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A good shed is simply a must in your garden – you can take all those tools and kids’ toys that are lying around and give them a storage place, where they won’t get lost and they’ll be safe from the weather.

Even if you don’t have a big garden, there’s a shed small enough to suit you. You’ll be surprised by the amount of space you’ll save you just by getting things like lawnmowers and chairs out of the way. And if you do have a big garden then you can really shed your inhibitions!

Once you’ve decided on size and you’ve chosen a garden shed, there are two ways to get it put up: either you can do it yourself, or you can pay someone to do it for you. Sheds often come with an option for delivery and assembly, so just ask.

Doing it yourself can be fun if you’ve got a spare weekend, and it’s really satisfying to see something you’ve built yourself standing in your garden. Sheds these days come with easy instructions and can be surprisingly quick to make, although it is advisable to rope in a friend or relative to help you.

However, if you’re not the do-it-yourself type, it’s worth considering getting the company to do it for you. It isn’t all that expensive, and they will have built that shed a thousand times before – so you know it’ll be done right. But perhaps it’s time to shed your inhibitions and have a go at building something yourself!

If you want to get into some serious home handyman jobs, you might find you need to do some welding at some stage.

Welding dates back thousands of years to the Bronze Age. Over the years, the art of welding has advanced and improvements made to make it easier, safer and more useful. Welding can be done inside the workshop shed or garage, or even outside, and on land or underwater – even in outer space!

To get started you will need the basics:
* A 230 volt AC power source – also known as a “buzz box”;
* A welder’s helmet with additional goggles underneath to protect your eyes;
* Gauntlet style gloves;
* A heavy leather or other natural fibre jacket and cap;
* Thick rubber soled boots;
* Heavy duty denim jeans;
* E6011 and/or E6013 all-purpose mild-steel electrodes – Get both 1/8″ and 5/32″ diameter rods to use with metals of 1/8″ thickness or more;
* A pile of flat steel scraps in various thicknesses (though ideally you want 1/8″ to 3/8″.) from your local metal supply yard;

The safety equipment is not an optional extra in welding if you want to avoid serious injury. Once you’ve gathered all this, you’re ready to start AC arc welding. There are a number of opportunities around to learn to arc weld, check at your local TAFE or check online – You Tube has a number of videos on the subject.

Don’t forget, when you’re welding in the garage or shed, you’ll need to shield any flammable items from sparks.

Regular maintenance of your garden tools will increase their life, help prevent personal injury, and increase your gardening enjoyment.
Garden Hoses
Proper storage will stop your hose from kinking and cracking and stopping the water flow. Use a reel and if you have reticulation and rarely use your hose, store it in your garden shed.

Metal Garden Rakes

An upturned rake can inflict painful and sometimes serious puncture wounds when stepped on, to say nothing about the possibility of the handle flying up and hitting you in the face. When you aren’t using it, send it to the shed!

Wooden Handle Tools

When you first get them home, apply several coats of quality varnish or paint. Bring already damaged wooden handles up to scratch by sanding splinters until smooth, then paint to prevent further wear.

Metal Tools

If the metal edges of shovels, hoes, rakes or other garden tools are nicked, smooth them with a metal file. Any rough surfaces should be gone over with steel wool or other abrasive which is good for metal. Any moving metal parts should be oiled occasionally.

All tools should be stored in a dry spot like the garden shed – after all, that’s why you bought it isn’t it?

If you’re about to create a garden of your own for the first time, why not start by having all the right gear! Below are a few of your garden basics. Start with what you need most and in no time you’ll have all the equipment you need to create a masterpiece.

• Lawnmowers – they come in many shapes and sizes – from a push mower to easy pull action petrol mowers to the ride on mowers for your acreage.
• Garden Shredders – although not essential they’re handy for decreasing the bulk of your trimmings quickly so that you can dispose of them easily. Gardening shredders with an electric shredder are suitable for branches up to a maximum of 40 mm.
• Cultivators – these are used to help in cutting the hard compacted soil smoothly. They are perfect for cleaning the moss, aerating the soil and in thatching. A cultivator will aid in preparing vegetable plots, flowerbeds, etc.
• Hedge Trimmer/Pruning Sheers – self explanatory!
• Spading fork – this is a versatile tool used for aerating and transplanting. Use this to split grasses and perennials. It can also be used as a manure fork, mulch fork, and sorting hay.
• Mattock – used for breaking up the clay soils and working around established trees with roots. A unique two-in-one tool, if you have a mattock there is no need for a pick and a hoe.

To add to our series of posts on the strange things people have found in their sheds, the following comes to us from the UK.Waiting to be revealed to the world for between 4,000 and 5,000 years a neolithic flint axe sat in a garden shed drawer for another 40 years because the owner of the shed did not recognize its significance – according to a 2007 edition of the Evesham Journal.

The Neolithic age or new stone age was a period that is recognized as the last part of the Stone Age. The Neolithic era, following the end of the Holocene Epipalaeolithic period, marked the beginning of farming, which evolved into the Neolithic Revolution and finally the age of metal tools in the Copper Age, chalcolithic or Bronze Age.

Arthur Mason, aged 80, from Elmley Castle, originally found the axe while walking out in Cropthorne. Thinking nothing more of it, he left it sitting in his garden shed drawer until he decided to show it to his friend Tony Tarran. In the course of their “shed chat” about curious things they had discovered, Arthur showed the axe to Tony who convinced Arthur to make some enquiries about the axe.

