Now is the time to prep your Yard for Spring, so Clean and Sharpen those Garden Tools!

The month of March—when temps are beginning to rise but before those April showers—is the ideal time to get down and dirty with those maintenance projects, says J.B. Sassano, president of Mr. Handyman, a commercial and residential repair, maintenance, and improvement franchise. March “home maintenance projects can extend the longevity and improve the quality of your home, inside and out,” he says. Spring also heralds the arrival of the lawn and garden season! Start bringing your yard back to life now, before temperatures warm up for real.

If you left your garden shed in disarray last fall, take some time now to clean and sharpen garden tools to give you a fresh start. Clean, sharp tools not only make the job easier, but they also help prevent the spread of garden diseases and pests that may be hiding out in the soil.  Below are some tips from the experts at Today’s Homeowner to show you exactly “how to” do it right.

• Hand Tools: Cleaning and sharpening gardening hand tools, such as shovels and trowels, is a simple job involving a little elbow grease. Use steel wool or a wire brush to thoroughly clean and remove rust from the tools, then use a steel file to remove burrs and lightly sharpen the edges. Sand wooden handles with medium-grit sandpaper. Finally, apply a coat of oil to the blades and wooden handles to seal and protect the surfaces.
• Pruning Tools: Fine cutting tools, such as pruning shears, will benefit from being taken apart and carefully sharpened using a honing stone.
• Lawn Mower: Sharpen lawn mower blades by removing the spark plug wire, then loosening the bolt to remove the blade. Sharpen the blade using a metal file, bench grinder, or belt sander. Replace the blade, making sure it’s facing the same direction it was before, and tighten up the bolt before replacing the spark plug wire.

Now that your tools are in ship shape order, it’s time to prep the garden for Spring.  Start by removing branches, large debris, and stones, and use your lawn mower with a catch bag to make short work of dead leaves and twigs. Take advantage of winter’s thinner foliage to weed and clear basins.  In fact, you may want to re-do your basins so you don’t end up with your drippers/sprinklers watering the driveway rather than your flowers.  Once you’ve re-dug your basins, on the next warm’ish day, check your dripper/sprinkler system to make sure it hasn’t sprung any leaks during the frosty winter months.

Speaking of flowers… got roses? For full, beautiful blooms, most landscaping experts will tell you to prune your rose bushes just before the plant breaks dormancy and after the final frost—around mid-March for much of the country. If any buds are diseased, bag and toss them in the trash to avoid spreading fungus and infestations.

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Photo Credit:  Radovan1 / Shutterstock.com