How to properly prepare gardening equipment for the new season
The spring gardening and operations season is in full swing. Now’s the time to get your gardening tools. HELPS, RAKES, shovels, scythes, forks, hoes – indispensable helpers of every owner caring for the garden, vegetable garden and personal plot. Important modern helpers of all homeowners are sprayers, saws, lawn mowers, electric lines for bushes, pumps, grinders and other garden equipment. Without them, the care of the ground and plants will be incomplete, and at the same time, the harvest.
To avoid unpleasant surprises in the spring and garden equipment did not fail, it must be properly prepared for the new season. Proper memory – the key to effective work in the future. In order to keep your garden equipment in perfect working order, you need to follow a few simple rules for storing it during the cold season.
Cordless and electric garden tools
Cordless and electric gardening equipment is very popular today because it is efficient to work with and convenient to use. For example, the well-known Makita garden tools have long gained the trust of users. The high quality of Makita garden equipment and the introduction of innovative achievements in its design allows not only to facilitate the care of the garden, vegetable garden and personal plot, but also to increase its efficiency with minimal labor costs.
Drain the fuel residue
If your garden equipment runs on fuel, you should destroy the fuel tank before storing it for an extended period of time. The reason: Fuel loses its ability to ignite when stored for long periods of time – leaving it in the fuel tank can cause engine problems in the spring. If there is some fuel left in the fuel tank after the last lawn mowing, you should work it out or mow the lawn until the engine stops.
Check the lubrication level
The oil level should be checked before long periods of storage, as the tool and engine should be in good condition. The oil level gauge is used to check the internal parts of the engine, which should be sufficiently lubricated to prevent wear and corrosion. If necessary, change the oil (by yourself or your dealer). When doing so, follow the instructions in the instruction manual for your gardening equipment.
Clean thoroughly after use
The gardening tool should be thoroughly cleaned after use. Let’s take the lawnmower as an example. After mowing with a lawn mower, the grass remaining in the housing can be removed with a trowel (wooden or plastic). Grass must not remain between the engine cooling fins and in the exhaust area, otherwise there is a risk of fire. You should use a brush and water to clean the lawnmower. You can also clean it with a garden hose.
WARNING: Do not direct the water jet at the bearings, seals or engine parts, it may damage the tool.
To clean the underside of the housing, the lawnmower must be brought out so that the spark plug is in place. If the tool is moved to the air filter or exhaust system, lubrication can cause damage.
Final check
The mower blade should work until it is used for the first time in the spring. If cracks and grooves are visible, it should be replaced. If not, you should remove and sharpen the blade or have a specialist sharpen and compensate the blade. For optimum performance, it is recommended that this process be repeated regularly, about every 25 working hours.
Choose the right location
After maintenance, the lawn mower should be covered and placed in a dry, dust-free location. The mower should be kept in a horizontal position.
Attention: The lawnmower with starter battery must be stored in a place protected from low temperatures!
Before the winter, grease the chain saw’s parts. This will keep it in good working order. Store such tools in a dry and ventilated place. However, you should refer to the instruction manual which specifies the storage conditions.
The sprayer used when treating plants with chemicals must be rinsed thoroughly in plenty of running water. Otherwise, residues of used substances will remain in it.
When the tool is not in use, keep it out of the reach of children. If it needs to be repaired, winter is a good time to do so.
Gardening Crafts
Despite the innovations of gardening equipment, the garden tool is still an indispensable assistant of every gardener and gardener. He needs to pay attention when preparing for the new season.
Preparation of hand tools
Before using the tool, it is necessary to clean it. After all, soil remains on the metal, on the handles – plants and their sap. Grass and weeds get lodged between the handle and the tool itself. If the tool is not cleaned after each use and deteriorates from dirt and excessive moisture before long-term storage.
Rust and dirt from metal surfaces should be removed with a metal brush. Then, wash with a cloth and warm water to completely remove the dirt. Some laundry soap or dish soap can be added to the water. Wiping with grease: Solidol, lithol, machine oil. This keeps the corrosion “metal out there.”
Tools with sharp and cutting parts should preferably be hidden in cover sheets. Beforehand, the sharp edges of the tools should be sharpened with a file or a bar on a machine. During storage you should not blunt.
Wooden handles should be treated with sandpaper, remove the comb and remove defects. The slanted parts should be defined. They should then be varnished or painted for longer storage. In addition, the wooden parts can be protected with olive oil – the handles will not dry out.
Metal surfaces of the tools can be wiped down with oil to keep them from rusting in the winter. A popular and effective type of reliable storage of garden tools is a refined immersion (3-4 times) in a bucket with a mixture of river sand and machine oil (can be used). Some experienced owners use a mixture of sand and vegetable oil in small quantities to avoid getting motor oil in the ground. This way the equipment will be clean and lubricated.
Depending on the design, garden shears and primus are better stored open – so that the spring is not constantly compressed or wrapped in a special case or in newspaper.
Saw, axe for the winter is placed in a cover or wrapped in paper. You can use the sleeves of old professionals for this purpose. The teeth are covered with a slit with a garden hose.
