How to clean your garden tools

Ok, so the last thing you feel like doing after a long session in the garden is cleaning all your tools right?

But, we both know that taking care of your gardening tools will make them last a whole lot longer and they’ll be so much nicer to use… So it’s worth the effort to show them a little love every once in a while.

Here’s what we recommend:

First off, you want to get all your gardening tools shipshape with a proper clean:

  • Scrub the dirt off, making sure you’ve cleaned out all the nooks and crannies.
  • You might find there’s still some rust and other stubborn stains – you’ll want to get that off tool. Your secret weapon for this is white vinegar:

  • You can also use some steel wool to scrub off any remaining rust. We want to make sure all the rust is gone or it will continue to eat away at the metal.
  • It’s also important to keep your pruning tools sharp, to help avoid damage to your plants. So, if some of your tools are getting a bit dull, use a file or sharpening stone to sharpen up the cutting edge – it’s really important to try and stick to the existing angle:

  • If any of your tools have wooden handles, it’s a good chance to sand off any rough bits so you’ve got a nice smooth surface and give them a quick oil. Boiled linseed oil is a good non-toxic choice – you’ll definitely want to avoid motor oil as you don’t want to transfer that nasty stuff to your soil and plants.

Now we want to keep those gleaming tools clean and safe from rust. Here’s a trick I think you’re going to love!

You’ll need:

  • a large bucket
  • sterilised sand
  • vegetable oil

Put the sand into your bucket, mix through the oil. You can then store your tools with their blades stuck in the sand. Pump them up and down a few times after you’ve used them and the abrasive sand will give them a quick clean and the oil will stop them from rusting:

That’s it – take care of your garden tools and they will last a very long time.