Organize your Garden Shed

It’s time to organize the garden shed. Every year I give my shed a good cleaning at the beginning of garden season. And as I was doing this I realized that I have not shared my garden shed organization secrets with you! So let’s do that now.

My Garden Shed

My garden shed is just a standard 8 x 9 foot vinyl garden shed, similar to this one . It came with our house when we moved here. It was basically an empty box. No  work bench, no storage, But at least it was clean and new. It’s watertight and has a couple of windows that open for air flow. If you look very closely at this photo you will see my little dog Sage peeking out. Ready to help out, as always!

Yard Challenge

In 2018 I did a 6 week yard challenge with my friend Nat  from Simple Family, Crazy Life. If you want to check it out, here are all 6 weeks of the challenge

Week 1| Week 2| Week 3| Week 4|Week 5 | Week 6| Update

One of the pieces that I did as part of the challenge was to do a garden tool storage wall in my shed. It is now two years later, and I can tell you that it looks almost exactly the same!!! It has stood up amazingly well. Here’s what it looks like.

Garden Bench

One of the things you need in your garden shed is a garden bench. I used an old oak desk to make mine.  I have had this desk for a very long time. But when we moved, I just really didn’t have any space for it in my house. So, I tried to sell it. I think I started at $150 and made my way down to $50. But no takers, apparently there is no re-sale for these desks (at least not
where I live) So I decided to give it a new life in my garden shed as the base of my garden bench.Actually the reason that it came to me, was because I was storing the 2 pedestal portions out there, and I thought – hmmmm. these are the perfect height for a workbench. With the addition of some 2″ x 10″ boards cut to fit, it perfectly fit the width of the shed. I also removed the bottom drawers, so I had an opening underneath for more storage. I needed space for my pressure washer and sprayer. The lawn mower just tucks under the bench. I gave the whole thing a coat of grey paint so it all matches.

Additional Storage

Once I had the bench and the tool wall in place I added more storage. Because you can’t have too much storage, and you really don’t want the floor of your garden shed all cluttered up with STUFF. It all needs a place to live. I used the same storage shelf as I used in my recycling station and I cut down the support posts so that the shelves were just tall enough to accommodate a 10 gallon Rubbermaid Storage Tote. I left the top shelf open for boxes of fertilizer, lawn decor and other misc. items Then I assembled the whole thing and gave it a home on left hand side of the garden bench. The 4 storage containers were labelled as follows.

• Cords and Cables

• Spare Parts

• Attachments

• Fertilizer

You can label yours for whatever you need!

I used the top of the this shelf to hold up the upper shelf, which is also made from 2 pieces of 2″ x 10″ dimensional lumber. I cut a couple of pieces of 2″ x 4″ lumber to the correct length to support the other end of the shelf. Everything got a matching coat of paint so that it would be easy to clean every year.

Slat Wall

I did up a small slat wall for one side of the workbench. This is not my first rodeo and not my first slat wall. I did one for my garage and if you would like the full tutorial click hereThe great thing about a slat wall is that they accommodate both shelves and space for hanging. I didn’t treat the wood with anything, I just left it raw.This slat wall is 4′ wide x 3.5′ high. In order to secure it we attached the backing  2×4’s to the back wall of the shed, using a rubber washer and screw. I pre built the slat wall before attaching to the wall of the shed.  The weight of the slat wall is resting on the workbench, the screws just keep it upright. I installed 2 shelves at different levels. They are just 1″ x 4″ boards cut to size and are placed in between the slats and to ensure they don’t have any issues with weight they are are anchored in place with a little bit of pipe strapping on the ends.

Tool Storage

If you checked out my garage slat wall, you will see that this is how I like to organize my hand tools. And my garden shed is no different. I don’t want to dig through my drawers and bins looking for my hand gardening tools. So, I keep these really accessible on my slat wall where I can just grab the ones that I need. It’s kind of a mini version of my larger tool wall.

Also if you are creative you can find extra little spots to store or hang things. Like the hangers on the ends of the shelf are the perfect place to attach a couple of garden knee pads. They snap on there nice and snug, so they don’t even get knocked off.

Stick on  Storage

I wanted some additional storage for a few other things that I had kicking around the shed, including a ball toss game. I wanted to hang it up somewhere, and since there’s nothing to screw into, I went with command strips to make a spot to hang up the game. They work FABULOUSLY.

Supplies

Here is a list of some of the bit and pieces that make up this garden shed

storage shelf

Storage Totes

Pipe Strapping

Miracle-Gro

Hand Rake

Pruning Shears

My Work is Never Done

The garden shed is situated along the side of the house, on an area that is gravel. The area is at a bit of an angle. There is a pretty good sized area behind the shed, where there is nothing but gravel. I have always felt that the shed should be pushed back towards the fence, so that we could free up all of the space in the front for whatever we need. Here are some options:

• A small above ground pool

• A greenhouse

• A veggie garden

So there you have it. Just an ordinary vinyl garden shed customized to meet my yard and garden needs. Absolutely no reason you can’t do the same with your garden shed. Just pick and choose the pieces that work for you, and incorporate them into your garden shed, and send me a photo when you’re all done, because I love seeing what you do.

 

 

 

 

 

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