In an attempt to find more information, the two men took the neolithic axe to the Almonry Museum in Eveshamand then to Worcester Portable Antiquities to pinpoint the exact era it originated from.

Most people dream about finding a rare item, but it took Arthur 40 years to realise the importance of his discovery. The axe looks small but it’s an important archaeological find and is now in the Worcestershire City Museum where it can be privately viewed.

If you’ve found something odd in your shed, feel free to share it with us!

There are many ways to use your backyard shed other than for housing gardening tools. You could use it as a workshop for building small pieces of furniture. Or, you could use it as a craft room for creating all of those wonderful things that are fun to make, but make too much mess in the house.

Some garden sheds come in very simple and basic designs. They have a door and window for light and little else. You get to fill up the walls and floor however you like.

The key to getting the right garden shed is to know what you will be using it for. Are you an artist who needs a place to draw, paint or sculpt? Are you a woodworker making small furniture and birdhouses? Are you a craftsperson who makes jewellery or small knickknacks?

Perhaps you already have a garden shed that you want to convert into a small workshop or craft room. With a little bit of creativity and hard work you can do that. Just clean it out and scrub it down. Put in any tables or shelves might you want and maybe a few chairs and you’re ready to start using your new room.

Is there a shed hobby you’ve been longing to pursue?

Mother Nature is doing if tough these days. Getting your children involved in the outdoors early in life can help them learn to appreciate our world and care for it.

Here are some of the benefits that gardening can provide children:

1. Science: In planting, children will learn about the plant’s life cycle and how, with proper care, their plants will thrive.
2. Life: There are many correlations between your garden and human life that can be demonstrated to your children through gardening. For example, as plants need water, sunlight, air and soil, so too people need water, shelter, air, food. A weeding activity can educate how bad influences should be avoided to allow life to progress more easily.
3. Relaxation: Studies show that gardening can reduce stress because of its calming effect. This is so for children and adults. Children need to learn ways of coping with this often stressful world. It also helps build their self-esteem.
4. Quality Time with the Family: Put aside your stressful work life for a while and enjoy the garden. You can talk while watering the plants or you can work quietly beside each other. Where possible, always do what you have to do, together with your kids. You might discover a lot of new things about your child while working with them in your garden.

Is it time you got your kids into gardening?

A herb garden around your garden shed will make it look more homely and you’ll also have a ready supply of fresh herbs when you’re cooking.

Growing herbs is one of the easiest jobs in your garden. You can grow them in pots but they prefer growing in the ground so they can spread out – some will grow to 4 – 6′. Most prefer to grow in full sun, but that doesn’t mean the sun beating down on them all day every day – exposure of around 4 hours a day (morning or afternoon) will make your herbs happy.

Preparing the area is the most important part of this exercise. Dig up the garden bed to loosen it – this allow roots to spread and water to drain. Add about an inch of compost to the bed and dig it through.

Plant your herbs allowing 1 foot square for chives, dill and parsley, 2 foot square for basil, thyme and tarragon and 3 feet for rosemary, sage, mint and marjoram.

Keep a close eye on your herb garden to make sure you are watering enough. Use mulch to prevent evaporation and soil wetting agents to conserve water. If the soil gets very dry, you may need to water more often, but more is not better – don’t over water.

In just a few weeks you could be cooking with home grown herbs.

We Australians take great pride in our heritage and the humble shed is part of that. The outback dunny has all but disappeared, but the shed lives on and goes from strength to strength.

Early settlers stored tools or rum in their sheds. These were no ordinary sheds – they were well built and some still exist today.
Every self-respecting Aussie bloke wants his own shed. Whether small or large, a place to visit occasionally or even to “live” in, the Aussie shed is a tradition that will last forever – we hope!

But women are starting to venture out there! Not necessarily to take away his private retreat – but to improve it. To remind him to keep it clean; to help him choose curtains for the window. After all (she thinks!) how much fun can you have in a shed without a few creature comforts?

From the male point of view, it’s the final bastion of male domination and worthy of protecting from female invasion. The shed is a place for blokes to be blokes and bond (without any touchy feely stuff). To scratch their…well anywhere they want to scratch. It’s a place where they can talk about cars and be understood without having to explain – again. Where they don’t have to think about or deal with emotion. It’s a place to build and fix things and have the satisfaction of knowing that they can do anything, at least until they leave their shed…

Where this backyard battle will end is anyone’s guess.

Working alone in the backyard shed can be very satisfying, but you always have company of some sort, whether you want it or not – ants and spiders.

Regular spraying for insects will help to keep them under control. Most spiders are harmless, but there are a few in Australia species that can cause serious problems and even death.

When working outdoors wear gloves and always check underneath things such as pots and outdoor furniture before grabbing them with your hand. Dark protected areas under chairs, tables and any outdoor surface are attractive dwellings for spiders.

Outdoor lighting attracts insects and where there are insects, there are spiders – notice how they like to have webs around the front door light. Change your bulb to a sodium lamp as bugs are not attracted to this type of lighting and the area will not be as enticing to spiders.

Ants easily adapt to changing environments, so once you eliminate them in one area of your shed, they will pop again elsewhere.

Follow the trail of ants to locate their nest. Have you noticed how they seem to following the same route – they leave a scent so that they can find their way back to the nest. Select bait from your hardware store and place it near the pathway. The ants will take the bait back to the colony and spread it around.

Those little mounds of soil in the cracks between your pavers are nest entrances. Flooding the nest with boiling water is also an effective way of dealing with ants.