How to Prepare Your Lawn and Garden Tools for Storage
With fall right around the corner, it’s time for many people to think about storing those garden tools and starting up a new project more suitable for this time of year. This is an easy project that is simple to do but it can greatly extend the life of your tools. When you consider the fact they will be sitting in storage for several months, depending on where you live, you can see why having them prepared is so important.
How to prepare your lawn and garden tools for storage:
- First clean all the dirt and grass off of all your tools. Many tools can be washed off with the water hose and you can use a cloth or wire brush to clean the caked on areas.
- After making sure all the tools are cleaned, allow them to dry completely.
- If any of the tools are damaged by rust, sand off the rust and then coat the entire surface with oil.
- Sharpen and repair any blades that are worn and damaged.
- Get rid of any lawn or garden tool that is no longer useable.
- Coat all of the metal on shovels, spades and similar tools with oil to prevent them from rusting in the winter.
- Linseed oil is a great product to use on wooden handles to prevent rotting, cracking and splitting.
- Drain all the water out of your water hose, make sure there are no kinks in it anywhere and roll it up for storage.
Even if you live in the warmer climates where gardening can be done all year, it’s a good idea to go through the cleaning process at least once a year to help protect your investment. Lawn and garden tools don’t come cheap and taking the time to clean and store them properly will prevent having to replace them as often.