Cleaning of all sorts: tools, pots, self???? is vastly overrated
I delivered to a farm house yesterday, driving through 6" of farm slurry, which , on balance, didn't smell as bad as the inside of the house when she opened the door. Green Boke Emoji required.
Longer answer: After each use I do clean (with alcohol) and oil my secateurs, loppers, etc. Once a year I use a linseed oil rag on timber parts like @The Gardeners Boy .
Hardly ever. Cutting tools occasionally get a squirt of wd40 or a drop of 3-in-1 oil and a wipe. My spade, fork and trowel are stainless steel and my soil is sandy so it doesn't stick much, even when it's wet, so they don't need cleaning (that's my excuse anyway).
I only wash pots and trays if I'm going to use them in the house for seeds or cuttings.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
As I garden on London clay I do "scrape off" every time and if it's very sticky I do wash off spade & fork it simply makes them easier to use. I have recently become a convert to cleaning & sharpening cutting tools much more diligently and secatuers in particular, it does make a real difference I find. Like others I use WD40 or 3in 1 as required.
I know l should but l don't ( and that applies to more than just my garden tools ! ). I don't use my fork and spade that often, if they are really "claggy" l might get the worst off, but that's it. I have several handtools that l leave out in various locations around the garden until late autumn, then l bring them all in except for a hand fork and trowel that l keep by the back door. By the time Spring comes around, the mud on the stored ones has dried, so l just knock it off.
I tried sharpening secateurs once and they were worse than before I started. I do clean them when they get dirty and sticky. I have an ancient border fork which only ever has the mud scraped off it.
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When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Green Boke Emoji required.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border