Weed Eater Electric String Trimmer

Nearly all weed/grass trimmers I’ve seen for under $100 are electric. Those I saw that use gas at that price were of poor quality. Corded models like the Weed Eater from Poulan offer more power than battery-operated models, as batteries supply limited power and obviously eventually need re-charging.

The Weed Eater from Poulan cuts with a 12-inch width, and the 3.75 amp motor easily takes care of the thicker weeds and grass. The only downside to corded trimmers is the distance from the power source, but as the Weed Eater retails for less than $50, it is the best choice for occasional use around the home.

Our electric cord is just exactly long enough to reach every corner of our yard and home garden area.

Black & Decker Grass Hog

Having to charge battery weed trimmers adds a time constraint to your weeding and trimming. Battery-powered models do have their positives though, like being ale to carry them anywhere. They are also far lighter and quieter to use than petrol models.

I love the fact that for less than $100, the Grass Hog switches to an edger, unlike its competitors in its price range. It covers a 12-inch cutting width. The motor runs off a nickel cadmium battery, which lasts for approximately and 15 to 20 minutes of cutting per charge. To compensate, this model comes with a second battery, so its possible to use for up to an hour before a recharge. You’ll find this retailing for around $99.

Homelite UT41110

Usually, when going for the cheapest option, you are sacrificing quality, and probably know deep down that the purchase will die within a matter of months. Of course, this isn’t always the case as this Homelite costs less than $30, and considering this affordable price, performs well on weeds and grass. Its 13-inch blade and ample motor are better than many battery-powered units costing three times the price.

Homelite UT41110’s shaft weighs a light 5 pounds and is telescopic, which makes it easy to use by people with limited strength. The guard inhibits a clear view of what you’re actually, so this may not be the best trimmer using near your prize-winning roses!

Troy-Bilt TB20CS

‘You get what you pay for’ is a good AND true quote that covers pretty much everything, and that includes grass trimmers… apart from the Troy-Bilt grass weed trimmer. Anything below $100 is usually badly designed, with an even worse engine.

However, the Troy-Bilt is powered by a 31 cc unit, a curved shaft, and the two-cycle engine provides substantial power. To reduce arm strain, an ergonomic design has been applied, praised by Bestcovery. The 12-inch cutting blade can munch through the heavier weeds than electric versions, but some problems have been reported with the two interchangeable heads. A snip – no pun intended – under the $100 limit at $99.

Earthwise Corded Electric String Trimmer

The Earthwise Corded Electric grass trimmer is 3.75 amp and fairly inexpensive. It doesn’t have many features, no anti-vibration, no-tool line replacement or replaceable head, and doesn’t even feature a shoulder harness or a metal blade conversion kit. It doesn’t include multiple heads, either. However, the Earthwise Trimmer has 2 trim lines and an automatic line system, plus a string trimmer line. But at only 11 inches, it hasn’t the biggest cutting area. The Earthwise Trimmer has a composite score of 46 out of 100 and a line diameter of 0.06 inches.

Lawns, for decades now, are often considered one of the main aspects that make a house. When I pass a house that has a green and luscious lawn, I often have to stop to look closer and usually express how good that house is looking.

You may often ask yourself – how do they get their lawn like that? Well, it’s as simple as giving your lawn a bit of TLC and maintenance here and there, such as top dressing.

When to Top-Dress Your Lawn

You can top-dress your lawn during the growing season that tends to be in Spring and Autumn when there is more moisture. Ideally, do this twice in a year. However, if it looks like it is going to rain or indeed if it is raining, do not top-dress your lawn because the wet soil may dry and create a hard crust that the grass may not be able to grow through. Wait until the sun is out and the ground is reasonably dry.

Why Top-Dress Your Lawn

A number of organic soil mixes are sold to provide the ideal top dressing solution. These mixes contain nutrients and organic matter that feed not only on grass, but on the soil as well. Collectively, this will result in a better quality lawn. The mixture can also be used to fill in small holes and indentations, which avoids having to deal with both processes separately.

The existing grass will spread into the dressed areas, thus, providing a more dense lawn. With a level lawn, you are more likely to find it easier to mow rather than bumping up and down over the indentations whilst the lawn is being cut, which will provide a better cut and appearance.

How to Top-Dress Your Lawn

To purchase top dressing, Brisbane has a number of garden nurseries to choose from. Next, mow your lawn to a reasonably short length and rake it vigorously, making sure that any dead grass and moss are removed from the lawn.

