31 yard tool hacks that’ll make your life easier

These simple and smart updates to everyday yard tools will make your outdoor chores a heck of a lot easier this season.

Make lifting heavy loads with your wheelbarrow a little more pleasant by adding these cushioned hand grips. Reuse an old rubber bike tube by cutting pieces to fit over the wheelbarrow handles. If needed, use a hair dryer to warm up the rubber and make it easier to stretch. The bike tube provides the perfect amount of padding and traction. Find out how to use a wheelbarrow to lift heavy objects.

To edge your lawn, garden, or flowerbed, lay down a 38x140mm plank of wood. While holding the board with your foot, drive a flat spade along the board’s edge. Move the board as needed to create a clean, straight line.

Make changing the oil in your lawnmower and outdoor machines less messy with this handy hint: Cut off a piece of an empty cereal box and fold it into a trough. Then tip the machine and use the trough to guide the oil into the waste pan. The glossy coating on the cereal box keeps the oil from soaking through. Head here to find out what you need to do for spring mower maintenance.

To avoid a lot of string trimmer work, I like to mow as close as possible to trees and buildings. But the grass chute on my riding mower prevents it. So I drilled a hole in the chute and tied a rope from the chute to a handle on the side of the tractor. Now I can lift up the chute without missing a beat, and cut way down on string trimmer work. – Travis Larson

If you keep a few tools handy while you mow, you can deal with stray weeds as you notice them – no need to hunt for them later. Short sections of PVC pipe taped to the mower’s handle will hold tools and other necessities.

After you’ve had remodelling or roofing work done on your home, it’s not unusual to get a flat tyre from old nails or other hardware left behind. As soon as the roofing contractors’ taillights were out of my driveway, I rigged up this drag using rope and a 60cm magnetic bar tool holder. I drag it everywhere I’ll be driving. It picks up much more metal debris than the wheeled type, which doesn’t actually touch the ground. It sure beats the cost and hassle of a flat tyre. – Steve Rodgers

Here’s a quick and easy way to eyeball rain gutters for possible clogs – before the next downpour causes an overflow. Cut a 60-degree angle on the end of a piece of PVC pipe and tape a hand mirror to the angled end. Hoist the mirror above the gutter to spot leaves and mini jams. Head here to find out how to install your own gutters.

Fertilising bushes or other dense plants requires getting the fertiliser to the base of the plant, so I use a length of 5cm PVC. Slide one end down to the plant base and pour the fertiliser into the pipe. Cut the top of the pipe at 45 degrees to give yourself a larger opening to pour in the fertiliser. – Gordon R. Watson

Here are 4 common fertiliser blunders and how to avoid them.

Save your back when raking mulch or shovelling heaps of dirt by adding another handle to your long-handle tools. A section of PVC pipe with a tee fitting and cap work perfectly. Add a screw through the tee fitting and into the handle for won’t-budge stability. Find out how to make free mulch here.