How do I look after garden tools?

Good garden tools last a lifetime and cheap ones can last a decade, but only if they're not put away wet and caked in soil. The maintenance is trivial; it's just habitually skipped because the consequences take years to appear.

What you'll need

• Wire brush or scraper
• Oily rag or light machine oil
• Sharpening file or stone
• Linseed oil for wooden handles
• Bucket of sand for storage (optional)

Step by step

1. Scrape soil off blades and tines after every use.Soil holds moisture against the metal, which is what starts rust.
2. Rinse if needed, then dry thoroughly before putting anything away.Putting tools away wet is the single biggest cause of rust.
3. Wipe metal parts with an oily rag before storing.A thin film of oil excludes moisture. Ten seconds per tool.
4. Sharpen spades, hoes and secateurs once or twice a season.A sharp spade cuts through roots and soil with much less effort. Most people never sharpen one.
5. Clean sap and resin off secateurs and saw blades.Sticky residue attracts dirt and makes cutting harder. Wire wool or a solvent removes it.
6. Oil wooden handles annually with linseed oil.It prevents the drying and splintering that eventually breaks handles.
7. Store tools hanging up, off the floor, somewhere dry.Hanging keeps blades off damp concrete and stops edges being knocked.
8. Disinfect blades if you've been cutting diseased material.Secateurs transmit plant disease efficiently between plants.

Tips

• A bucket of sand with a litre of oil mixed in is a traditional and effective way to clean and oil hand tools in one motion — push the blade in a few times.
• Sharpen a spade with a file along the leading edge at the existing angle. It doesn't need to be razor sharp, just not rounded.
• Mark handles with bright paint or tape. Garden tools laid down on grass are famously hard to find again.
• Buy fewer, better tools. A good spade and a good pair of secateurs are used constantly and are worth spending on.

Common mistakes

• Putting tools away wet and dirty — Rust starts within days, and it's entirely avoidable.
• Never sharpening — Blunt tools take much more effort and do more damage to plants when cutting.
• Storing on a concrete floor — Concrete holds moisture and transfers it to anything resting on it.
• Using secateurs on diseased and healthy plants without cleaning — It's an efficient way to spread disease around a garden.

Questions people ask