Everyone who loves to garden knows of a great little gadget that makes gardening so much easier. But you don't have to go out and spend a bundle on tools when you have some great gardening tools right there at home. Let's look at a couple of great gadgets based on things you have sitting around the house. You can repurpose these to make your time in the garden more efficient.

Pot Scrub - We all love our old pots and tools, but sometimes they get kinda crusty and dirty. This is especially true of terra cotta pots, which look so good when new but get a buildup of old salt and minerals from the soil as time goes on. Cleaning them can be a chore, but not if you use this handy little formula to clean up and use an old toothbrush for the cleaning. Here is the formula: 1/3 white vinegar, 1/3 rubbing alcohol and 1/3 water. For really bad messes, let it soak for 15 minutes or so before you start scrubbing.

Tool Cleaning - Take an old hand lotion or hand soap dispenser and fill it with mineral oil. Keep this handy on your tool bench or potting bench. Whenever you are done with a tool, before you hang it up, squirt a little mineral oil on it. After oiling, wipe it down with a fine steel wool pad. This is especially handy for older tools. The buildup of old dirt can add to any kind of sticky substance, especially in the spring, and soon you have a mess. Whenever you have used a tool and it has gotten something sticky on it like sap or sawdust, just do a quick wipe down and you will find those tools stay useful much longer.

Wire Wisks - Keep one of these handy for when you are whipping up some homemade fertilizer or bug potions. Put one of them by the potting bench for whipping up special concoctions for your seedlings when planting.

Kitchen or Barbeque tongs - I tend to have these around for those early morning walks in the garden so I can pick up slugs and snails to throw in my coffee can of salt. Also handy for taking off any prickly weeds like stinging nettles.

Clothespins - I always have an old bread basket of these sitting on my bench. They are so versatile. You can use them for closing up partially used seed packets, hanging up wet gloves, and even put them on a wire to hang your herbs and flowers on when harvesting to help you with sorting and drying.

Harvesting Bins- You can use an old colander or laundry basket for harvesting. Just grab it and put everything in at once, then you can sort them out with the wire and clothespin setup mentioned above. Also great for harvesting fruits and veggies.

Grapefruit Knives - We all have at least one of these sitting around, and how much do you actually use it? These are great for weeding, especially in containers that have very little maneuvering room. They also make a handy tool when transplanting seedlings.

So take those tools out of your kitchen and set them free outdoors to have a whole new life on your potting bench. You will get a second life from something you already had, and your garden will get an extra helping hand.