After you have finally raked your last leaf and pruned your last perennial, it will be time to put away all of your garden tools. Rather than just throwing them into the garden shed and leaving them to rust until next year, Whispering Springs Nursery in Jasper, GA has three tips on how to best store your tools this winter.
Precision Pruning
Your pruning tools should be put away clean and freshly sharpened. This will prevent rust build up over the winter and will give you fresh tools to start gardening with in the spring. Before stowing your shears, thoroughly clean and oil them. To sharpen the blades, you can either use a knife sharpener, or simply slice through a sheet of sandpaper a few times.
Shiny Shovels
To keep shovels and trowels looking new, scrub off all of ht e rust and mud with a wire brush. When you are ready to store them, first tip them in a bucket of sand mixed with a little lightweight machine oil to preserve their sharp edges and protect against rust damage.
Gear Down Gasoline Engines
When the cold weather strikes, you won’t be likely to use any of your gas powered garden machinery like weed eaters or lawn mowers. To keep them ready to run, winterize the engines by running them until they are empty, or you can fill the tank with gas and add fuel stabilizer. Remove the spark plugs, pour a teaspoon of oil into the cylinder, turn the engine over several times, and replace the spark plugs.
Plants are what makes the garden beautiful, but you’d never get them in the ground with out your favorite trowel, and they’d be looking wild without a good pair of shears. Use these tips from Whispering Springs Nursery to keep all of your garden tools in great shape until they are ready to come out and play again next Spring.