Then you should tip the top dressing out into small piles in various locations on your lawn with larger amounts in the indentations that need filling in. Next, you need to spread out each pile evenly and sparingly over the lawn by using a stiff bristled broom or a garden rake. When doing this, you should ensure that the existing grass is still visible creating an appearance of a light dusting on the lawn.

However, if there is a large depression in part of the lawn do not fill it in this way. Instead lift the lawn and put soil underneath until that area is level with the rest of the lawn and then spread the top dressing over it.

Finally, lightly sprinkle with water and then leave the lawn to settle for a few days by which time you should see the benefit of your work.

And in no time, you will have a lawn looking like the one you have been envying over for days or even weeks. So, top-dress your lawn, and make your lawn the envy of the neighbourhood.

When Jenny and I bought the home we have today here in Moncton it was before we had actually started gardening other than container gardening.

Our first year here we raked up the leaves that blew into our backyard from a big old maple tree in our neighbour’s yard.  By the time the raking was done, more than once actually, we had about 10 or 12 big green garbage bags full of fall leaves.

Not really knowing any better yetIn the past we would put the bags of leaves at the curb for pick up and they would haul them to the dump. What a waste of time and resources but we weren’t yet aware of composting and like I said hadn’t started gardening.

The second year we were living here we used the leaves in our compost bin. I also buried a lot of the leaves under our fist little garden. We even ran the lawn more over the lawn after the second wind storm and then left those leaves there. That was actually are suggestion we heard locally on the radio and gave it a try.

We are happy to say that not a single bag of leaves went to the curb that year.

We have a couple of raised beds in our backyard. I love sitting here in my home office and admiring them. It so relaxes my mind.

Using Fall Leaves As Raised Bed Winter Cover

I was planning to get some bails of straw from our local Co-op but at the last minute decided to use some of those bags of leaves as cover instead. I put at least 2 bags on each raised bed and I think it will do just fine.

Using Fall Leaves To Cover Our Raised Beds

Now they have a covering of snow and I am sure I heard the clematis and strawberry plants we grow in them say thank you and after that I just heard snoring but that could have been Jenny.

Shhhh… our Clematis are sleeping

Now if the snow happens to disappear again the strawberries and clematis won’t be freezing their nodes off. And once the winter chill has passed and it’s Spring once again we should be able to add the remaining leftover leaves into our compost bin.

It sure beats raking them up, bagging them and then putting them to the curb when they can be recycled right here in our own yard.

You can grow a garden of veggies or a garden of flowers on your porch or patio easily. All you need are some hanging baskets, giant flower pots, planter boxes or flower pots to get the task finished. The possibilities are endless. Ensure you avoid containers with small openings. Remember that what you grow needs room to grow. A good pot to use for your container garden is a ceramic pot.

Ensure your ceramic pot has lots of drainage holes and steer clear of the inexpensive style plastic pots. Cheap plastic pots have a tendency to get brittle in the sun over time. Terracotta pots are O.K but they do appear to dry out fast. Wooden containers should be avoided also as they tend to rot fast.

Try and use containers that are 15 to 120 quarts, anything smaller in comparison to 15 quarts can inhibit your plant growth and restrict the roots ability to flourish. If you live in a hot climate it’s sensible to make sure that your containers are light in color and that the drainage holes are at minimum a half in. apart. Be sure to make the effort to put some paper or paper of some type in the bottom of the container to stop any loss of soil.

If you are new to gardening be sure to visit a nursery or plant store and take notice of where the plants are located. If one of the plants you want is located in a place where the sun will shine on it all day, that is why it’s there. Paying attention now will save you asking questions or making mistakes once you get home.

Remember that your container garden will do best with at least 5 hours of good sunlight each day. A word to the sensible is that fruits and veggies will need the most sun in order to thrive. If you are growing flowers then the amount of sunlight will vary to some level. Don’t forget to water your garden everyday especially during those hot or damp summer months.

You will will also find many container garden ideas, ideas & tips online, as well as videos of how to line up your working area. If you or someone you like has been wanting to have a garden, but did not think they had sufficient room, think again. Container gardening is a great way to go and you’ll find it extraordinarily rewarding.

Small Organic Gardens helps people like you discover the joys of growing your own container garden. Simple, informative and easy to follow videos and tutorials including great tips and advice on how to plant a container garden. Please visit Small Organic Gardens at http://www.smallorganicgardens.com NOW.

Many of us take great pride in our lawns. If you prepare your lawn for winter you will have a lawn you can be proud of next spring. Here’s how to get your lawn ready for the cold months ahead.

