Most gardeners are guilty of accumulating lots of gear, from lawn mowers and hedge trimmers to hand tools, fertilizers, and compost. If you are short of space, savvy gardeners look to make the most of their sheds with space-saving tools.
If you only have a small shed, you don’t want items clogging up the valuable floor space. So think smart when it comes to your shed ideas. Clever tools like racks, shelving, and pegboards make the most of vertical surfaces and are ideal for all manner of hand tools, pots, compost, and fertilizers, while smaller items can go in stackable boxes to save space and be easy to find.
Keeping the floor clear of anything but the largest items, like the lawn mower or wheelbarrow, helps the shed remain organized. If you want to declutter your shed, here are our picks of five small garden shed storage must-haves that take your space from messy to meticulous. If you have or plan to buy a small shed (such as this 5 x 3 ft metal shed at The Home Depot), these can make a big difference.
1. Tool Rack
A wall-mounted garden tool rack holds many essential gardening tools and is one of the most efficient storage ideas for sheds.
Your spades, forks, rakes, and garden hoes can all hang on hooks for easy storage. It turns shed walls, which often go unused, into valuable storage space and stops the tools from ending up in a disorganized pile.
Tools left cluttering up the floor become unsightly and potentially dangerous – you can all-too-easily stand on an upturned end of a rake, hoe, or cultivator and get hit in the face by the handle.
Don’t make the tool storage mistake of leaving tools abandoned on the ground. Having a secure spot on the wall (like this garden tool storage rack at The Home Depot) to hang your tools is an efficient way to make the most of limited space.
2. Compact Tool Organizer
An alternative to using hooks to increase storage is to use a compact garden tool holder. This is an option if you are unsure about adding too much weight to your shed walls.
A tool holder has many slots into which you can fit long-handled tools like rakes, spades, forks, hoes, and brooms. You can store many tools in a compact footprint in a shed corner. Some also come with additional side hooks for hanging smaller tools on, like pruning shears, a trowel, or gardening gloves.
3. Wall-Mounted Shelving
One of my small garden shed storage must-haves is shelving. It helps clear more floor space, makes use of bare walls, and can hold many bulky items.
Shelves can be a go-to option for spare pots, bags of potting mix, and different fertilizers or garden sprays. Raising items used frequently during the season puts them at eye level and somewhere easy to grab.
It stops you losing them underneath or behind other tools or items on the floor, and you can group them by type on the shelf. I know I have accidentally bought fertilizers again thinking I was out, only to find a previously opened bottle tucked away that I hadn’t seen.
You can get wood, metal, or plastic shed or garage shelves in different sizes, depending on the material of your shed and how much you want to store.
4. Multi-Tier Shelving Units
There is a compact alternative to wall-mounted shelves, too. Multi-tier shelving units are perfect if you can't put up shelves, as they still offer valuable vertical storage without a large footprint. They are ideal for storing pots, compost, fertilizers, etc., keeping them organized and easy to find.
A good example is this six-tier shelving unit from The Home Depot. It is made of sturdy steel and measures 18” (W) x 72" (H) x 18” (D).
5. Metal Pegboard
A wall pegboard offers a strong, durable, and tailored way to store your smaller hand tools and pruning tools. It is a great place to hang pruning shears, pruning snips, garden scissors, and small tools like hammers, wrenches, and screwdrivers for any garden DIY.
Pegboards come in various sizes and can be plastic or wooden. However, the best option for a small garden shed is a metal pegboard that offers much more strength and protection for your tools.
The versatility of a pegboard means you can customize the pegs and hooks to fit your tools and optimize the space in the way that works best for you.
6. Stackable Boxes
A simple storage idea for sheds that never fails to make a difference is to put all your smaller items together in clear stackable boxes.
There is no end to the different bits and pieces you may gather over the years. Pots, seed trays, gardening gloves, dibbers, tape measures, plant labels, string, plant ties – the list could go on and on. And then there are spare parts for your garden hoses, drip irrigation systems, or sprinkler attachments. All of these miscellaneous items want to be stored somewhere dry, rather than left to take up space on floors, tables, or shelves.
Gardeners can stack the boxes to save space, and clear ones allow you to see the contents. To help with your shed organization, label each box to make finding items easier with a label maker (available from Walmart, too). When things do get messy, you can declutter a shed in under 30 minutes by putting wanted items into their boxes and discarding others.
7. Magnetic Tool Strip
A compact alternative for organizing your smaller tools is a magnetic tool holder. One of the garden shed storage must-haves, it attaches to the wall and securely holds metal tools to the strong magnetic strip that runs along the bar.
It can easily hold pruning shears, garden knives, trowels, or forks, which is far better than them clogging up surfaces in the shed. It won’t take up much wall space and is super quick and easy to attach or detach the tools from the magnetic holder.
You can get a 12-inch magnetic tool bar at Lowe's that securely holds up to 10lb.
Alongside these small garden shed storage must-haves, you may need to leave some space to store a lawn mower. However, there are common lawn mower storage mistakes to avoid making, as they can break your machine.
This includes storing gas mowers vertically or on their side, which can cause fuel to leak or engine oil to seep into the air filter, which is a common reason why gas lawn mowers won’t start.
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