I wrote this whole big response, and then all the text got deleted, just cuz I used the word sh*t for manure! Oh brother!

So now I'm ticked off cuz I lost everything. Nonetheless, I thought I'd give it another try, but will write my ideas in quicker format to make up for lost time!

empty pots - stack inside each other, use for storing small tools, turn empty pot upside down and use as "pedastal" for other planters to create more height and add more visual interest to overall scheme

i store all my soil ammendments in plastic storage boxes, and hide them behind my bedskirt. it's great.... no one has a clue that I have cow sh*t under my bed! :--)

i'm planning on building a mini tool box/shelving unit for my wall, to hold fertilizers, small pots, and will add hooks to hang up small tools.

that's all I have .....

yippee1999,
"then all the text got deleted, just cuz I used the word sh*t for manure"

tip: use back button on your browser to go back to the screen where you originally entered the text, it will still be there.

i have a bookshelf of only garden related books. that way i can find them when i need to look something up. ~Ryan

For larger tools I've put wooden veggie crates (with holes in sides the width & length of the boxes) on their sides, put tools in either right side up or upside down depending on if/how they fit. These were free, & are until I decide if I really want to invest in one of those nice tool caddies on wheels with "dolly", as at Lee Valley Tools. I bought a stationary plastic tool holder but returned it as it didn't accomodate D-handled tools.

Inexpensive multi-pocketed apron from thrift store used at times for carrying small items that I don't want to get wet or blow away, especially "current use" seed packages & maybe scissors/pruners. Seed packages are mostly otherwise in photo or sports card plastic see-through pages, in binders(s).

I like to have a lot of gloves on hand so they can be washed & rotated. Cleaned & dried ones have been in a plastic wash-bin; new ones in yet another cheap totebag. Dirty ones left to dry outside or in entry-way (not the best "organization"!).

For smaller tools I use various things:
- tool type plastic rectangular bin with handle in the middle; nice for carrying around the garden as I go
- a tote bag with many pockets, made for the garden
- waist tool holder

For taking things elsewhere in the car I've bought inexpensive but durable bags/totes from the thrift/second hand store.

However I think I need to mark my tools, especially the littler ones, with some bright ribbon or such - despite the "carry around" aids, I can still be inclined to misplace a tool among the plants!

Thanks for taking the time to share your tips with me and others!! Happy Spring

An old one holer makes a great potty shed

Bryon, are we talkin' 'bout outhouses here?

Good question...love getting ideas from others.

For the storage shed I bought a huge old stereo speaker box for .25 a garage sale, laid it on it's side to stand long handle tools in. Smaller ones in a 5 gal paint bucket. Rectangular diaper wipe box stores seed pkts., pots are stacked inside each other, but the thing I like best are a few old metal cabinets from a friend's kitchen re-do for my garage. One was a broom closet, small base one & one for over fridge (turned on it's side & stacked on base) in corner hold brooms & mops. Gloves and hand pruners go in
the drawer.

I hammered long nails into the walls of my shed for hanging tools. When I need them I put them into a bucket and carry with me to where I have to garden. The bucket also servies as a great holder of dirt when you temporarily need to remove some dirt to plant plants.

I also have an old, heavy pull down desk in my shed that I use for potting, etc.......

Good question.

I have recycled a couple of cd storage units bought at IKEA (sorry, but no, I can't remember their original, cutesy IKEA names): They are made of that quasi wood kind of stuff, one a pale green and the other a pale yellow, measuring about 4' high and 2' wide on 12" legs. The cubbies are deep enough for small tools, like a seedling transplanter and soil thermometer; twine; the many pairs of gloves all with holes in the right index finger; seed packets; twist ties; plant markers; garden staples; and the like. I can see everything at a glance, all is tidy, and the colors of the units look very "garden-y" in my little potting shed.

Home-mixed organic fertilizers are stored in plastic, lidded garbage cans bought new for the purpose. One is labeled for Spring use, one for legumes only and the third for Summer/Fall.

Now, if someone could only tell me how to store pots for the winter without incurring the heart-stopping shock of discovering a spider happily nestled in the bottommost pot. Inevitably, it is the biggest, blackest, scariest one of the season.

Great question!

Rain

I have some tools downstairs in the basement. Also, I've used a plastic storage container with a plastic tablecloth over it---set a cute flower pot on top----nobody knows.lol Instant little table.

I plan on taking my pots inside to the basement this year---lost a few to water problems, I guess. I'll stack them upside down.

