I have a secret garden shame.
I consider myself a good gardener. I adore my garden. I look after it well, I am passionately, strictly, organic and peat free, I genuinely care what impact my gardening has on the world around me. I manage, from 66m2 to produce nearly all of our veg each year. It is the cornerstone of what health I do have and it makes me happy.
But I have never ever, not ever, got round to properly cleaning or maintaining my hardworking garden tools. They deserve so very much better. They are the reason I get all this benefit. Without them I would be stuffed. Every year at this time I read the tweets, the posts and the articles about maintaining those tools and I just don't get round to it.
Shocking.
Worse still one of our spades died recently, it's head fell off. Directly as a result of my wanton neglect. I have never felt so guilty. What a waste. I will be making a dibber from it in the future but that is for another day.
So inspired by this years Waste Less Live More campaign, in honour of day 6's call to fix things I am doing proper tool maintenance. Everything wooden has been given a sand over and the rusty spots have been cleaned off. A coat if tung oil has been applied and they look (and smell) beautiful.
Honestly it really wasn't that difficult. Don't they look amazing? I have to point here that they look like really expensive tools. They aren't. They are from Wilkinson's. Seriously, they do ash handled tools at a really good price. They have already lasted over five years and will for many more now my new regime is in place.
And I hearby promise in front of everyone that I will do this every year from now on.
A handy tip, my dad used to do:
ReplyDeleteIn a bucket large enough accommodate your tools, fill with sand and motor oil. Once you are done using your tools, knock off all the dirt, and jam the working end of the tools into the sand. My dad would keep his hoes and spades thusly and they were in mint condition each time he needed to use them.