The fact is, storing your gardening tools properly over the winter can extend their life and for those expensive electrical tools such as the electric lawn mower, keeping them away properly is definitely a wise choice because you would not want to spend hundreds to get another new machine.

In this gardening tips, you will find 5 Tips on Storing Gardening Tools Over the Winter. Make sure that you follow and implement them as soon as possible because winter is not too far away.

Scrape Off Dirt on Equipments

Often times, you will find excess dirt, soil or mud sticking onto or being left to stick on pots, shovels, watering buckets and other gardening tools. Before storing these tools, you must remove the dirt or mud using a wire brush or removing them by hand after soaking the tools into a pail of water.

Excess dirt or mud on these equipments may contain water droplets that may freeze during the winter, causing some parts of the tools to rust. Also, these mud or dirt contains bacteria that you must get rid of.

Remove the Rust

Some of the equipments or some of their parts may already have rust on them. Before storing them into the garage for the winter, make sure that the rust is being removed using a steel wool.

Be careful throughout the process and make sure that you wear a pair of proper gardening gloves. A cut while doing this may cause wounds that will lead to various type of infections.

Sharpen Gardening Tools for Tip Top Condition

There are certain gardening tools that needs to be sharpen. Some of these tools include spades, axes, shovels, pruners and other tools with a sharp portion. Here’s how you can properly sharpen your gardening tools:

Get yourself a nice sharpening stones system that allows you to carry out different degrees of sharpening. Hold your tool with the edge that you would like to sharpen placed 45 degrees on top of the sharpening stone. Then, slowly move the tool edge across the stone repeatedly.

Smooth Out Wooden Parts of Gardening Tools

Some gardening tools may have wooden parts that are worn out due to frequent use. If you have these tools, smoothen them using sand papers and an extra step will be to coat the wooden parts with a layer of paste wax.

This will help to keep the wood from getting moisturized and attracting pests such as termites. If the wooden parts are not properly coated, fungus may also grow on them during the winter.

Rust Prevention Measures

Another headache for gardeners when it comes to storing their gardening tools over the winter is rust. There are a couple of things that you will need to do in order to prevent rust from getting onto your tools.

First, you will need to spray a layer of penetrating lubricating oil such as WD-40 on top of the steel part. Then, make sure that you store the tools at a dry place. The garage floor is a bad choice because it gets damp easily during winter.

Get Ready for Winter!

Now, since you already get the tips you need on storing your gardening tools over the winter, what are you waiting for? Get the things that are mentioned in this article and start preparing for your winter now!

With that being said, if you are an organic gardening newbie, this gardening tips blog post is for you. In this gardening blog post, we are going to list the 6 organic gardening secrets that you, as a newbie must know.

Organic Gardening Secret #1 Start with Basic Materials

As a newbie, you don’t really need to spend thousands on gardening tools, supplies and materials. If you think that by spending thousands buying these so-called “magic bullets” is going to bring you a grand harvest season, you are wrong!

Start with the basics. You will need organic materials such as yard waste, kitchen scraps and leaves, rotten fruits and so on as fertilizers. If you are worrying about pest problems such as spider mites, Japanese beetles, tent caterpillars and others, affordable organic pesticides is always available.

Organic Gardening Secret #2 Finding the Right Location

There are a few things that you must remember when it comes to finding an appropriate location, just like what we have explained in our basic vegetable gardening tips, for your organic garden.

You need to make sure that your organic garden will get an adequate sunlight exposure. Also, there must be a water source nearby because it is a must to water your garden everyday. If you are planning to have plants with soft stems, make sure that the location that you choose is free from strong winds.

Organic Gardening Secret #3 Preparing the Soil

The next important thing after finding your garden a nice location will be the soil preparation process. Soil plays a huge part in your organic garden because the plants depend on nutrients that they can get from the soil.

Some of the things that you should monitor when choosing the types of soil to your for your garden are pH value, dampness, level of nutrients and level of air contained in the soil. The easiest route to take will be to purchase a bag of organic soil that can be used right away.

Organic Gardening Secret #4 Composting Your Garden

You can always purchase a bag of organic fertilizers for the compost of your organic garden but the more common way will be to use organic domestic waste such as kitchen scraps, vegetables and fruits leftovers, leaves and many more.

If you pick the latter, make sure that you have a consistent supply because they tend to have lesser nutrients as compared to a purchased organic fertilizers.

Organic Gardening Secret #5 Can You Sell Your Harvest?

A lot of organic gardeners want to sell their harvest with the hope of making some extra cash. If you are considering this, you need to know that some countries, such as the United States, legally regulate the organic food production industry.

This means that you need to obtain a license or a certification from the local authorities before you can market your harvest as organic food.

Start Your Organic Garden Today

It is very simple to manage an organic garden that will give you tons of benefits.

If you are serious about starting your own organic garden, Organic Gardening by Geoff Hamilton is a must read for all organic gardeners as well as gardeners who are just starting out with organic gardening. Get it while Amazon still offers a 30% discount for it.