Plastic rubbish bins make Ideal containers for potting mix. They're completely weatherproof and can be stored outside in the shade where there is plenty of air circulation when you use the potting mix. To create a bright red container like this, sand the plastic bin to provide a key and apply a coat of Resene Smooth Surface Sealer to the lid and bin's exterior. When dry apply two coats of Resene Lumbersider tinted to Resene Red Hot - if you want a shiny finish apply a final coat of Resene Concrete Clear.

Idea #2 – Under lock and key

Safety is all important in the garden, especially when there are children, so what better way to store garden fertilisers, pesticides and other potentially harmful products than in a lockable cupboard? This simple two tone unit is made from an old MDF bookcase and the door is a hinged, timber frame stapled with chicken wire. It is primed with Resene Quick Dry and finished with two coats of Resene Lumbersider tinted to Resene Gum Leaf for the interior, shelves and outer sides and top, and Resene Laurel for the front frame.

Idea # 3 – Out in all weather

The beauty of weatherproof items, such as terracotta or glazed pots, is they don't need storing inside. Building an outdoor shelving unit like this allows you to conserve valuable indoor storage space. This stylish little unit is made from four colonial style picket fence palings (legs) and 22mm treated plywood (shelves). It measures about 900mm high and 750mm across and is fixed with 50mm jolthead galvanised nails and exterior PVA glue. It is finished with two coats of Resene Woodsman Penetrating Oil Stain, tinted to Resene Woody Bay.

Idea #4 – Chalk it up

These handy seed and bulb containers started life as two large glass jars. With a little bit of work they were transformed into two versatile 'blackboard' storage jars that are easy to re-label each season. To make them, sandpaper glass jars to provide a key and apply a coat of Resene Smooth Surface Sealer to the lids and jars themselves. Paint the lids using testpots of Resene Tree Frog and Resene Crusoe and finish the jar with two coats of Resene Blackboard Paint. By Mark Rayner

Storage tips

1. Hang 'em up: Nails or hooks in a horizontal beam are a simple way to hang up secateurs, loppers and other pruning tools. This prevents damage to the blades and makes it safer and easier for you to get at the ones you want.

2. Use a rack: You can buy racks for hanging up small tools like secateurs, screwdrivers and pliers quite cheaply. This makes them easy to find - no more rummaging around in a toolbox or drawer - and it's safer on your fingers.

3. Board, silly: For larger tools like loppers, hammers and saws, make a shadow board from a sheet of plywood. Fix this firmly to a wall and then use screws, nails or hooks to hang you tools up on it. Alternatively, buy ready made pegboard storage boards complete with pegs and use this for your shadow board instead. If you draw around your hanging tools with a marker pen (making the 'shadows'), everybody using a tool knows where to hang it afterwards. You will also know when anything is missing and what it is.

4. Absolutely hooked: Tool hangers like these pictured are available from most hardware stores. You can use them singly or in pairs to store spades, forks, rakes, brooms and even ladders up off the floor and on a wall where they are safe and secure and can't cause any harm.

5. Sprays away: Sprays and fertilisers should be stored carefully, not only to keep them out of reach of children but to avoid contamination if there are any leaks or spillages. Plastic cubes are ideal for this - they are stackable or you can sit them on shelves or racks. Use separate labelled containers for fertilisers, for weedkillers and for pest and disease sprays. Any leaks or spillages are then kept within each cube so, for example, insect sprays can't be contaminated with weedkiller.

6. Bin there: Stack long slender tools like extendable pruners, window-washing brushes and other long-handled tools (even garden stakes and fishing rods) into an old rubbish bin to save space and stop them falling over. By Andrew Maloy

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