We sometimes lose, or at least minimize, gardening opportunities because the needed tools were in a dozen different places, from the gardening shed to the utility drawer in the kitchen. By the time a trowel and a decent pair of gloves are located, much of the time you've allocated to a project is used up - not to mention the enthusiasm is pretty well diminished.
You can make gardening much more joyful and productive by creating a special "garden bucket" equipped with your favorite tools. A fat, five-gallon bucket with a few additions and gardening items can be very successful. If you can use a sewing machine (or know someone who can), a cover can be made for the bucket out of plastic, denim, or other strong material. The cover design can vary, but the basic idea is to sew some pockets on a piece of flat fabric that has been pre-measured to fit the bucket's circumference. Sew strings to the ends of your pocket piece and simply tie it around the top of the bucket (pockets out, of course). Or - a little fancier - you can add a tube-like piece of material that is sewn on one end and stuff it down into the bucket; the pocket-part of the cover needs only to hang over the outer rim of the bucket about 6 or 8 inches.
If even that seems complicated - and, at this point your thought is, "my passion is gardening, not designing" - here's an even easier option. Two small nail aprons purchased from any hardware or building supply store can be tied opposite each other on a bucket rim. The pockets are already there, providing space for a trowel, gloves, pruners, zip-lock bags of seeds, and other small items. Larger things, like kneepads, a coffee can full of fertilizer, and garden labels can be placed inside the bucket.
For larger jobs, keep a wheelbarrow or little red wagon equipped with a shovel, rake, hoe, etc. Just keep in mind that the real goal is to spend time doing the gardening, not looking for your tools!
Bonnie Pierson, Smith County Master Gardener
Texas Cooperative Extension
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