How to Clean Garden Tools with Simple Step for a Long Term Use
How to clean garden tools To maintain a nice garden requires the best tools according to the needs of the plant you grow in your garden. You have to take care of your garden tools just like your care for your plants. It is very important as well as for your plants. You have to repeat these cleaning tips and tricks, minimally after 6 months to keep these tools up to date and working. This cleaning habit for the tools will keep your tools running for a longer period of time, such as for decades. They do a lot of work in the harvesting season, so keep them clean in the winter and less work loaded days. Avoid your tools being dirty for all the winter season. Keeping your tools up to date will help you to build a beautiful garden. In this article, we will explore some simple tips and tricks to clean your garden tool. Each tool that you use in gardening has its essential role in planting. Clean tools will ultimately help in reducing soil bacteria, keeping the edges of the shovel sharp and reducing the risk of rust build up over the tools.
Things you will Need while Cleaning Tools:
- Old fabric or rag to clean
- Buckets
- Sand Paper
- Garden Hose
- Mineral or Vegetable oil
- Vinegar
- Steel Wool or wire Brush
- Rubbing Alcohol or Bleach
- Dish Wash Soap
- Plastic scraper
- WD-40 (Optional)
- Linseed Oil (Optional)
- Putty Knife
Here is the list of the things you will need while preparing your tools for the resting winter season and making them ready for the next harvesting season.
How to Clean Gardening Tools:
For busy summer days, it is enough to just wash off the dirt from your tools and then rub alcohol on them to sterilise them. But when your harvesting season ends, this is the need of your tools to be taken care of in detail. Here are some steps given below to follow to keep your tools shiny for years and to make them ready for the winters.
Take Of All the Dirt from Tools:
To make this process easy use garden hose to make the soil wet so you can take it off easily. Use a stiff wire brush or plastic scraper to remove the extra dirt from your each tool.
Soak Tools in Soap Water:
To soak the tools into this water, first fill a bucket with some hot water, add dishwash into it to make it soapy. This will help you to remove further dirt or residue on the tools. Use 1.5 teaspoons of dish wash liquid in each gallon in the bucket. Make a bubble soapy liquid then soak your all tools and let them in for about 10 to 20 minutes. Take out them and now brush off again any residue left behind. Now dry them up using an old cloth. Clean garden needs some clean tools.
Pull Out all Rust:
Coming to the main point of care, rust makes them lose their capacity over time. To remove rust, fill up the bucket again but half the quantity of water with the same quantity of white vinegar. For example, if there is 5 litre of water in the bucket the same quantity of 5 litre white vinegar. Now soak your rusty tools in it to make sure the rusty part is fully dipped in, leave for about 15 hours or 24 hours, it will lose all of the rust in this time. After the soaking step, take out the tools and remove the rust with a stiff brush to make it rust free and then wash them again to clean the surface. how to clean garden tools Here you can add some drops of vegetable oil on the tools to make the scrubbing process easy. Now it took a nice drying session to complete it and avoid any rust formation again.
Take Away all the Sap:
Sap is the sticky residue on the tools, caused by the residue of the insects or the sap of the plants. Now dip a clean cloth into a lighter fluid solution to wipe off all sap present on the tools. Clean the curvy areas carefully. Here is how you clean garden tools.
Sterilising the Tools:
Now again make a solution of bleach and water, with 9 parts of the water and 1 part of bleach. Soak your rust free tools in that solution to make them sterilised and germ free, and then dry them off. Here is an alternate technique of sterilisation, you can rub the alcohol on the tools and let them air dry. The sterilising step is very essential to make tools germs and they should not play their role in causing any plant disease in the next harvesting season.
Oiling the Tools (Optional):
Oiling the tools will make the chances of rebuilding the rust minimal. Soak a clean cloth into a mineral oil then rub it over the tools thoroughly. Don’t forget to put oil on the joints of the tools to make the movement of the tools easy. To maintain the wooden parts of the tools, clean them with a sand paper to make a smooth surface then add a few drops of linseed oil and rub it over the wooden piece. This prevents any cracks.
Some Important Tips:
- After you complete cleaning of the tools, make sure to sharp the edges of the tools. For example, shovels, use flat files to do so, sand papers can also help you out for this.
- Do not mix bleach and vinegar in any solution.
FAQs:
How do I clean dirt and debris off my tools?
There are a few steps you have to follow, like brush off the dirt then soak it into the soap solution, remove the dirt from it then dry the tools. Sanitize them or you can also oil them at the end.
How do I remove rust from garden tools?
You have to soak your rusted tools into the mixture of water and vinegar. Use a wire brush to remove the rust left after the soaking period.
How do I disinfect my tools?
You have to use alcohol dipped cloth to rub it on the tools to make them disinfected. Bleach can do the same for you.
How do I clean wooden handles?
You can use sandpaper to make the surface smooth, use the oil on the wooden surface to avoid any further cracks.
