Keep oil out of your soil. Don't put petroleum products on your metal garden tools.

You wouldn’t pour a can of motor oil on your garden, would you?

Of course not.

You wouldn’t even dribble motor oil on your garden, but that is what happens if you treat your metal garden tools with oil as part of your regular cleaning and storing process. When the oiled tool makes contact with the garden soil some oil is transferred into the ground.

Now that you’ve made that mental connection, it’s easy to remember to use petroleum-oil-free alternatives when cleaning your garden tools.

In our new video about cleaning and sharpening garden tools, Tricia recommends using a vegetable oil spray instead of motor oil to protect tools after cleaning. Most grocery stores sell organic vegetable oil sprays.

Metal tools with moving pieces (like stirrup hoes, pruners and loppers) need extra help to keep their parts working smoothly. Felco Lubricant Spray is a biodegradable coating that protects and enhances the function of those tools. You don’t want petroleum oil touching pruned parts of your trees and plants.

Storing your sharpened tools in a bucket of motor oil and sand is a garden habit to break. Start your garden fresh with clean, petroleum-oil-free tools.