Monthly Archives: July 2025

The wheelbarrow was loaded. Not with mulch or weeds, but with every tool Maddie had used since April.

Hand trowels, pruning shears, a soil knife, even that old cultivator she only brought out for major jobs. All of them were streaked with rust, flecked with dirt, and sticky with a strange sap she couldn't even remember dealing with.

Summer was in full swing, but if her tools didn’t get a little love, they'd barely survive the season.

So instead of buying replacements, Maddie pulled out a scrub brush, a bucket of soapy water, and—most importantly—a plastic scraper.

Start with the Scrape, Not the Soak

Before the soap and water came out, Maddie used a plastic blade to tackle the dried soil and sap. The flat edge popped caked-on dirt right off without scratching the metal, and the flex in the blade made it easy to press around curves and corners without damaging the finish.

Even the wooden handles benefited. With a few gentle scrapes smoothed out hardened dirt that would have just gummed up