Here are some organizing tips to save you time and footsteps going to and from your garden. Use a tote to organize the basics needed every time you step into your garden. Some people like to use a bucket with a contractor’s tool pouch insert or a flat plastic tote with compartments, like housekeeper’s use. Others might just use a kid’s knapsack leftover from the last school year.
A basic list to get you started:
- garden scissors for snipping flowers and string
- pruning shears for cutting woody stems
- string or twine (natural fiber strings can be composted)
- gardeners tape
- plant markers
- gloves
- trowel or other favorite hand tools
- bottle of water to keep you hydrated
- sun screen or hat
- garden journal (could write a whole article on the benefits of one of these)
Hints: I save household items for use in the garden. For instance, I save the extra-long wire, twisty wraps, covered with paper, from veggies like broccoli to use in the garden for tying up tomatoes and other vines. Old fashion clothes pins can come in real handy too for keeping the netting in place over berries or veggies. Old pill bottles are useful for storing seeds. I label and date the bottles of seeds so I can identify them the following year. I store the envelopes of store-bought seeds in a plastic box to keep them dry and accessible for a day of planting.
Depending on the size of your garden tote you may need a separate container to carry all your irrigation supplies (emitters, hole punch, goof plugs, fittings etc.). You don’t want to get out there and discover you need to replace an emitter and have to drop everything to walk back to the garage or the shed. You know what happens when you get close to the house…DISTRACTIONS!
Depending on the size of your garden tote you may need a separate container to carry all your irrigation supplies (emitters, hole punch, goof plugs, fittings etc.). You don’t want to get out there and discover you need to replace an emitter and have to drop everything to walk back to the garage or the shed. You know what happens when you get close to the house…DISTRACTIONS!
Jillian Stocks of Jillian Stocks Organizing
Debora Farrington of Home Organize Design
