The Sleeping Garden

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S hovels and spades used on extremely rocky ground will probably need a quick treatment on the grinder and wire brush, but most tools only need the edge or points renewed with a few long strokes of the mill file; 35° is a good angle at which to sharpen shovels, spades, and hoes, one side only, please, because they're single-beveled tools.

Now spray on some penetrating oil or use a rag to wipe clean motor oil over everything. Maybe you have enough disposable income to buy only the best tools with fiberglass handles, in which case you're all set. (Always store fiberglass-handled tools indoors; water can work into microscopic pores, freeze, and create glass splinters that a porcupine would envy.) But old tools with wooden handles need a coat of linseed oil even if you plan to store them inside. Use boiled linseed oil and apply a thin coat because raw linseed oil will make your handles very sticky for a long time. Let the tool sit in a warm place or out in the sun for a day.

Linseed oil is traditional, but you're welcome to experiment with other coatings. A friend of mine prefers to use olive oil and my uncle used motor oil drained from his truck to treat handles and preserve the metal heads. Not a great idea; in fact, my uncle is dead, so I can say it's a really bad idea. Used motor oil is toxic to soil and hands.

Now go inside and take off your gardening boots. All winter, you can pull root vegetables out of the ground or grow sprouts on the windowsill, waiting for spring. It will come. Never doubt it. This is the time to plan, to order seed and tool catalogs, to dream about the gardens to come. The best garden you'll ever have is next year's garden, because it exists solely in your mind right now, and therefore has no limits. The future is what we make it. This island of earth has more hope riding on it than a lottery ticket.

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