One hint comes to mind, use old 2 wheeled pull behind golf cart for the long handled tools. Side compartments for gloves, maybe small hand tools,seed packet or whatever you need. They are easy to pull,stay upright,might put small bucket or shelf on it if you need extra space.

My .02 worth always rembember.
"Some gave some,others gave all"
T.J.

To Bluebloom who loses her small tools, get a can of irredescent orange spray paint and spray the handles. Jeanette

Love those large storage sheds from Home Depot...buy the display models on sale...also use drawers from old dressers I find along the road to sort out little items.My hubbie has a tall narrow one near his fish ponds for all his stuff, makes his and my life much easier when we keep our gardening and fish stuff separate.

Last year I dragged hubbie along with me on a garden tour. Big mistake. All he noticed was how neat and organized everyone's potting area was! I tried to explain that I was sure that they spruced them up for the tour, but never-the-less, he was impressed. I have to admit, so was I.

So last summer after it was too hot to do anything but water and deadhead, my goal was to create an awesome potting area.

I cleared out a junky catch-all area behind the garage. I went to Home Depot and bought a number of aluminum trash cans, buckets, and tubs of all sizes. I bought about three plastic shelving units on sale and a long folding table. I also bought some 4' by 8' trellis. I don't think I spent more than $250. I already had a potting bench that was never big enough and I found a sturdy wooden shelf unit at a garage sale.

The area I had to work in was long and narrow and had an open patio cover overhead. I put the wooden shelves along the wall to stack all my large clay pots. I put shelving brackets up over it with old boards I found to hold small clay pots. I'll be darned if it didn't look just like Martha Stewart did it herself (or told someone to do it)!

Then I took my handy Brother P-Touch labler and made labels for all the trash cans and lined them all up neatly. They are for holding ingredients for mixing my own potting mixes. Peat moss, compost, perlite, bark, sand, etc.. above them on the wall I mounted the trellis and attached a number of large hooks and clips to it for holding light, akward items like wire baskets, tools, hats, etc..

I put the potting bench perpendicular on one end of the area and put the buckets and tubs underneath it to use for storage of tools, odds and ends, etc..

At the other end I lined up the plastic shelving units. I use those for flats of starter plants, plastic pots, etc..

In the middle I put the long folding table which is big enough for three or four people to work at one time, which is good, because now that I have this great place to work, my friends are always coming over and spending the afternoon working out there with me potting up or propagating plants!

I hang large shepard hooks from the overhead beams and use them for hanging plants and old baskets and even old birdcages. I decorate the posts and walls with garden plaques. I even brought out a small CD player so I could listen to my music while I worked. Of course the place is filled with plants and there is a birdfeeder that is very busy. I had to put a couple old wicker rocking chairs out there because it has turned out to be quite a pleasent place to hang out.

By-the-way, my potting area is still a mess, but if I was ever on a garden tour, it at least has the potential to be spuced up to presentable!

Tired of climbing over bikes and lawn mowers to get to my garden tools, I built myself a garden closet. Its 6 feet wide by 2 feet deep with two swing out doors each 2 feet wide in the centre. I built it entirely from scrap 2x4's. THe back is 6 feet high and the front is 5 feet and the roof is that wavy acrylic which comes in clear so I have a 'sky light'. That I had to buy. To cover it up nice n' purdy, I went to a construction site where they were installing vinyl siding and asked for all their 1 foot and 2 foot off cuts which they were throwing out. I had to buy the framing pieces to slide the vinyl into. I put in shelves on the left side for smaller stuff in plastic bins and installed those broom holder clamps along the back. Now I just open the door and grab what I need. Best thing I ever did! Total cost? $$150 CDN.

Rolande

I still keep lots of buckets around, but organize my stuff more in cheap plastic crates which let me see everything buried in there...and lets the dirt/dust drop though.
Anybody else ever wonder why no one makes the 5 gal buckets out of 'clear' plastic? You could actually see what's in it. Wouldn't that be great? LOL

Plastics! I like to rake, so I pile all my leaves up under a tarp and chop a few bagfuls at a time over the course of the next summer. I use a large storage container for my chopped leaves. Then I can shove it under the porch where they won't get dispersed by wind. If I need to go garden at Nana's or the Masonic Hall, my leaf bin fits in the car trunk, with a little effort. Better than trash bags, which always smell of cat pee.
I also have a trio of plastic recycling containers in my garage/tool shed. You stack them and then you can open the cover to each one without disturbing the one above it. The bottom one holds my bag of sand for garden tasks and for spreading on the driveway in winter; the middle one holds my sack of corn gluten meal; the top one has my concentrated fish emulsion and other things that might be poisonous. I have a stack of plant pots on top. I kept the sand and corn in their bags because I really don't know how much pressure these things can take, I just needed something with a cover but still eaily accessible. It takes up a lot less space than having each in a separate container or on shelves I can't reach.