1. Gradually lower the height of your mower blade. Cut your grass no more than two inches high for cool-season grasses, shorter for warm-season grasses. Higher than that and the long blades will become home to rodents, who will tunnel through your lawn. Also, long blades trap moisture, which can encourage the growth of fungal diseases in the spring.
2. Remove leaves from your lawn. I chop up leaves with the mower. I let a scattering of leaves stay on the lawn and rake up the rest to use for mulch or to compost. A layer of leaves on the lawn keeps out air and light and can smother your lawn.
3. Add nutrients after the lawn stops growing but before the ground freezes. Your lawn will store the nutrients through the winter and start using them early in the spring. I apply compost tea, which I make by steeping compost in water, to add microbes to the soil. If you over-seeded your lawn during the summer, apply a fertilizer high in potassium. Some experts recommend a nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizer specially formulated for winter.
4. If you have small bare spots in the lawn you can sow grass seed before the ground freezes. This is called dormant seeding; the seed stays dormant until spring.
5. If you have had a very dry summer and fall, water your lawn well before the ground freezes.
6. Also before the ground freezes, put stakes up so it’s clear where the pavement ends and the lawn begins. You want to prevent your lawn from getting compacted, so keep vehicles off the lawn (foot traffic too if you can).  In fact, take everything you can off the lawn: toys, garden debris, branches, garden equipment, storage bench, outdoor furniture, etc.
7. De-thatching and aerating (which are two different processes) improve air circulation and the overall health of a lawn. You can rent aerating and de-thatching tools or hire a professional lawn service to do the work.
8. Watch for soil erosion and excessive pooling of water. If you see either of these you need take action before your lawn is seriously damaged. You can install a basin, drainage ditch, dry well, or water garden to prevent the excess water from causing a problem. I recently noticed a slightly sloped area of my lawn where water seemed to back up and not drain properly. I replaced the soil at the bottom of the slope with stones so the water will drain more quickly.
9. Sodium-based ice melt will damage your lawn and your plants. Use calcium chloride (salt) or sand instead.
10. Take care of equipment and supplies. To avoid the heartache of cracked pipes, drain your hoses (store them inside) and open up the outdoor faucets. If you have a sprinkler system, drain the lines and close down the system. Store your lawn products properly. Above all, keep all chemical fertilizers and pesticides out of the reach of children and animals. Keep liquid pesticides from freezing. Keep grass seed and granular fertilizer dry.

When spring comes and your lawn is healthy and beautiful, you’ll be glad you took the time to prepare your lawn for winter.

Author Bio
Stan Horst owns a family cabin rental business in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia (www.cabincreekwood.com). A former cabinetmaker, Stan likes to share his expertise, especially his appreciation for outdoor benches from the Kingsley Bate furniture company. Stan spends his spare time enjoying nature with his wife and two teenage children.

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This is a guest post from Jason Holbrook from Georgia Lawn. Georgia Lawn provides lawn care in the metro Atlanta and surrounding areas.

For every lawn care problem that you come across it is pretty safe to say that there are great organic solutions that will help you avoid having to apply synthetic man made products that can leech and deplete your soil. Today we will go over a few great methods of taking care of your lawn to get it to its fullest potential.

It’s Worth Having Your Soil Tested

Before you go and put anything on your yard besides water you need to invest the couple of bucks and buy a soil test. Most county extension offices have them and all that you have to pay is the shipping and the simple test. It usually takes a couple of weeks or so for the test results to be mailed back to you. Be sure to get different areas of your yard in the sample and make sure to not put down any fertilizer, as it will sway the results. Having a soil test will not only tell you what kind of soil you have it will tell you what and how much you need to add to it.

Be Sure Your pH Is Balanced

Once you have your test results back be sure to check the pH section of the test. Making the necessary adjustments to this section alone can make a huge difference in how your lawn responds to you.

If you live East of the Mississippi River then more than likely soil is going to be in the acidic range. Your soil will have an acidic pH especially if you have pine trees and red clay in your yard. To remedy acidic soil add garden limestone per the pound per 1000 sq ft that is recommended on your soil test.

If you live West of the Mississippi River then more than likely your soil is of alkaline pH. In the case of an alkaline pH you will want to add sulfur in the form of rock sulfur and peat moss. There are of course exceptions to the East and West rule of the Mississippi rule such as the Pacific Northwest, which has acidic soil due to high levels of rainfall, more the reason to get the soil test.

