My winter storage sheds are too far from my garden to store tools during growing season so I like to keep tools fairly handy April - October. I have a couple of 'gathering' areas (one in my compost area and one partially hidden under the deck) where I keep most tools but might leave a shovel in the garden here or there. I have more than one of each tool as the garden is large and it's easier not to have to walk a long distance to get a tool if I see something that needs doing. If I put away all the tools every day I'd never get anything done! Right now my garden is in working mode as the weeding isn't finished and several beds still need renovating. I haven't yet done my patio/deck pots so have a bale of potting soil and empty pots waiting on the patio. I've also made buckets of alfalfa tea so they are waiting in various beds until used but it's been so rainy that I don't need to water and have only used a bit of it.

Eventually when the spring work is done I'll put away many tools so the garden is presentable.

I do try to put the small tools in a central location, often in the 'basket' of one of my wheelbarrows as it's such a time waster to have to search for them when misplaced. I also bring in the pruners each day as I don't want them out in the rain.

I keep mail boxes on posts on three sides of the garden to encourage me to put away small tools, The long handled tools are painted in bright colors for ease in finding them. The buthcer knives are in a wooden knife block near the garden .

No, I do not always put away my tools. I lose one and go buy a new one. That is why I have multiples. I am bad about putting a knife or hand pruner in the container with the weeds and clippings and tossing them on the compost pile. Sometimes I remember to get them out, sometimes not.

No - I'm the worst....even my hose stays out all summer. When guests comes over, I gather and stack neatly...but I'm using them all the time this time of year, so it's a matter of time putting away and taking back out taking up so much of my time :P

I have the Ames roll around cart that i sit on to do weeding etc,you lift the seat and it's for storage of the small tools.So yes those get put away.Now the big tools,shovels,hula hoe etc,i generally lean those up against the house,a tree etc,you get the picture,right.So i guess my answer is yes and no.
kathi

Yes, or they would be permantly lost LOL! Rained on for sure.

I 'put away' my tools, but not in the shed. The yellow jackets live there, in the summer...so once the snow melts, my cart is parked behind the house and the my little shovel, with the long handle is leaning against the house, by the fairy garden. When I'm done with spring work, it will probably be back with the cart. I put my trowel in the mud room and that's about all I have for tools. My mom gave me a little fork with a long handle that's out with my shovel...if I like using it, then it'll probably stay with the shovel, for the summer :)

I put everything away in the shed when I quit for the day. It may look cluttered in there, but I know exactly where every tool and trowel is.

I was forever misplacing EVERYTHING but I've been pretty good lately. I have 4 designated areas around the garden where I leave tools when I'm using them. When I finish using whatever it gets put immediately in one of these spots. If I get distracted and forget where I've left something I just have to check these spots. At the end of the day I go around collecting all the tools up, put them away properly. Secateurs, small pruning saw and my little english hand rake come into the house at the end of the day. I keep my secateurs and saw in a drawer in the kitchen I have for gardening stuff, and my little hand rake has a place of honor hanging from a hook by the back door :).

Annette

The back shed has been rather unusable the last several years, and my veggie garden where I spend the most time is in the front - so I outfitted the front porch as a shed. Most everything goes there.
I have bags of soil amendments and weed buckets, buckets of rocks out there right now. I hate it, but I have nowhere currently to put that stuff. So there it stays.

Much to my DH's chagrin, NO. Like some of the rest of you, I would never get anything done if I did that. I have a huge yard, and am almost always using more than one tool at a time, so as I move through the gardens, tools get left behind (not on purpose) to search for another day. I have multiples of most tools, so it's not a big deal, although sometimes I have to have my "favorite" of whatever. I've painted my handles before, but it's time to do it again. On the other hand, although paint makes them easier to find, unpainted tools laying around are less junky looking, since they blend in with the dirt!

