Don't Bury That Old Shovel!

It's time to start narrowing down my choices for the first out of style piece of garden art to make this year. It's a springtime decision I grapple with, but an enjoyable one. Last year I made two interesting characters out of a couple of old shovels. I would be willing to bet a Yankee dime that y'all have at least one old shovel that no longer serves the digging purpose very well. Why not turn it into a jovial looking character to stand watch over your garden this summer?

A wire brush, some sandpaper, and a bucket of paint will be the main tools you'll need for this project.

An old shovel with the handle still attached is the perfect candidate to start with. The handle on one of the shovels I found was rotted and half of it was missing so I had to add a new one. When I say "new" I don't mean that I went to my local lumber yard and bought a brand new wooden replacement handle. Frugal fixer that I am, I used a perfectly compatible small branch that I cut from a weed tree. If your shovel needs a new handle, I'm sure you can find a weed tree somewhere that needs a little pruning. Or just take a walk in your local park, there's probably all kinds of small branches lying around.

The business end of your shovel is the next thing to take a look at. Most tips on hand shovels all have the same basic shape, kind of oval and oblong and, unless it's a snow shovel, made out of metal. As long as the tip is in fairly decent condition, no large cracks or sections of metal missing, it should serve as a good "head" and it will be easy to clean up and paint.

After cleaning the tip of the shovel, it's time to bring out the imagination tool. Use it to paint a face on your shovel, you can make it pretty, or ugly, happy or sad, mean or nice, whatever you like.

Now, go on out to the garden with your new friend and sit a spell!

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