Replenish What’s Lacking in Your Soil

The next thing that the test will tell you is if you are lacking in any of the major or minor nutrients that plants need to survive and thrive. If your test shows that you are low in nutrients such as say N- nitrogen and P- phosphorus then opt for an organic slow release fertilizer such as bone meal or Milorganite. These two organic fertilizers will do wonders for your yard without you having to worry about synthetic chemical runoff or chemical burn. The soil test will also tell you how much of a certain nutrient that you need to add to the soil.

If you have done all of the above and are still not getting the results that you are looking for then consider getting your yard core aerated. The core aeration process will pull plugs from your yard and deposit them onto your yard. This will allow for oxygen, nutrients and water to readily reach your lawn’s root layer. This process will also help your grass to decrease its thatch layer down to an acceptable amount and let the grass receive the things that it needs to grow thick and strong.

Water Your Lawn Early And Deeply

Another great thing that you can do to get your lawn looking tiptop is water it in the early morning and water it deeply. A great way to check and see if you are watering enough is to put out an empty tuna can and turn on your sprinkler system. You will want to leave the system on as long as it takes for there to be one inch of water built up. Once you have your sprinkler time only run your irrigation once or twice a week, less if it has rained recently or there is rain in the forecast.

Last but not least you should keep your lawn mower blades as sharp as possible. Doing this will make sure that you are cutting the tips of the blades of the grass not ripping them as you do with dull blades. Also make sure that you are only taking off one third of the grass blade to ensure that you dot not put your grass into shock and stunt its growth.

If you follow these easy lawn care tips you should have one of the best looking yards on the block and one of the eco-friendly at the same time.

There is lawn edging in many of the backyards and gardens I walk by daily in our area. What a difference edging can make, so much so that we have decided that summer 2012 is the summer we fix up our lawn and gardens with a variety of lawn and garden edging.

Just What is Lawn Edging?

Lawn edging is used to keep your lawn from growing into your shrubs, trees, vegetable garden and any other area in your yard so as to keep it looking clean and sharp. It makes your yard look tailored and can be quite attractive.

Usually your landscaper will add the lawn edging after landscaping or any related actions is carried out. You can check your yellow pages or of course online for landscapers in your area.

We do our own landscaping but never did more than use a spade to keep the lawn edges straight and clean looking but we still find the lawn creeps into places we don’t want so this coming year was are redoing all the lawn edging and adding some kind of border to control the grass.

Jenny did some edging around her Petunias and it actually made them look even cuter. She chose a little plastic white picket fence, about 4 or 5 inches high. Reminded me of the white picket fence around my granddads yard on Cornhill Street, Moncton.

It is possible to use a wide variety of things to make this happen like wooden, bricks, plastic strips and stones. But just before you decide to start with your lawn edging endeavour, you have to locate out where you ought to edge and what equipment and stuff to make utilization of.

We are going to be creating a few gardens in our backyard for flowers and shrubs. As we go we will use lawn edging as everything will be surrounded with lawn.

At the time we purchased our current home the property was a little run down and over-grown, as the previous owners were with the military and weren’t able to spend a lot of time at home.

If it had not been in poor shape we would have been asked to pay a lot more and would have needed to move on as it was already at the limit of our budget.

The driveway and sidewalks are in desperate need of a make over to get them looking good again. A job for next spring.

There Are A Variety of Lawn Edging Materials

Jenny used long strips of PVC edging that was pretty quick to install and is doing a great job at keeping the lawn out of the flower beds in the front of the house. Quick, clean, easy to do and great to  look at.

We just used the garden spade to make an opening in the soil in the shape of the flower bed and then just pushed the edging down into the open, packed it on both sides and it was done. I would say each one took us less than a half hour to complete.

Below are a few examples of the lawn and garden edging you can get today.

Plastic or Plastic Strips – Plastic pretty much lasts for ever so why not put it to use in a place you will want if to years to come. It’s also quite affordable.

The plastic we used is black, looks great and was rolled up for easy transporting, even on the bus as we don’t have a vehicle right now.

Very easy to install as you really only need a garden spade and maybe a tape measure to get shapes you might create accurate.

Wood – Apart from becoming cost-effective, wood is actually a extremely common lawn edging content as a result of its earthy elegance. And because of this, it easily goes with any type of garden. The draw back of employing wood is always that they decay very easily which suggests you just cannot leave them outside for an extended time.

Note: There were two flower gardens side by side that  had edging when we moved here. The owners at that time had put plastic around the one as they were putting it together. Not sure if it was the second and done as an after thought but only one had been done.

This summer I was digging them up and adding compost when I noticed how badly the one without the plastic had rotted under the ground while the other, even though the plastic is now hard and cracked the wood is still firm.

