Making clean cuts in your garden, particularly when pruning or shaping perennials, is a surprisingly important factor to their health. Precise cuts allow the plant tissue to heal quicker, inflicts a smaller wound, and thereby decrease the likelihood of diseases creeping in. Dull tools tend to crush or tear, more that cut, and with all the work we put into our gardens why not take a few minutes every season to sharpen our tools? A simple two sided sharpener is the easiest way to keep your looks working best, and once they’re sharpened it’s best to coat them with a lubricant so as to keep away rest and maintain the edge as long as possible. Here are some great options: 1. Boiled linseed or normal linseed oil - this is what I use on my garden tools, as it coats the metal and penetrates the wood, and is readily available. As with any lubricant make sure you fully wipe it off before harvesting, and with linseed oil in particular make sure you dispose of the rags carefully as they can spontaneously combust. 2. 3 in 1 oil - this is another common lubricant used on garden tools, that while not as naturally derived had a longer life and usage period. 3. Literally any other oil - I’ve heard from people using olive oil, avocado oil, and just about everything else - and if that’s all you have access to then it’s better to use it than not have anything. Know that some oils can go rancid, but wiping them off well should put you in good standing.
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