Mailbox in the garden is a handy little tool cache

Mailbox in the garden

Have you ever come home from work and as you pass by your flower beds on the way to the front door you catch a big ol’ dandelion out of the corner of your eye? You wanna stop and pull that thing out real quick. But your dandelion fork tool is in the garage “somewhere” or out in the tool shed. By the time you walk back and forth and back again…just for one weed… “Forget it!”, you say. “I’ll just do it later.”

What if you had someplace nearby to stash those small tools you use all the time? I’ve been looking for something myself that would work.

Try a mailbox in the garden

Here’s a snazzy idea I saw on a site called homeandgarden.craftgossip.com.

Use a mailbox as a mini storage unit to keep tools you use most often right next to your garden. That way, you don’t lose them, and you don’t have to go back and forth to the garage or to the garden shed. Mailboxes do have a certain charm and look right at home as garden decor. You can paint it up real cute so it fits in with your yard or garden scheme.

Things to keep in your mailbox cache

• pruning shears or bypass pruners
• small clipper or scissors (for dead-heading)
• gloves
• weeding tool
• hand trowel, cultivator
• small pouch of fertilizer mix

Put in whatever small tools and anything you would find most helpful to have right next to the garden. A small, standard size mailbox does the trick, but get a larger one if you prefer. Mount the box on a treated post at a comfortable height.

To decrease the opportunity for spiders or wasps to take up residency, simply seal entry points with something like silicone (the stuff for exterior use) Or place your garden gloves in a plastic sack inside the mailbox.

Make it decorative

Get creative and decorate your mailbox in the garden. I found a white mailbox, new for just $22 dollars at the hardware store. Most metal mailboxes can be spray-painted (use a primer). You can use stencils or slip a pretty mailbox cover over it like the ones you see at the box store garden centers or on-line shops like this one: flagsrus.org.

If you have some scrap wood laying around, you could even make your own custom mailbox mini storage.

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Final thoughts

One sure way to prevent misplacing tools left out in the garden is to stash them safely on site. I never thought about using a mailbox, but it’s the perfect solution! Mailboxes are just the right size for small garden tools and inexpensive to purchase. With some decorative touches, it’s bound to get lots of compliments for being “cute” as well as convenient.

More fun garden crafts to make

Cheerful hub cap flowers

Pretty teacup bird-feeder

How to make a modern Garden Scarecrow