These are great tips by Eilean Foster for taking care of your gardening tools use earth-friendly techniques. Thanks, Eilean!
Fingers itching to get into your garden, but Mother Nature is telling you it isn't time to plant yet? Here are tasks that will make the time fly while you wait! Even better will be the years you add to those costly tools and the ease with which you can use them!
Want to try non-chemical techniques? Here are some GREEN suggestions!
When gardening tools get rusty, there is a super easy method to get the rust off using plain, ordinary tea. Follow these steps for a healthy and eco-friendly solution.
1 - Make A Very Strong Black Tea. You will need as much tea as will cover the garden tools that you are de-rusting, so perhaps a few kettle boils might be needed. Leave it to cool down before using
2 - Pour the tea into a container such as a bucket.
3 - Place the rust garden tools into the tea and leave to soak for a few hours
4 - Using a clean cloth, remove the tools from the soak and rub over the rust. The rust should come off on the cloth without much effort.
5 - Make sure that the tools are fully dry before storing.
An easy way to keep your hand tools in good shape during the growing season is to fill a five gallon bucket with a mixture of clean sand and a new quart of vegetable oil. Cover the bucket and place it near your tool storage area. When you are done working outside, repeatedly dunk your tools into the oily sand and it will rub off dirt and other debris and coat the tool with a protective oil coating. If the bucket develops an unpleasant odor, just change the sand and vegetable oil.
Using vegetable oil mixed with the sand works just as well as used motor oil to protect your tools from rust, and you won't be contaminating your outdoor space with a harmful petroleum-based product.
And don't neglect the wooden handles. Remove splinters or rough spots with medium coarse sandpaper and then rub the handles with a rag soaked in boiled linseed oil. If you want to get a little fancy, paint the handles a bright color so they will be easy to locate when they get misplaced in the garden.
If you feel comfortable sharpening your own tools; that's great! If not, your local hardware store will help you out; which gives your tools longer life!
THINK SPRING!! BUT DO NOT PLANT BEFORE TIME! YOUR PATIENCE WILL BE REWARDED!
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Who would have thought that tea would take off rust. Great idea about the sand and oil to clean the garden tools. Maybe I'll even paint my rake bright pink!
Thanks, love these kinds of tips!
When you paint the handles .stay away from where you actually hold the tool.
You should see the hand patterns (where you hold it) from already using it. Leave thise areas non painted as it will just be removed from your hard work anyway.
So your handle will have a stripe look to it.
Enjoy your day
Interesting. Thanks. I am going to try this..instead of WD 40... I use it for everything!
Tea and vegetable oil. What interesting tips. Now I will have to go out and buy some garden tools!
Joyce, great point about the tea...but it does beg the question, doesn't it?
Wow, very interesting post Holly. I'm no gardener but still it is interesting.
Lewis
I had no idea about the tea. I try to be as natural as possible with composting and incorporating "good bugs" to eat the "bad bugs".