I use those big plastic buckets or tubs too @Obelixx. I have four of them, they are probably the most used and useful items I own for the garden, perfect for weeding, pruning, hedge trimming, carrying compost or mulch and soaking new plants in pots before planting. Also useful for mixing cement if you have to do any DIY!
I kind of just throw tools back in the shed unwashed I usually scrap the mud off but that's about as for as I go. I do keep some out all the time that live in the greenhouse secateurs - border spade. Lawnmowers decks get scraped and run dry now with using E10 fuel . Should be using oil or 3in1 oil for moving parts like secateurs instead of wd40, use wd40 by all meaning but it not work as long as oil for the moving bits .
I use an old grooming kit tray for the everyday stuff - string, trowel, secateurs etc. Older daughter did a little spell of riding where I worked, when she was little, so I got her one. Still in good nick after 20 years use. It's also vital if you have a long distance between your shed/outbuilding, and where you garden... I'm a bit like @BenCotto. I don't do much other than wiping sticky mud/clay off spades etc, but I also don't use as many tools as some people do. Mostly my spade and trowel. I occasionally sharpen seccys, and certainly clean and oil them quite often, but I might get that wee tool @Topbird recommends, although I loathe using Amazon. Much easier than footering with files etc I've done the lawnmower blade with a file a few times, and that's quite easy. Taking it to a 'centre' is dearer than a new blade which is just daft, so anything that prevents that is good. Small mower, so that's viable.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I garden on London clay, so I use a stainless steel trowel to scrape soil off the spade and fork each time I use them. I do have hooks but tools don't always make back on to them. Since working in the Japanese garden at Capel Manor I am diligent about cleaning and sharpening cutting tools, it really makes a difference. I use a diamond file sharpening tool on secateurs etc.
I remember Alan T. saying he kept a small bucket of sand with old engine oil in it for dipping his spade into for cleaning. I've always wondered how much of the oil transferred into his soil! I expect after hanging them up it was minimal. I have hooks for all the tools, and a special little doodah on the back of the door for the brooms. Trugs are always handy for shifting plants, moving leaves or soil around, and also for keeping shrubs in if they have holes in them, or using for a root barrier if you need to keep something 'contained' . I have several
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
OED on my 'puter says: trug |trʌɡ| (also trug basket) nounBritish a shallow oblong basket made of strips of wood, traditionally used for carrying garden flowers and produce. D'yerknowwaramean!
Some of your carrying devices I will accept.
I have a small shallow galvanised bucket for collecting and carrying weeds, living plant material and tidy-away stuff. But not all at the same time. For greater capacity I have a black rubbery-plastic workman's bucket.
I believe in mixing up my jobs so as not to overdue one set of muscles/joints. I return to base often to collect a new tool. Saves a fortune on gym fees.
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."
Many of the things I wear for gardening in summer don't have pockets. Even if they did, I wouldn't put sharp or pointy things in them. I don't wear a belt when gardening (gives me heartburn when I bend over) so belt attachments are a non-starter.
As a bejeaned male gardener I stick my Felcos in my back pocket blade first. After a while it wears a hole.
I watch TV Gardeners World for entertainment. Being experienced I have learned little over the years (from TVGW that is). One day I noticed that most of the junior presenters put their secateurs in the their pockets blade up. I am open to learning, so copied that. I then found that I was cutting my hand on the exposed blade. so I have reverted to blade down in a reinforced back pocket. Voila!
Secateurs are the one thing that are always with me.
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."
Naturally all of us girlie gardeners wear frilly dresses and aprons to garden as we flit between the flower beds filling out trugs with blooms to fashion into pretty nosegays . Perish the thought that we would imperil our femininity by wearing jeans and wielding manly secateurs
Naturally all of us girlie gardeners wear frilly dresses and aprons to garden as we flit between the flower beds filling out trugs with blooms to fashion into pretty nosegays . Perish the thought that we would imperil our femininity by wearing jeans and wielding manly secateurs
I'm never without a frilly dress or a wooden trug filled with flowers My trugs certainly aren't those type, but the heavy duty plastic/rubber ones. Very very useful in the garden. Manly secateurs
I can imagine the comments that I have on ignore - so glad I use that function.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
Should be using oil or 3in1 oil for moving parts like secateurs instead of wd40, use wd40 by all meaning but it not work as long as oil for the moving bits .
I'm a bit like @BenCotto. I don't do much other than wiping sticky mud/clay off spades etc, but I also don't use as many tools as some people do. Mostly my spade and trowel. I occasionally sharpen seccys, and certainly clean and oil them quite often, but I might get that wee tool @Topbird recommends, although I loathe using Amazon. Much easier than footering with files etc
I've done the lawnmower blade with a file a few times, and that's quite easy. Taking it to a 'centre' is dearer than a new blade which is just daft, so anything that prevents that is good. Small mower, so that's viable.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Since working in the Japanese garden at Capel Manor I am diligent about cleaning and sharpening cutting tools, it really makes a difference. I use a diamond file sharpening tool on secateurs etc.
I have hooks for all the tools, and a special little doodah on the back of the door for the brooms.
Trugs are always handy for shifting plants, moving leaves or soil around, and also for keeping shrubs in if they have holes in them, or using for a root barrier if you need to keep something 'contained' . I have several
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
D'yerknowwaramean!
Some of your carrying devices I will accept.
I have a small shallow galvanised bucket for collecting and carrying weeds, living plant material and tidy-away stuff. But not all at the same time. For greater capacity I have a black rubbery-plastic workman's bucket.
I believe in mixing up my jobs so as not to overdue one set of muscles/joints. I return to base often to collect a new tool. Saves a fortune on gym fees.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I watch TV Gardeners World for entertainment. Being experienced I have learned little over the years (from TVGW that is). One day I noticed that most of the junior presenters put their secateurs in the their pockets blade up. I am open to learning, so copied that. I then found that I was cutting my hand on the exposed blade. so I have reverted to blade down in a reinforced back pocket. Voila!
Secateurs are the one thing that are always with me.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Perish the thought that we would imperil our femininity by wearing jeans and wielding manly secateurs
My trugs certainly aren't those type, but the heavy duty plastic/rubber ones. Very very useful in the garden.
Manly secateurs
I can imagine the comments that I have on ignore - so glad I use that function.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...