4 simple tips for organizing your garden tools

Finding the right tools when you need them is the key to efficient gardening. Make your life easier by spending an hour or two cleaning, doing an inventory and organizing your garden tools. Here are four simple tips to help you keep your gardening tools organized.

Store all garden tools in the same spot in the garage or other easily accessible spot. If you don't have a good place for storage, consider buying a weatherproof, freestanding garden tool cabinet or shed, and tuck it into a corner of the yard or behind a garage.

• Hang large tools, such as spades and rakes, on a wall so they won't tangle or take up floor space.
• Many of the smaller tools can be hung on pegboard. If you have space, you can store other small garden supplies on an all-purpose potting table. You can buy a ready-made table or you can make one out of scrap lumber and plywood fairly easily.
• Large bags of potting soil and other soil amendments are easier to handle if they are stored in large plastic wastebaskets or small garbage cans.
• Unused pots and seedling trays can sit on a wood shelf mounted on the wall.

A garden caddy is an indispensable gardening accessory. Whether it's a rustic English wooden "trug" basket, a plastic bin with a handle, a small pail or a cloth caddy that slips over a bucket, you'll save yourself innumerable steps.

• Stock it with a trowel, gloves, seed packets, sunscreen, hand shears, insect repellent, tissues and anything else you need in the garden.

A simple workbench is a handy spot for keeping often-used small tools and for repotting plants.

• Buy one that is about one metre (one yard) high and position it for easy access.

Before you even start gardening, consider these tips and organize your tools to create an environment you'll look forward to working in!