When it comes to garden storage, owning a shed makes things a whole lot easier. They're great for protecting garden tools or a lawn mower, and even provide the perfect space to carry out the odd DIY job. However, if they’re not properly organised, the more you store inside increases how difficult it is to find what you need.
To find out more, I spoke to Sam Jenkinson, garden building expert at Tiger Sheds. To help those looking to prepare their garden space in time for spring, he's shared six tips on how to organise your garden shed and make the most of the storage space you have available.
Before you go further, have you seen the March gardening jobs you should be carrying out this month?
1. Declutter your shed
The first step to a perfectly organised shed is to empty what’s currently inside and decluttering. Be merciless when sorting through the items and discard anything you don’t need. Only after you’ve decided what items you’re keeping will you be able to assess your storage needs and options. Also, once your shed is empty, make sure that you sweep it before putting anything back inside.
2. Think wisely about space
It’s important to be wise about your shed and aim to use every inch of the space you can, especially if you’ve got a small shed. You can even use the ceiling with hooks or storage racks and think vertically to not miss out on valuable storage. Start with your biggest items and work your way down, grouping items by theme, such as bike equipment, camping items and gardening tools.
Keep regular use items in easy to reach spots. There’s no point in storing away important items only to pull everything else out of the way to get what you need.
3. Make the most of your walls
When it comes to organising your garden building, shed shelving is the place to start. Look for heavy-duty shelves as they will need to be able to withstand a hefty weight if you plan to store a lot on them. Storage bins are great solutions for storing little things like bungee cords, and shelves can be built to hold them with a bit of extra room between them so they’re easy to get out. Lighter, less used items can be stored on higher up shelves.
Most of your bulky items can be hung on the walls, such as bikes which can be hung vertically. You can also attach magnetic strips to the walls to hold metal tools, screws or small metal items.
4. Don't forget about the small stuff
When organising your shed, don’t forget the smaller items such as nails and bolts, seed packets and gardening labels. With small items like these, it’s helpful to neatly split them and store separately. To help you do this, you could use cups, baskets or drawers with separate compartments.
5. Use the door and outside walls
The space on the shed doors is useful for hanging items, mounting hooks into the top of the Z-frame and hanging items such as trowels or shears.
If you want to get creative, you don't have to limit wall-mounted storage to the inside. Think about ways you can use other parts of the shed, such as the space under the eaves. As long as the items aren’t fragile or vulnerable to cold or heat, there’s no reason why you can’t hang racks on the outside walls – particularly if you’re stuck for space!