Ideas for Wall Storage for Garden Tools

From hooks to baskets to the tools themselves, wall storage for your yard tools varies from the mundane, but efficient, to the whimsical. Hanging your clippers, gloves, rakes, spades and shovels on a wall in your garden shed or basement frees up floor space and gives you easy access.

Consider building more than one set of wall storage, with a small unit by the door, within easy reach, for the small weeding tools or gloves that you use most often.

A piece of peg board nailed to the wall provides an inexpensive and easy hanging system; use hooks made especially for pegboard that you can adjust to hold tools ranging from small clippers to large saws and shovels. Peg boards range from the low-end, particleboard varieties to ones made from galvanized metal.

Commercial brackets or tracks provide the same ease of installation. These come in varied lengths and widths, with either single or multiple rows of adjustable brackets; they're made from both metal and wood. Or design your own homemade brackets from simple pieces of wood jutting out from a wooden track, or use decorative hooks made from wrought iron.

Visit a hardware or garden store to find specially designed, large brackets, for awkward tools such as wheelbarrows and spreaders, that hold the equipment securely with latches. Keep the system safe by positioning the wheelbarrow or spreader against a side wall to minimize the chances of walking into it, and keep it low enough to easily lift it on and off the brackets.

If you have enough space, buy two large hooks or a unit made especially for a hose that you use only occasionally and don't need to store outdoors. Avoid using a single hook for a hose because the hose could get damaged.

Attach hanging baskets or bins directly to your walls, peg boards or brackets. Any type of holder works for this purpose, from to wire or rattan baskets to bike baskets, window boxes or galvanized buckets. Bins and baskets work well for gloves and small hand tools such as trowels, weeders and hand clippers.

Visit the kitchen or closet organizing section of a hardware or home design store to find baskets, bins or shelves that you can repurpose for garden tools.

Yard sales, flea markets and home stores typically have shelving units or single shelves that you can convert to functional storage for garden tools. The Gardenista website features one such useful and decorative unit. A simple shelf can hold extra flower pots or watering cans, and you can attach hooks to the underside of the shelf for hanging small weeding tools.

Attach old tools to your walls to hang other tools on. An old ladder hung either sideways or upright, an old metal rake or a rusty bucket all work as hangers for other tools and add personality to your storage system.

Other fun hangers include mailboxes to store garden gloves, wooden pallets with a few slats removed for rakes and shovels or over-the-door shoe hangers for all sorts of small tools.

Don't forget that the ceiling is another wall at your disposal. Buy shelving units that hang down for tools you don't use very often, such as bulky tomato cages or bird netting.