The avid gardener can spend an enjoyable winter day in the garden shed preparing his tools for the busy spring gardening season. Winter is the perfect time of year to oil, sharpen, repair, or replace your gardening tools, so you will complete any maintenance chores before spring.

Tools require Oiling
Gardening tools can be expensive, so keep your tools in top condition. Well maintained gardening tools will last you for over twenty years, so it is important to care for them.

All of your tools that have moving metal parts will require oiling. These tools include saw blades, secateurs, wheelbarrows, and any garden equipment that has metal wheels. Use an aerosol spray can, such as WD40, to oil small tools and for your larger tools you can use a can filled with engine oil. Dip a small brush into tea-tree oil to sterilise your pruning saws to prevent transferring any disease from one plant to another.

Prevent your planting spades from rusting by making up a mixture of vegetable oil and clean sand. Place the mixture into a bucket and stir well. Dip your planting spade in and out of the mixture a few times. This mixture will coat the planting spade with a layer of oil.

Wooden handles require oiling. The ideal mixture to oil wooden handles is half linseed oil and half mineral turpentine. Wooden handled tools, such as spades and forks, will last you for many years if you oil them regularly.

Keep your Gardening Equipment Sharpened
You will increase the life-span of your metal tools if you keep them well sharpened. It is a pleasure to work with a well sharpened piece of equipment, so make sure you check your tools every year. Secateurs, spades, axes, clippers, and loppers all require regular sharpening.

An inexpensive method of sharpening your tools is to use a sharpening stone. Alternatively, consider purchasing a bench grinder to sharpen your tools. The bench grinder has an adjustable tool-rest platform. Using this platform means you will be able to give your tools a more exact edge. Take precautions when you use a grinder by wearing safety glasses. Do not allow your tools to become too hot during the grinding process. Keep a container of cool water nearby and place your tools into the water if they become hot.

Before sharpening your lopper with a sharpening stone, rub the cutting edge with a wire brush dabbed in methylated spirit. This will help prevent the transfer of any diseases to the next plant you wish to lop. Remember to sharpen along the cambered edge of your lopper. Finish by wiping the lopper with an oily rag.

Repair and Store
A light sanding with sandpaper will help prevent rust on spades, trowels and shovels. You can purchase a commercial rust remover if your gardening equipment is already rusty.

Replace the blade on your secateurs if it is nicked or bent. Dismantle the secateurs by removing the top nut and undoing the bolt at the bottom. Once the secateurs are apart, lift the damaged blade off and replace it with a new blade.

Empty all of the water from your garden hose before you store it for the winter. Remove the hose from the tap, hold the hose vertically and allow the water to run out section by section. This method will ensure your hose is dry before you store it. Replace cracked or worn washers and fittings on your garden hose and make sure you coil the hose, so there are no kinks.

A day spent in the garden shed during winter will ensure your tools are in top condition and ready for use in the spring. Well oiled, sharpened, and repaired tools will last you for many years to come.