Tips for Storing Gardening Tools and Supplies
Garden tools need to be stored in a convenient place. Some options include building a garage extension or, if you don’t have one already, you can construct a garden shed that houses a work center and potting benches. Hang a chalkboard nearby for recording planting timetables and scheduling weekly gardening duties.
Large equipment, such as lawn mowers and garden tillers, need spacious floor storage and a clear path to the door. Equipment shouldn’t block access to your potting bench. Make the door wide enough for your biggest piece of machinery. You may need to build ramps, if the door sills are high.
Smaller, lighter-weight tools and supplies can be hung handily on a rack made of perforated hardboard. Garden poisons, sprayers, and sharp tools require extra storage precautions – use locked cabinets to keep children out. Seed packets and bottles can be stored on small shelves.
Remember that moisture can damage fertilizers, potting soils, and chemicals, so seal them inside tight-closing cans or bins. Consider metal containers to help keep rodents and insects out of grass seed and bird feed.
Avoid tangled hoses by wrapping them around a commercial hose reel or a hose rack.
The space below the surface of most decks is ideal for storing garden tools or even a small barbecue. To install a trap door, cut the decking so that the ends of the door rest on the center of a joist or beam. Build a compartment and attach it to the underside of the deck, drilling a hole in the bottom for drainage.
On the door’s underside, fasten 1×3 battens offset from the ends and parallel to the joists or beams to keep the door securely seated. Add a third batten diagonally between the first two. Install a recessed pull on the door. You can simply set the door in place and lift it out as necessary, or use butt hinges to fasten one end to the deck.
Apply the same principles to install a door on a deck bench, adding blocking to the underside of the seat to support the door’s edge.
When storing backyard and garden maintenance equipment outdoors, consider a small shed. Made entirely of plastic, the shed is big enough to store most of the basic tools used in the garden and backyard, and small enough so as not to take up too much space. Some models come with wheels so they can be rolled around – or stored inside during cold winter months – with little effort. The sheds are available at home and garden centers.
It seems that no matter how carefully garden hoses are coiled, they always tangle or kink in storage. A commercial hose coiler helps prevent this by keeping the hose firmly wrapped round a drum. The hose feeds off of the drum when pulled out for use, and recoils when the handle is turned clockwise. Designed with wheels for easy mobility, the device can be moved to the source of water in the backyard or garden, such as an outdoor spigot, and returned to a garden shed, for example, when the watering is done.
