Monday, April 26, 2010

The Plan, Part II

After putting together my list of To Do's this summer I somehow managed to overlook one very important item.  As I went out into the yard this past weekend ready to get down to business I realized - Where Are My Tools?!  If you'd like to dig a vegetable garden or weed a flower bed shovels, forks and weeders should be at your fingertips ready to do battle.  And so the following conversation ensued:

Jody, where's my garden fork, says I.

Outside, says he.

hmmmm.

Now outside is a very large place for a garden fork to be.  Is it in the shed?  The outhouse? (yes, we actually have an outhouse) The garage?  On the front porch?  In the driveway?  Laying in a flower bed?  It was later discovered leaning up against the back of the house.  This will never do says I. 

So the New Amended Garden Plan has now grown to include a section called - Create a Work Space.  Otherwise entitled Clean Out The Garage.  Our garage has become a dumping ground over the winter months for objects that didn't belong in the house and things we didn't want to be confronted with on a daily basis.  It has grown to look like this:



Somewhere in there are my gardening tools.  While cleaning out the garage isn't the most enticing chore all I really wanted to start with was my garden tools.  So step one was simply to organize a workspace.  Now I must confess that I'm a very lucky gal.  My husband is a woodworker and can be cajoled every so often into building items for my garden.  Several years ago he built me the most wondrous potting bench which houses all of my garden goodies.  We cleaned out a space, found the bench parts and put it together.



Once I had my bench up my hand tools practically flew out of the dark corners and placed themselves up on the bench for me.  Who wouldn't want to make themselves at home on that bench!  After that I pulled out all of the large handled tools.  Many were left behind by the former owner of the house so lots of organizing was needed.  I managed to pick up a tool rack second hand for this purpose and it worked wonders.  The Plano Molding 9123 Corner Tool Rack is similar to my own except that mine is not a corner unit.  Ironically I paid more for mine but that's okay because it works perfectly.  And finally my space is useable.



What a great feeling.  Now when I want to start a project I'll be able to quickly find the tools to do it.  And the first step of the great garage clean up has begun.

8 comments:

Kyna said...

How handy that your husband is a woodworker! :D Mine knows his way around woodworking, but just lacks the tools to do any fine work :( He's a drywall hanger and finisher. So if I accidentally knock a hole in the wall, I'm covered! :)

I didn't think it was weird that you have an outhouse. I just thought it was a little weird that the garden fork could be in there...O_O ?

Great blog, I'glad to meet you :D

Marguerite said...

LOL! I guess I should have explained that! The 'hole' in the outhouse has been covered over and it was being used a storage space when we took over the house. Not sure if there's a pit still under there or not. Thanks for visiting Kyna.

Abby said...

Oooohhhh, green with envy! What a gorgeous looking piece. And so organized. Sigh.

Abby @ Green Slate

Marguerite said...

of course, I haven't had a chance to make a mess of it yet!!

Jess said...

Hi there! Saw you on blotanical. My mom has the problem of very large rural garden with ahem... garden tools somewhere, so she has basically come up with a solution of a trowel and a garden spade staked in each garden space around the property, hidden by the plants. Some have two sets. You always have to look but you never have to look far!

Marguerite said...

Welcome Jess! glad you stopped in. I've wondered how I'm going to keep things orderly with this much space. Seems like I could spend a lot of time looking for tools or exert a lot of energy carrying them around with me. I like your suggestion better! Thanks for the idea. Marguerite

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Your work space is an inspiration to many no doubt. Just having ones tools at your fingertips makes you more likely to carry out a task. At least I keep telling myself that. Ha... Thanks for stopping by my blog and faving me. It will be fun to watch your garden evolve.

Marguerite said...

Hi Lisa, thanks for stopping by! and for the lovely compliment. You do realize that this picture is very closely cropped to show just the small area where the bench is located and not the mess beside it right? ;-)