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SHED-LOAD OF VERY IMPORTANT JOBS

DEEP CLEAN: Look after your garden tools and give them a good oiling

Saturday November 29,2008

By Alan Titchmarsh

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SHEDS are wonderful places in winter – your own private retreat from the outside world – so it’s worth saving up a few pleasant little “inside” jobs to potter over.

Make it a firm rule not to stint on home comforts: a radio and a flask of tea will help you tinker far more cosily.

I’d also suggest a stool and workbench – an armchair suggests a rather slack attitude to your “work” which may rouse suspicions that you aren’t actually doing anything useful down there at all (my own shed back at Barleywood, which Gardeners’ World viewers of a few years back may remember, had some very efficient racking for pots and tools plus a pot-bellied stove and a complete tea-making kit but I got away with that on the grounds that it doubled as the “staff canteen” for the camera crew).

Then it’s down to work. All your garden tools need a thorough cleaning and oiling.

Anything with a blade benefits from sharpening and that doesn’t just mean shears and secateurs, a hoe works far better if the edge is touched up – they are naturally blunted by constantly being pushed through abrasive soil. If rusted, secateur blades need replacing, or if you need a new wooden handle for an old spade or hoe now’s the time to see to them.

Don't stint on home comforts: a radio and a flask of tea will help you tinker far more cosily.

You can often get spares at garden centres, old-fashioned hardware stores or sometimes the big DIY centres.

Another important shed job is seeing to the mower. A petrol machine needs sending away for a service but small push or electric mowers just need cleaning, oiling, blades sharpening and, in the case of hover mowers, the air filters
require cleaning or changing.

If you have stored fruit or veg, you can while away the hours by removing any going bad and do the same with any summer bulbs such as gladioli – one rotten one is all it takes to set the rest off.

Treat bamboo canes with a plant-friendly preservative, clean plastic plant labels ready to re-use and wash out seed trays and pots. You can also build a bird table or make some nest boxes or make up bits of plank into DIY raised-bed kits, ready for spring.

It pays to keep on top of these jobs. Just don’t finish them all — in times of crisis, you’ll have a good excuse for some “gardening leave”.