I try to, but seems like I'm always misplacing something. For example, I have no idea where I've put my good pruners. I think away someplace, but I have more than one "putting away" place. Most of the time I try to hang my small tools on the hooks over the potting bench, or in a black plastic pot that is screwed to the side of a shed. I usually put away rakes, hoes, shovels etc, they have their own toolshed and there are also hooks in there for some small tools. Sometimes they get put in a cabinet on the back porch (see, too many places to put away things!) or maybe in the greenhouse. I intend one of these days to paint the handles of all the small tools bright flourscent orange so I can find them in the garden! I waste far too much frustrating time looking for things on this acre of garden!!

oh dear - my most frequent question in the garden is "honey do you know where the ______ is?????" - and his answer is "where were you working yesterday???" so I guess you know the answer - lol. I do have a bucket that I carry with me (bright yellow kitty litter bucket) that I keep small tools, twine, shaker of fertilizer, ect - I try and put that away each night. Long handled tools lean up against trees, fences, arbors what ever solid structure is close by. We have mulitples so it takes me several days to loose everything :D .....

Lynne

Umm no.. I leave a hand trowel in every yard. I left a shovel by the pond that I had just filled out so it can be converted into a raised bed. And secutures in several areas.

I try, but............. I have to admit that I left my best large snips out all winter. They got buried under a pile of leaves when I was digging up the Dahlia tubers. I found them this spring with a 1/4 inch thick coat of rust. I mostly have cheepo quality gardening tools, If I ever invest in good ones I hope I will take better care of them.

Dh trained me well. ;) Everything is gathered together ... rinsed off if needed ... and put away before locking up for the night. I do keep a pair of scissors and a small weed bucket on the shed porch at all times.

I have 3 Felco tools (2 different size pruners and a saw) that I faithfully put away every time I use them. I also put my gloves away because I don't like wet gloves. Other than that everything is left out. I also lean long handled tools against anything that will prop them up and my DH just chastised me for all the "crap" I always have on the porch (about 4 pairs of garden shoes, small tools, etc.) We agreed that I need a small covered basket that I can throw all the small stuff in.

I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb here... but yes. I have a two year old under my feet most of the time we're out in the garden, so I have to make sure everything's put away and out of her reach. The dog's been known to run off with a hand shovel or two also. :/

I'm with brittie. I'll admit the shed is close so it's pretty easy, but everything goes up when I'm finished.
kay

There I said I put everything up, then thought, "but I don't count the hose" as a toy or a tool really...it is always out and remains the water source for my garden so you may decide I don't put all my toys away.
kay

Right now the wheelbarrow is out and a little stool that I sit on to weed. If I'm actively in a project and it is not expected to rain, I may leave a shovel, or whatever else I'm using, out. Often my trug basket is out if I am weeding and plan to do more the next day. But more often than not, I do put away shovel, hoe, rake, watering can, and pruners. I have a potting bench under the big back porch and most stuff goes over there.

I try. I always forget to take the key to the garage out with me, so the tools are usually leaning near the garage door waiting to be put away. I leave my trowel all over the yard -- it's hopeless.

I always leave my hated gloves out in the rain so they get wet and I can't wear them when I need them. So my hands are always a mess.

The only thing I'm good with is my new Felco pruners that a good friend gave me for Christmas. I take them inside with me, wipe them off and put them on top of the fridge.

My DH is shocked. He's used to me cutting wire and doing all sorts of awful things to my el cheapo pruners.

You are kidding right? Most of them make it to the patio. I leave the hoses out all the time.
When we bought our first house, DH rolled up the hoses and put them in the garage. I ran around several days looking for them before asking if he had seen them. When he said he had rolled them up for the winter, I almost rolled on the floor laughing. I said, "you are new to Texas aren't you".
It drove DH crazy when he was alive. He was a carpenter and his toys cost a LOT more than mine.

What are secateurs? Clippers, prunners?

With the current drought I sometimes leave the hose out over night. I only water early morning or evening and sure don't feel like rolling it up after dark.

That said, having a good hose reel makes all the difference in the world. Found this one at Home Depot for about $80. Money well spent!

