some shelving or maybe wall-mounted cabinets for anything that you’d want to keep away from kids and pets.
Assess Your Soils
Organic soil and soil amendments are valuable materials—protecting them properly keeps your investment safe and ready to nourish next year’s garden. You’ll want to seal them in some way to keep them a) fresh, b) free from pests, c) from drying out and d) all of the above. Are your soil bags open? Roll and clip open bags tightly. Better yet, transfer leftover potting mix and amendments to airtight bins or a heavy-duty bucket with a lid. Keep products up off the concrete floor to avoid the cold and damp. Check labels to ensure amendments such as fertilizers or compost teas are stored according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. If you’re working with a high-quality organic potting mix, dry winter storage helps maintain its beneficial microbes so they’re ready to go come spring. While you’re at it, plan for your spring seed starting adventures now and be sure you have enough of our Organic Mechanics Seed Starting Blend on hand. That and your seed-starting trays will be the first things you grab in late winter.
Pots and Containers
Storing containers—especially those that are ceramic or terra cotta—in a shed for the winter will protect them from wet, freezing conditions. But before you bring them in for the winter, clean them first. Knock out leftover soil and rinse, then scrub inside and out with mild soap. Disinfect using a bleach solution or white vinegar rinse and let everything dry completely before stacking for storage.
It’s the Little Things
We all have little problems that pop up during the summer, like a leaky nozzle or a loose garden gate hinge or maybe a place where bunnies sneak into your yard. Address these quick fixes now while you remember what needs to be done and you have the time. Your spring self will be so impressed with your preparedness!
Gardening may slow down in winter, but the desire to nurture a garden doesn’t have to. By investing some care into the tools, spaces, and supplies you rely on, you are setting the stage for a vibrant and thriving spring.
By Ellen Wells