I kept hearing where you can keep tools from rusting by dipping them in a bucket of sand with motor oil in it before putting them away, and that seemed like one too many steps for me. I took a big square plant pot with no holes in the bottom (you're supposed to punch the holes after you buy it) and filled it with sand and a quart of 10/30. Instead of dipping my metal tools it it, I just slide them in and leave them there with the handle sticking up. I always know where a tool is and where to put it when I'm done. Been doing it for 3 tears now and the tools are great, I just wipe before I use. In winter when it might snow into my rickety old shed, I slide a trash bag over the top and anchor the bag by sticking my shepherds hook plant hangers right thru the bag into the sand.

Nobody has mentioned my favorites:

== sturdy jeans with lots of deep pockets and a couple loops to hold the pruners and a trowel! My bro says carpenter's jeans are good, and he added a pocket to cover each knee - just slides dense foam pads in for instant knee protectors.

== a sturdy chest (I think it was originally meant for storing nails and screws) that has about 50 pastic drawers (clear-front) in assorted sizes from 1x3" to 4x6": holds string, markers, plant labels of several sizes and types, hooks & swivels for the hanging pots, plastic ties, washers for the hose, s-hooks, a spare container of sunscreen, tapes, snips, skewers, etc.

== Clothespins with one side nailed to a board (above the tool rack) to hold gloves and a spare hat.

== a home-made shoe scraper that has stiff scrub brushes attached, that cleans the sides at the same time as the bottoms of your shoes or boots. Cleaned shoes & boots are kept on a shelf under the workbench which is right beside the door to the garden.

Here, there, anywhere I can get away with, till hubby gets ready to get something out of the garage,(which by the way we can't fit one car in) or till he needs in the barn.(which don't have any animals in)???????

Thank you all for the great suggestions. You even moved me to making an effort to clean up my act!

One thing I do have is a cute stand up cubby hole shelf unit that all my infrequently used little tools fit in. I also have a corner shelf that I put all my extras in right by the entrance of the garage so I don't actaully have to enter the garage to find things.

I am going to get some baby wipe containers and start putting my seeds in there. My hubby is sick of looking at my paper bags that he sometimes throws away!

I have 5 - 5 gallon buckets with lids. They are great for stacking them when not in use (but it seems like they are always in use!)

Stack up cinderblocks neatly about three blocks high (on their sides) to hold hoes, racks, etc. in the holes. The weight of the cinderblocks keeps them from falling over.

Watch for sales, and buy matching large plastic containers to keep a ready supply of compost, manure, mulch, etc. Very easy to stack as needed. You can also store floating row covers, garden ties, etc. in them.

it sounds as if I'm not the only one that just loves my dusty garden storing space, it's dirty and organized-though-cluttered up with all my stuff. It smells earthy and I put everything back very carefully so I can find it right away when I need it. The oldest and weirdest containers get tossed in there and used. It's great because it doesn't need to look decorated like inside the house does, so all the rotty little drawers and cups and such give it such a welcoming feeling for me. I just love my space.

Pieces of an old deck made a potter's bench, painted over in whatever color of exterior paint we had left over. Peelings off it expose some of the other layers of color already used on it. I love it. You can't hurt it. Different left over hooks and nails and fancy things meant to be used for something else are attached to it and things hang from it and are stuffed in it... it's so functional and useful. I have this brass matchstick holder that is supposed hold matches for your fireplace, I don't have a fireplace so I tacked it onto the bench and whenever I plant something, I stick the plastic identification tag in this. Over time it gets full and I pull the tags out and write them down in a log or file them in a folder in doors. But for the quick use, it's invalvuable - I don't throw them out and then wish I hadn't. Also, I can tell about how much money I've spent by the fullness of this matchcase... ha. I bought a beat up magazine rack or greeting card rack, made of wire. It is attached to some peg board and I can fill it full of almost anything, gloves, birdbath cleaners, loose wire, extra sticks and you just can't image what else.

But if you aren't the type of person to organize and then put everything in it's place, you might not benefit from trying. It might just frustrate you.