It is not necessary to use bags or foils for storage of equipment – moisture is easily formed in them, which causes the appearance of rust on metal surfaces and decrepitude of trees.
Ideally, it is desirable to dry the tools provided outside in order and storage conditions (maximum moisture through cracks and joints will come out in the sun), and then in a dry and well-ventilated place not to promote the appearance of corrosion and fungus, and sunlight not to exaggerate the wooden parts of the equipment. This can be a special container or a large wooden box with a frame in a shed, extension, garage or even under a shed.
Before introducing frosting, all water must be drained from the funnels, buckets, and hoses. Hoses should be rolled up and placed in a cool place to keep them from drying out. Hoses should not be kept on a thin bracket. It will sag under its own weight and get damaged. It is safe and convenient to use an old large pot that is screwed from the floor to the wall to winterize the hose. The hose is wrapped around it. Or you can keep it lying down.
How to store – vertically or horizontally?
Most often the equipment is stored vertically or horizontally on the wall, whichever is convenient. If stored horizontally, vertical rods or frames that are smaller than the wavelength are attached to the wall at a distance from each other. Nails are drilled or cut in the boards at right angles (slightly larger than the diameter of the handles). In this way, the inventory is placed in a horizontal position.
There are many mounting options for vertical storage – from simply hanging on hooks or thick nails to attaching pipes. You can mount a long horizontal shelf with the holes removed and fix plastic pipe scraps to it. It is desirable to hang tools on the wall with the working part – so they do not get wet.
In whatever form the equipment is stored, it should be far from the ground, so that it is constantly ventilated. Some owners keep small tools in a bucket of sand – this protects the metal from corrosion.
As you can see, so that garden tools and garden equipment will not let you down in the new season, you should pay special attention to the preparation for storage during the winter.
Preparing tools and equipment for work in the cottage
THE flower on January 30, 2013
Good tools are the key to a great harvest. February is the time to prepare garden tools for the new season. Therefore, there is little work in the garden, but in advance it allows you to start a fruitful work on the plot every sunny day.
Every gardener should have a variety of garden tools: shovels, spades and bayonets, pitchforks, rakes, choppers, pliers, cleavers, cultivators and some other types of garden tools. Each of them has its own individual purpose. Therefore, the annual purchase of some types of new devices should be the rule of every gardener.
In the case of shovels, the most common winter problems are rust, broken and crooked cuttings, poor tool attachment and various cracks. If a bayonet shovel is dull, it is best to sharpen it with a file. Rust can be removed fairly easily with motor oil.
Forks and choppers, which are needed to loosen the soil well, should be oiled to remove last year’s rust and sharpen the ends. The main advantage of this type of garden tools is that they easily absorb any floor, regardless of its moisture and density. Weeds are removed fairly quickly, and there is no need to exert excessive effort to loosen the ground in hard-to-reach areas. With a well-sharpened double hoe, this can be done without any problems. And for the forks, the main advantage is the well-hardened and lapped tines. In addition to taking good care of the blades, you should not forget about the cuttings. Its main advantages should be its correct length, smooth surface and high durability. The rough surface of a hoe or fork handle can easily be shaped with simple sandpaper. After a thorough treatment, the cutter should be easily lubricated with machine oil.
The foot nozzles, which are mainly designed for loosening the ground, should be well serrated and light. Shredding removes more weeds and loosens the floor of the beds. When working with this tool, a lot of mechanical movements are made, so the cuttings should be even and of the right length.
Garden rake in the spring is necessary to free the garden from mulch and other wooden particles that protected the soil during the cold season. Therefore, all you are required to do is the usual sharpening and lubrication.
Small garden shovels, rakes, cuttings, which are designed to work in the beds, it is better to put in order in advance. When buying, you should pay attention to their quality, because a bad garden tool can complicate and slow down the work on the construction site in the future. And on spring days, every delay can cost a crop.
Hardening garden tools
An important way to prepare garden tools for the new summer season is to harden them. After the initial sharpening of a garden tool, it should be placed in a salt solution. The solution is prepared at the rate of 5 tablespoons of table salt per liter of water. In this solution, the tool should be kept for at least half an hour. The only thing to consider in this case is the strength of the steel of which the inventory is made. If the strength is high, a temperature of about 30-35 degrees is suitable for hardening in a salt solution, but for softer and less strong steel it is better to use a solution of 35-40 degrees. With this method of steel hardening, brittle and hard metal becomes more flexible and soft and brittle metal becomes harder. This method of hardening was used by our ancestors centuries ago, so it will not let us down either. The final sharpening can be continued only after hardening the tool with salt.
Among the garden tools that require special preparation for the spring season, we can proudly highlight hacksaws. Each tooth of the hacksaw is pulled in the right direction and then oiled. When preparing the secateurs, it is important to consider the stroke and eliminate any backlash. The spring of the secateurs is liberally oiled after the tool has been properly sharpened.
It would seem that such an insignificant little thing as a ready-made garden tool can provide any gardener not only a great harvest, but also a good mood during the work of planting plants.