Here is a link that might be useful: cast aluminum hose reel

Ok, folks. I deserve this. After my post bragging that I put everything away in the shed after I'm done working......this morning I can't find my favorite narrow trowel I was using to plant containers yesterday. :(

I clean and put away my tools each evening. A few weeks ago my hand hoe went missing, probably in the compost bin. It has rained so much that I haven't been able to turn the pile and I have this uneasy feeling because I'm sure it must be in there.

A few years ago I bought a small chest of drawers at a garage sale to put in my garage and store my gardening supplies, hand tools in one drawer, gloves in another, etc.

Hoses get rolled up on a hose cart.

my garden tools may be left out occasionally but i'm still keeping my hoses hung up at night so the critters can't get to them. a few years ago i came out one morning and found that something, i'm guessing a baby raccoon, had bitten little holes all along my medium weight hose. buying a new one was too expensive to let that happen again! min

It started with an empty pot in the front yard last spring so I could take advantage of snippets of time without hauling tools & out back. Chronic pain & fatigue illness limits my endurance, so if I can save steps I can garden more.

Mid July pic of new garden & blue pot with trowel, old rusty already clippers, empty cut top off kept handle on milk jug for bits of weeds or clippings. {{gwi:691481}}From 2010 flower garden

Planned on putting the already planted liner back into that pot, but couldn't give up the convenience of having it there. I carry my gloves back to the house & leave on the porch in a basket or bring inside to dry if soaking wet which is customary in spring & fall here.

Bought more trowels to leave in all 3 garden areas (along driveway, front & backyards). You never know when you need a trowel to move a seedling or weed or slice a slug.

Large tools go back to rack on shed wall most of the time. Often ask family members to clean up for me because I work until exhausted trying to get it all done. When doing larger multiple day projects usually just back to the garden cart for the next day's work.

Tool belt (birthday gift from my mom purchased through Avon - surprise!) holds pruners & scissors. I wear that infrequently & store it inside the house away from our perpetual dampness in western WA. Haven't lost the pruners yet with that belt. Also, when planting out raspberry rows or building pallet potato towers I slipped the tape measure in as well. Great to have handy & when I had to make a mad dash inside during rain showers everything made it safely inside quickly.

Works for me~Corrine

Anytime I am anywhere working in the yard I have four things- my toolbag, with everything I could possibly need (pruners, small lopper, knives, scissors, twine, rooting hormone, phone, plant ties, snacks like fruit, weeder, trowel, rake, pencil, notepad, etc.), my seat (either a favorite rubbermaid one-step with a pad duck taped to it or my fancy rolling seat), a jug of water, and an empty plastic garbage can for trimmings and weeds. Hanging on the garbage can is a bottle of weed killer. Everything goes plant to plant as I go. It may take me two months to make it all the way around the yard, but little by little wins the race :)

When I am done for the day I dump the trimmings into the compost pile and put everything else into the garbage can so there's only the one thing I have to drag back to the house. Stuff stays in that in the garage until I head back out the next morning.

I put everything away everyday.
Not the hose during dry season as it's 400 feet and a bear, but everything else.
If something is lost it's because husband lost it. He can get things back to where they belong... almost- can get dishes to the counter but not into a cabinet, clean clothes to a dresser top but not inside a drawer.
It's infuriating.

But my memory is so bad if I didn't put my things where they go I'd never see them again.

I found my trowel yesterday. I was dumping the bucket I use when I'm weeding, and there it was half buried under last week's refuse;

CMK, I can relate to cearbhaill whose DH makes off with her tools. If my tools disappear, I just have to ask my DH. Trouble is, he never remembers using them. Yeah, right! Already this season, we have discussed, you might say, the good kitchen tablespoon left in the fertilizer � twice!, the hand trowel left in a bucket of dirt and worst of all, my fav pruners left in the rain, ironically, on the umbrella table - of course the umbrella was down. I hate rusty tools that don�t work their best and can even tear rather than cut a plant. I bought him secateurs (pruning clippers for use with one hand) of his own, almost like mine, but he still prefers mine. Trouble is, so do I or I would give them to him.

