The New Year is a great time to sweep away the cobwebs and organise your garden shed for a year of productivity.
Tidying up your garden shed can bring you a new level of zen. And organising a garden shed can also make gardening a breeze. Use permaculture principles to get your tools in order and get set for the year.
Here are our top tips to organise your garden shed
Integrate rather than segregate
Think outside the garden shed, and place tools, gardening clothes and accessories in places you actually use them.
It’s no use tramping out to your garden shed to get gumboots. Pop them close to the door you exit the house and enter the garden via. Use clamps to keep them spider and rain free if this isn’t somewhere weatherproof.
We also like to keep a little basic gardening caddy in our front and back garden to ensure there are always garden gloves, scissors, secateurs, ties and trowels within easy reach.
Observe and interact
Take the time to have a really good think about what tools you use a lot, those you use less and those you could perhaps even do without.
Reduce clutter by rehoming those that you don’t find that useful. Sometimes it can be hard to part with expensive gardening gadgets you thought you couldn’t do without, but it turns out you hardly ever use.
Items like broadforks, scythes and even pruning tools may only be needed a few times a year. Think about whether or not you could donate them to a local tool library or neighbourhood house. That way they are there for you and your community to use when you need them, but not cluttering up your shed.
Produce no waste
Keep garden tool cleaning bits and bobs right next to your tools. This will make it easy for you to remember to clean them regularly. Looking after your tools is a great step to ensuring they live their best life and last as long as possible.
Catch and store energy
Seeds are a fabulous little stored package of energy and potential. So make sure you store them correctly to ensure they don’t degrade between seasons. This means storing them in a cool, dark spot that is waterproof and airtight.
Kick extra organisational goals if you take the time to sort them. Alphabetise, group them by genus or go full Dewie Decimal. The main thing to remember is if you organise your seeds you are guaranteed to use them.
Use edges and value the marginal
Walls and roof beams aren’t just great for holding the roof of your shed up. They’re great hanging spaces too. Use this vertical space to spread your tools out so you can see them all in one view. No hiding one thing behind another! Your future self will thank you.
Obtain a yield
Finally, a tidy space = a tidy mind! So try not to think of organising your shed as a chore. You’re actually filling your mindfulness cup. Not every single item in your shed needs to “spark joy” Marie Kondo style. But having a tidy, efficiently organised space for your gardening tools is a great step towards having a pumping garden.
