Preparing Your Garden Tools For Spring

As the winter’s end is in sight you’ll want to start thinking about preparing your garden tools for spring so that everything’s ready to go once you want to begin working on your garden again.

Hopefully none of your garden tools were left out over winter as this could have caused them damage. Ideally your tools were stored away somewhere clean and dry and not too cold so as to limit the amount of moisture that could have started them rusting. Also if you cleaned your tools before storing them away at the end of last season, preparing your garden tools for spring will be a much easier job now!

Start by cleaning all your tools. For hand tools, plus larger tools like shovels and hoes, clean them first with warm water to remove any excess dirt. For any tools which have screws, make sure that all the screws are tight. If you have hedge clippers and pruners and the like, it’s advisable to take them apart and replace the nut and screw at the pivot point of the two blades. You shouldn’t have to do this every year if you’re keeping your tools well maintained, so that next time you’re preparing your garden tools for spring an oiling should be sufficient. Whilst the blades are apart it’s worth taking the time to sharpen them too so that they’re nice and sharp and ready for use.

If there’s any rust on your blades this can be sanded off with a special sandpaper meant for use on metal and the parts should be oiled before re-assembling. A good way to both clean and oil your tools at the same time is to fill a bucket with sand and add oil. This can be the used motor oil that you’ve drained from your car or even what you’ve drained from your lawnmower. Mix the sand and oil a little and then dip your tools in and out several times, then wipe them and they should come out looking great! The benefit with this is that you can leave the bucket over the season so that you can do this every so often and keep your tools in tip-top condition.

Whilst you’re preparing your tools for spring don’t forget to treat tools with wooden handles as well. Wooden handles can dry out and split so any imperfections should be sanded with a medium grade sandpaper. Once you’ve sanded and cleaned off any dust they can be rubbed with linseed oil. It’s a good idea to do this before storing your tools away for the winter as well because this is the time that they can get most affected by cold air.

Don’t forget when you’re preparing your garden tools for spring to service your lawn mower and other power tools such as chainsaw and trimmer. Check all of them for rust and treat accordingly, then oil with WD-40 or similar all the moving parts. If you’ve already given these tools a good clean before storing them away in the winter, this should be all you need to do with them now.