Add Photo to Journal
|
|
| Photo Credit: Donna W. Moramarco |
| Use a rag to remove stubborn soil from your gardening tools. |
Sad, but true: All good things must come to an end – even the gardening season. The good news, though, is it’s not “goodbye” forever. Once Mother Nature plays nice again, we’ll all be back out in our planting beds before we know it. The question is: Will you be ready? The answer: If you take care of your gardening tools appropriately, you will be.
To make sure your tools perform well and last a lifetime, you need to keep them clean and stored properly after every use. When it’s warm outside and you’re in the garden almost every day, this may be a challenging task. But it’s still an essential job – especially at the end of the season. So before you stick your trowels, shovels and other gardening implements away for the non-gardening weather, make sure they’re in the best shape possible. Clean your tools by removing all soil and plant debris with a rough cloth or piece of burlap. Soil that’s really caked on shovels and spades can be scraped off with the heel of your gardening boots. And don’t be afraid to use a steady stream of water to remove stubborn soil. Why be so particular to remove soil from your tools? For starters, soil that remains on the blades can cause rust, especially along the sharp edges of a spade. If you want that spade to continue to make a clean, sharp cut when dividing perennials or easily penetrate the soil when digging, be certain to remove the soil and then dry it when you’re done.
|