@B3 ditto but mine get chucked into one of my trugs that also contain bits of string scissors, labels, a dried up felt tip pen, 2 left hand gloves etc. etc. Something for everyone is in my trug!! ... which is in my plastic house.
And sometimes, if I'm not concentrating, I drop prunings in there as well so there's dead leaves at the bottom of my bucket. This does not make us bad people @tui34 😉
Hi, fellow gardeners. Just for fun, I asked this question to the ubiquitous / fashionable ChatGPT AI and here's the judicious advice it provided ... in the twinkling of an eye.
Question.- Gardening Tool Maintenance and Storage - What do you do?
ChatGPT answered.
ChatGPT is a bit scary in its thoroughness 😳. I suppose it’s only like Google with more finesse, but have to say it freaks me out a bit.
And yes, I clean my tools and regularly sharpen my secateurs, snips and loppers. Have a little can of WD40 in the GH too. I never used to be so angelic, but working with the professionals in a garden once a week has made it second nature now. And I love sharp secateurs ….so satisfying
@B3 On the contrary - it makes us very interesting people indeed!! Quite endearing in fact!! It isn't a mess in my little corrugated plastic house - it is organised chaos! Let no man put asunder!
@chicky, @Obelixx , May I ask what you use to sharpen your tools? My secateurs and loppers need sharpening but I have no idea how to do it or with what. T.i.a
Mostly I use cloth backed fine sand paper for metal to clean the blades and then, if needed, I have a mini knife steel for the secateurs and a kitchen knife steel for loppers. I bought the mini knife steel from a chap at Malvern flower show years ago and he was selling them as fishing knife sharpeners, so cheap.
I don't take them apart but I do have a set of spare springs and blades bought from the Felco stand at Chelsea one year. Haven't needed them yet.
I use the cloth backed sandpaper to clean up my spade, trowels and hoes too and WD40 all round once all muck and any rust has been cleaned off..
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Don't use Monty Don as a role model. He gets more help than he lets on.
I keep a lidded jam jar with Meths to sterilise my secateurs from time to time. I wipe my hedging shears and keep them sharp. My spade and fork, I just clean with each other. But sandy soil is easier.
And WD40 from time to time on anything. I knew what WD stands for. Just watch it spreading along surfaces, even damp ones. (The founder of a company I once worked for was a corrosion chemist at Cambridge.)
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Posts
This does not make us bad people @tui34 😉
And yes, I clean my tools and regularly sharpen my secateurs, snips and loppers. Have a little can of WD40 in the GH too. I never used to be so angelic, but working with the professionals in a garden once a week has made it second nature now. And I love sharp secateurs ….so satisfying
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/choose-tools/sharpening-secateurs/
I don't do the taking to pieces bit!
I don't take them apart but I do have a set of spare springs and blades bought from the Felco stand at Chelsea one year. Haven't needed them yet.
I use the cloth backed sandpaper to clean up my spade, trowels and hoes too and WD40 all round once all muck and any rust has been cleaned off..
I keep a lidded jam jar with Meths to sterilise my secateurs from time to time. I wipe my hedging shears and keep them sharp. My spade and fork, I just clean with each other. But sandy soil is easier.
And WD40 from time to time on anything. I knew what WD stands for. Just watch it spreading along surfaces, even damp ones. (The founder of a company I once worked for was a corrosion chemist at Cambridge.)
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
How to sharpen FELCO Secateurs - Bing video
The Felco sharpener is expensive but appears to last ages. It certainly worked on my secateurs and loppers.