Winter Storage: Caring for your Garden Tools

Those glorious (well mostly, glorious) summer months are coming to a close for another year and unfortunately that means goodbye sunshine and BBQs and hello autumn. It’s getting pretty chilly around here and all too quickly for my liking, and all of this cold weather has got me thinking about starting to plan for those long winter months.

As you can no doubt tell, we adore our garden and everything that goes in it, from our beloved Koi to our countless tropical of plants, but don’t be fooled, it’s not just your plants that require round the calendar maintenance. Before those rainy months are upon us it is important to consider storage for all of those items you won’t be using for some time. Here are some helpful tips for storing those important garden items and keeping safe for next year.

Cleaning Process

Before I even consider putting my tools away it’s time to do a thorough clean. My tools are important to me and so it’s important to make sure you look after them properly. Ensure you get rid of any soil and ground in dirt from the blades, I always find that a sponge and a large tub of warm soapy water makes this task a whole lot easier – and don’t forget to clean those handles too. Next I leave the tools to dry out properly and then oil them, especially if they are becoming a little tough to use.

One particularly important tool to me is our lawnmower. I’ll be honest, I barely use the lawnmower over the winter months as the weather very rarely allows it and so it’s often in storage until the weather warms up a little. I take extra care and attention when getting this ready for storage. Whether you use petrol or oil in your lawnmower it’s important to drain any liquid from the tank. I then clean and wipe down the whole lawnmower body, including those hard to reach places, which is something I also do with our garden strimmer too. 

Storage

Whether you have a large or a small garden, there’s one thing that we all seem to lack – space. I don’t know about you, but there just never seems to be enough room to store all of my garden tool, but if you want to keep them in good working condition then it’s vital you keep them undercover and out of the way of adverse weather conditions. Adding shelving and hooks to your shed walls is an incredible space saving idea, especially when you’re lacking in space like us!

We use our shed to store just about every garden related item you could ever need, as it means our house is not cluttered up for months on end. Garden storage such as sheds and plastic shelving units are fantastic as they keep the bad weather at bay and protect those all important tools from rusting or weather related damage. Even if you have the smallest of gardens it’s worth shopping around for garden shed. I find that companies such as Garden Store Direct are a fantastic place to look for garden sheds and cabinets (amongst other furniture) of all sizes.

I hope this post helps you to make the most of your garden storage space this winter and helps you to take care of those tools too!