When the growing season comes to a close there are garden maintenance jobs that can make next years gardening even more pleasurable. Good maintenance will extend the life of your tools and save you money.
An appropriate and well maintained tool will do a better job than making do and mending. From my experience these are some top tips for maintaining your tools during autumn.

Tool Maintenance Tips

1. Start with the best quality tools you can afford and look after them.
2. Keep your tools clean and do not put them away wet.
3. Maintain your Secateurs by sharpening and oiling.
4. Keep a sharp edge on cutting blades including spades. It is worth investing in a sharpening stone (they are quite cheap and easy to use).
5. Wipe off any sap that gets on the blades or edges of your tools. Sap can be very sticky and build up a thick layer on lawn mowers or secateurs unless you are careful.
6. I like to oil wooden handles to keep them smooth and discourage cracking. Sand off any rough edges and use a good furniture oil.
7. Set up a place to store your tools when not in use. Small tools can be strung & hung from a frame in the shed rather than lumped together in a pile where they may get damaged.
8. Do not leave standing water in metal buckets, watering cans or wheelbarrows to avoid rust or frost damage.
9. A brightly coloured handle or bright marking will help you find that trowel that you have just lost. A dab of paint may do the job
10. Where needed I wrap ‘gaffa tape’ around rough handles to improve the hold.
11. Straighten and bent tools and replace any badly damaged tools.
12. Learn how to select a special tool for a garden job

Using the right tool for the job makes a gardeners life easier. However many gardeners take delight in making do and mending – on balance I like a mix of both methods.