I got lucky and bought a house with a large shed that had some shelves built in - not enough, but some anyway. It also had a homemade bookcase type shelving unit in it. This is supposed to be my shed, DH has his own. I nailed some 2x4's up across the one long side wall and hang all the long and medium handled tools up on the wall. Soaker hoses are also hung on the wall using a couple left over boards and brackets. Lots of 5 gallon buckets hold birdseed, sand, fertilizer etc. A plastic tool caddy holds the small hand tools. Large zippy bags hold miscellaneous items on the shelves.

Of course, it all looks great when it is neat and organized, but then DH gets in there and shoves things around, cuz he doesn't know where anything is to start with. By the time he's done, I don't know where anything is either!

Have an old fashion metal milkbox. I use it for my hand tools. Keeps them together and completely dry. Don't ask where it came from. I stole it years ago. Big tools go in the shed.

I have no problem organizing my garden things,it's keeping them organized that has me beaten.
I've lost track of how many pairs of pruners I have laid down in the garden and never see again.
I swear there's an underground other world where their people just reach up and pull down through the ground any tool they need,because I never see them again.
I have shelves in my garden shed where I keep all my garden fertilizers etc,and hooks on the side of the shed under an overhang where they are out of sight for all shovels,rakes, hoes etc

I think I may get some device to hang my pruners around my neck from now on.

Eliza Ann

Once I was digging next to my house and found a steak knife buried there. I know the former owner was an avid gardener. I guess he was using the knife to do some pruning or other chore, laid it down, and it got gobbled up!

I just lost my favorite ginsue knive while I was planting out...someone will find it someday...I keep all my gardening things in a rolling cart. my kids gave it to me for mother's day last year. All my tools are there whenever I need them & I just roll the cart around with me.

I put most of my gardening stuff on or underneath my potting bench from spring to fall. I store all my hand tools blades-down in a bucket of sand with motor oil in it. An inverted dishpan on the handles keeps the rain out of the bucket. My project for this year is to erect a rustic tool shed next to the potting bench so my DH doesn't have to admonish me everytime I open the shed door, "Don't scratch the motorcycles."
{{gwi:290484}}

I like the idea of painting tool handles with orange paint. However, my newer trowels have rubber grips and can't be painted. So I found another way to make them easier to find. I tied yellow plastic bags through the handles by threading them through the hole in the end of the trowel handle. The plastic bags are the kind the newspaper is put into when it rains. They withstand rain and mud and make the trowels hard to lose. I think it would also work through the ring at the end of pruner handles.
Tina

Hello...

I am long overdue to start creating a garden workspace and organizing all my garden junk. I thought I would resurrect this old post and see if anyone had any more to add to it. I could start a new thread if that is a better idea?

So....I have too much junk scattered all over the place..the basement, the garage, seeds in my bedroom...lol. I am sure you get the picture and perhaps there is someone else out there who has the same problem. I just don't know where to start, it is a little overwhelming.

What gives me the most trouble? Large containers 22" and where to put them for the winter. Large bags of potting soil or soil amendments....storing and having easy access to them. POTS! Having tools handy when out in the garden without making 10 trips to the garage for something I forgot, yet not dragging everything around with me. Leftover materials from past projects...a pile of broken pavers, a small pile each of stonedust and pea gravel.

The COMPOST BINS! I need to get them out of sight. We have a small yard. I was hoping to create an area where I had everything garden related so it is not in a number of different places. My problem is the only area available is on the side of my garage but the main entrance to the backyard from the front is there and you would have to pass through my 'workarea' to get to it. I really love a pretty organized, neat area anyway....I am just not coming up with creative ideas for what I have to work with to make it that way.

If someone has had similar issues that they have resolved successfully, I would love to hear about how you did it.

Thank you!
:-)
pm2

I would love to see photos of how you have handled any aspect of this project in your garden if you have any.

Remember the old Milk Cans, any one from a dairy farm will know these, I have two from years ago and use them to store all my long handle tools in such as rakes, hoes and even the axe. They will hold a good dozen garden tools.

Hi
Had a creative idea when building a trellis for a bougainvillea. Instead of one sided made it twosided so was 4x15x9 feet tall. Stored all my soil amendments lawn tools
pots even had a potting bench . Even had a place for new transplants as well as served as a shadehouse and best of all kept the Bougie in check. Worked great for years and then hurricane "wilma" moved it to the neighbors yard
Still have a large stack of the remnants lol gary

I don't know if this helps, but I organize all my garden stuff using a great iPhone app called Garden Organizer. I used the Wishlist feature to catalogue where my tools are, even though it is a wish list. I used the plant tags to remember where I planted new plants in my garden!

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Organizer