These smart ideas will help you prep for a no-clutter yard work season.
12 Ingenious Gardening and Yard Tool Storage Tips
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Garden Tool Hideaway
A mailbox hidden behind shrubs near your garden provides a convenient home for tools. A small mailbox like this one costs less than $20 at hardware stores and home centers. King-size models cost about $35. — Lynn Samples
DIYers tend to accumulate all kinds of tools for all kinds of projects. The key to staying efficient, though, is to make sure you always have the right tools at hand.
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Garage Storage
Cardboard concrete-forming tubes are inexpensive ($10 at any home center) and provide a great place to store baseball bats, long-handled tools and rolls of just about anything. Rest the tubes on a piece of 2×4 to keep them high and dry. Secure each tube to a garage stud with a plumbing strap. — David S. Mallinak
Check out these 51 Brilliant Ways to Organize Your Garage.
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PVC Tool Holder
Build this rack to store your tools on the wall. Use a jigsaw to cut a 1-1/4-in.-wide notch the length of a 2-in.-diameter PVC pipe. Cut several 3-1/2-in.-long, 1/8-in.-wide holes behind the notch. Use 1-1/4-in. drywall screws to attach these pieces to a 2×4 screwed to the wall. —John Schorling
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Tool Bucket
A 5-gallon bucket comes in handy out in the garden—and not just for collecting weeds. You can load it up with all your gardening tools and carry them easily from place to place. If it starts to rain, protect the tools with the lid. But here’s the best part—it doubles as a portable stool when you need to rest or do some pruning. The only problem is that the lid can be hard to pry off. Solve that by cutting off all but two of the plastic tabs. The lid will go on and off in a snap. — Julie Abbott
Check out these 15 Brilliant 5-Gallon Bucket Hacks for Your Home.
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Hang-it-High Helper
With this extension pole, you can hang objects in high, hard-to-reach areas. Attach a spring clamp to the end of an ABS or PVC drainpipe, and use the end of the clamp as a hook to lift items on or off a hook or nail. — Joseph and Debra Wronkowski
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Hang-it-All Hooks
Those plastic hooks that plumbers use to support pipes make convenient hangers for just about anything. They’re strong and cheap and they come in a range of sizes. Find them in the plumbing aisle at home centers and hardware stores. — Lori Callister
Need more places to store your stuff? We asked our pro storage gurus for their favorite storage tips and advice.
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Save Your Lawn Products
Leave a bag of fertilizer or weed killer open for long and it’ll soak up moisture from the air and won’t go through a spreader. Even grass seed could use an extra layer of protection from a moisture-wicking concrete floor. Place opened bags of lawn products in large resealable plastic bags ($1 at discount stores). The products will be free of clumps or pests when you need them. — James A. Hanna
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Garden Gear Caddy
An old golf bag, especially one on a cart, is perfect for storing and hauling garden tools. Get them all to the garden in one trip and park them in the caddy shack when you’re done. Fore! — Randy Roush
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Simple Spiral Hose Storage
Here’s a handy tip for storing your spiral hoses so they don’t end up tangled. Just wrap them around the handle of a rake or shovel. The long-handled tool does double duty! — Bill Aloi
Check out these 27 Life-Changing Garage Organization Ideas.
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Storage Hooks
Get ladders, tree pruners, kids’ bikes and other unwieldy items off your garage floor with these inexpensive PVC hooks. For heavy items, you could make the hook out of steel pipe. — Fred Kendle
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Yard Tool Organizer
Create a simple long-handled tool hanger out of two 1x4s. On the first one, drill a series of 2-in. holes along the edge of the board. The trick is to center each hole about 1 in. from the edge. That leaves a 1-1/2-in. slot in the front that you can slip the handles through. Space the holes to accommodate whatever it is you’re hanging. Screw that board to another 1×4 for the back and add 45-degree brackets to keep it from sagging. If you wish, pound nails into the vertical board to hang even more stuff. No more tripping over the shovels to get to the rakes! — Robert Johnson
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Wheelbarrow Rack
Hang up your wheelbarrow to free up floor space. Center a 2-ft. 1×4 across two studs, 2 ft. above the floor. Tack it into place, then drive 3-in. screws through metal mending plates and the 1×4 and into the studs. Leave about 3/4 in. of the plate above the 1×4 to catch the rim. Rest the wheelbarrow on the 1×4 as shown, and mark the studs 1 in. above the wheelbarrow bucket. Drill pilot holes and screw ceiling hooks into the studs. Twist the hooks so they catch on the wheelbarrow lip and hold it in place. — Bryan Turnbo