However, I cannot relate to some of your huge gardens and the problems they create. I love the multiple mailbox idea for tools around the gardens, but my gardens not large enough to warrant that. If I am doing multiple tasks with several tools, I keep the little ones, tools, fertilizer and sometimes slug bait in an old ice cream pail and carry the shovel &/or hoe along with me.

I used to put the hose away, but since I put spigots on each side of the house, I have too many to store in the garage,. I'm not about to put them in the attic until the gardening season comes to a close. I leave out my plastic padded kneeler/bench, cuz it is too difficult for me to deal with every time I quit working. Besides, I use it for my beverage table when I�m done and admiring the garden from my new glider.

I am almost fanatical, about my tools, but we never know for sure whether we will get rain and this year, it is almost a daily certainty. It�s like living and gardening in a rain forest!

What's going on with these little fraction numbers in my post? They showed up as question marks in the preview.

gramma jan, I thought you were just being colorful or swearing! too funny!

I have a tiny yard and a little utility room just where I turn off the water so it is easy for me and I do put everything away- except the hose.

I used to get so mad when I lived with my sister and she would leave my digging fork in the wheelbarrow to soak in the rain! Now I find out that she is in the majority! This has been eye opening! I am going to apologize to her. Linda Jo

grandmajan, contact the powers that be, more than one were having problems with either what you are experiencing now or zone info a while back. Use the 'Contact us' at the bottom of this page, see if they can sort it out.

Annette

Except for that last message which has me confused, this thread is funny! Just last night I was looking at my porch and wondering if I was the only one who had a collection of tools by her front door.

I love the idea of painting my tools bright colors! I also like the mailbox idea, I have one by my porch, but the DH has so many of his tools in there, there is no space for mine.....maybe I need to get a second one!

We have a garage but no garden shed, or room for one. Yes, large tools, the wheelbarrow etc. get put away after use. The garden scissors, and Felco pruners are in the kitchen drawer closest to the backdoor. Garden Shoes and Gloves on a boot tray near the door and a Stainless Steel Trowel and kneeling pad stay out in the garden ready to go every day. I do try to purchase tools with bright colored handles.

depends, 90% of the time shovels, pruners, mattock, other odd tools yes, sometimes shovel stays in my compost pile for a few days.

Wheelbarrow is almost never away, I usually tip to the side. Hose, most of the time rolled away, but if its out for some reason and it starts to rain, it stays there till its dry.

Plastic Buckets used for weeding and other stuff, never.. they stay out all year , they live in the garden I think.. I dont worry about them they were free from sams years ago, eventually the weather will wear them away, but not for quit awhile, then Ill throw them into the recycling bin.

Silverkelt

I have a vintage metal wheel wheelbarrow. That is ALWAYS put away after I clean it out. I love that thing.

Most of the time the tools are picked up, if not put back "where they belong". They usually make into a shed or the porch at least, so they won't get left in the rain.

The hose...welll...if it's dry and hot and I'm going to use it the next day, chances are it will be out. I keep it wound up in a whiskey barrel and it's a PITA to get in there so I don't like to put it back to just pull it back out, lol.

As I said before, I'm pretty good at putting tools away NOW.
what got me motivated in this direction is when I finally found my rabbiting spade. Picture is self explanatory.
Annette

Annette - At my house that would be called unintentional garden art, which is the only kind I ever have.

At the end of every workday my dad always had us put away our tools. Since it signaled that we were about to quit work for the day, it was always a welcome sound, especially on those rare days when it was beastly hot and he would let us knock off early to go swimming. In spite of the good training, I'm at best an eighty percenter. Rakes, cultivators, hoes, and such, I sometimes leave leaning against a tree or fence post until the next day.

TM

Well, that makes a nice little trellis, Annette!

Now you know why I named my garden "Dancin' with Weeds". I even had a plaque made for my old garden gate, nothing like keeping it real :). Annette