Do you spend hours rummaging through your sheds in Ipswich or Colchester, only to discover the tools you thought you had are lost under mounds of equipment? Not only does this limit the time spent in your garden, but it also costs money in the long run, as you are forced to replace the ‘lost’ item, only to find the original one several months – or even years – down the line.
Worse still, when you eventually find that vital piece of equipment, you end up putting everything back in the same disorganised way because you feel it ‘saves time’ and you will sort out your sheds later. Whether you live in Ipswich, or Colchester, or elsewhere in the country, a fully organised shed eliminates all this frustration and in the long run, makes gardening all the more pleasurable.
Sheds Ipswich – click here to view our full range of wooden garden sheds, garages, workshops and summerhouses.
How to Organise Your Shed
With winter fast approaching, now is the season to organise your sheds in your Essex or Suffolk garden. The time you spend on this depends on how big your shed is, and the amount of equipment stored; but, once this space is organised, you can relax in the knowledge that next year’s gardening tasks and outdoor maintenance work won’t take nearly as long.
Shelve It
Putting shelves up is a great timesaver and will almost double your storage space. It means objects are no longer battling for space on the floor; instead, you can store tools and equipment where you can see and reach them. Consider how much shelving you need before you start. If you need a lot of storage space, you may want shelves that run the entire length of the shed. Or, perhaps you want to go for smaller shelves, or a combination of the two?
Hooked on Storage
Hanging equipment on screws or hooks gives you valuable extra floor space. Place hooks under shelving to store gardening tools, such as hoes, spades and rakes, or smaller items like trowels. Another low-cost way to hang these items is on pieces of wood left over from DIY shelving. Just fix these wood pieces to a plank on the wall, so the ends jut outwards, creating a hanging space for tools. If you are less creative, you can easily source ready-made hooks from garden centres and DIY shops.
Replace or Repair
Winter is perfect time of the year to examine whether your gardening equipment is in full working order. Check whether your lawnmower is good condition, or whether it could do with repairs or a service to extend its lifespan. It is worth testing all your motorised and electrical equipment in your sheds. Ipswich and Colchester have a number of outlets offering repairs or replacement parts.
Go Plastic
One top tip is to store your smallest items in plastic boxes on shelves and label them. If your shelves are at eye level, or just above, you’ll know at a glance where everything is. Storing your items in an organised way is a great timesaver and means DIY jobs can be completed quickly and easily.
Room to Move
It may seem obvious, but try to leave enough floor space so you have the room to manoeuvre and reach the equipment at the back. Once you start shifting things around and moving items, you leave yourself exposed to accidents and injury. Tools stacked precariously on top of one another can easily fall, so keep this in mind when you organise your shed to avoid any injuries.
De-Clutter
Have a good purge and get rid of everything that is rusty, old, impossible to repair or too costly to fix. Either replace it with a new and upgraded version, or ask yourself whether you really do need it. By de-cluttering your shed, you can start the gardening season with a new lease of life.
Make Room
If you have a small shed and you can’t fit everything in, think of alternative storage solutions for winter. You might decide to store your garden furniture in a summer house, garage, attic, or utility room. Or, you could cover it with tarpaulin to protect it during the colder months.
About Nelson Potter
Nelson Potter timber merchants sell a wide range of garden-related products including fence panels, timber sheds, wooden posts, sleepers, garden furniture, gates, arches and arbours, decking, wire netting, log cabins, summer houses, wooden garages and sheds in the Ipswich and Colchester areas. For more information, visit us at Bromeswell, Woodbridge, or Bentley, Ipswich, or click on the link below to find out more.
Nelson Potter Sufoflk and Essex – click here to see our full range of wooden garden products.