So we will be putting plastic around any wooden edging we do to help it last years longer.

Bricks – I love the idea of using brick for edging along our driveway. I have been watching a building that’s about to be torn down here in Moncton. I am going to see if they will let me take a bunch of the old bricks as they can be a bit costly when you need a few hundred or so.

I have seen the bricks lying flat which can look good but I have also seen them broken in half and stood vertically with the brick’s corner pointing up. We will most likely use both methods.

I would like to build a big round flower bed with a brick edging. It would be raised in the middle and have big rocks and flowers. I have seen this type of flower bed before and really like it.

Rocks – We like the idea of using flat rock for edging although this would take a lot more work to match the rocks together but the end result is spectacular and worth the effort.

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Image by Beedle Um Bum via Flickr

A propertys lawn can really make the difference between ho-hum and wow. And the type of grass seed used to create the law can draw the line between a beautiful one and one that makes no impression. That is why choosing the right grass seed is important to the looks of a lawn. The dirt found in some lawns is very dry while some holds water. Some lawns will find more feet strolling across them than others. The correct grass seed for your lawn depends on how the yard is used, and there are some factors to think about when deciding which grass seeds to use for your lawn.

Often, the front lawn possesses a more ornamental quality than practical. People turn their gazes toward a home when a front lawn is lush and full. Grass seeds that are especially suitable for this lawn are modern Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescues because they do better with less foot traffic and their shades are very pretty hues. In the back yard, families gather together and children play. Perennial rye grasses are a better choice here because they can handle more use. In addition, they are more resistant to hot, dry weather.

The amount of light the lawn receives must also be taken into consideration. All grasses need light in order to grow, but some do better than others in shaded areas. Survey the land and identify how much of the yard receives obscured sunlight due to tall tress or buildings. Tall and fine fescues are able to flourish with less light than types such as Kentucky bluegrass or common Bermudagrass.

The type of soil in which the grass will grow should play into your decision as to what kind of grass seed to use. Obtain a handful of soil. If it crumbles apart with little effort, it is probably sandy soil, and seeds that are made for sandy soil mixes are best here. Soil rich in clay retains water, so seeds such as ryegrass will do better here. Tall fescue grows better than most in regions that neither receive nor retain much water. Some grasses are susceptible to diseases like smut, but buffalograss is very hearty and resistant to these blights.

The right grass seed will go a long way toward separating your yard from the rest of the pack. In order for it to flourish, climate conditions as well as typical sun exposure must be considered. Determine how much wear and tear the yard will see and you will more effectively choose the right grass seed to use for your lawn.

If you liked this, try – Lawn Seeds

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Lawn is an asset to any residence. But not each one could handle beautiful lawns. You need know-how for design, set up and preservation of a good lawn you could be proud of. Just having a lawn is not tolerable. You need to do periodic maintenance, mowing and weeding also. In addition to that need to give a lot of awareness to your lawn. As a working couple you will never be skilled to do all this. Therefore, hand over the job to Lawn Care-Marietta.

If you want Turf Care Atlanta is a place where you will uncover people with proficiency to sustain your turf. Your help is just a telephone call away. Turf care whiz in Lawn Care-Marietta will arrive at your abode. They will inspect your turf and will recommend what action to take. When you go after their instructions you will end up with the ideal turf you have in mind.

In case your need is Turf Treatment Atlanta has its own specialists in Lawn Care-Marietta. In addition to providing turf treatment, they will supply you counsel on improving your landscaping also. In case you want their help, you could give them a call or you could go to their website and fill up the crucial form to take their service. Their landscape individuals will come and advise you.

When it comes to lawn care Atlanta doesn’t have someone to beat Lawn Care-Marietta. They are the best reachable landscape and lawn care specialists. They will be proficient to provide you with an analysis of your lawn. They will dispense a team of experienced professionals to suggest what you need to do. Then they will supply their service constantly and will visit your home periodically in order to counsel you on what you need to do.

Their work is not limited to lawn care. On lawn treatment Atlanta has the finest outfits. Lawn care-Marietta is the best on that portion. They are open from 7.00 am to 6.00pm from Monday to Sunday. They are a firm that has served public in Atlanta for the past 50 years providing free lawn investigation, irrigation services, and shrub and turf care and landscape maintenance. In short they endow with unlimited landscape and turf management solutions.

In case you need to create or manage a lawn, you could drop a line to Lawn Care-Marietta in order to get a free consideration and advice to get started. They will help you until you accomplish success.

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