UPDATE: lawn mower love

I am updating my original post from April 2012, because after 2 season of grass cutting, I still love this lawn mower! Though it is lightweight, think easy to maneuver, it still cuts all the grass evenly. Now, when I say "grass" I am really referring to a mixture of short green vegetation that grown in the space I call "yard". It is actually many varieties of grass and weeds and a bit of small hedge- resulting from an ill placed bird feeder. It will never be in a "turf-builder" commercial... unless it is the before shot.

The charge cord is really long, so the mower does not need to be near the power outlet, which are few and far between in a garage. I do not use the mulch bag and let everything compost, which is better for my area since the soil layer is thin. My yard, and most in my area, include natural rock outcroppings.

Let's talk performance, I use it on my back yard only and I have a pie-piece shaped yard that is nearly and acre, the bulk of the yard is the front. And, the back has garden areas, so not a giant space to cut, but oddly shaped and pieced out. Even with some back tracking, I can easily cut the yard on one change. I have even cut it once on a charge and half again a couple of weeks later on the same charge. If you are cutting thick or tall grass, it runs the battery down quicker. However, I found the solution after reading "the Grumpy Gardener" from Southern Living Magazine say on Facebook to cut your grass high to kill off weeds and encourage your grass without chemicals. I easily changed the wheel height, with one lever, and started cutting higher. Solved the problem of trying to cut the thick part of the yard, which was a foil for this mower... to be fair that part is a foil for every mower I have used. Still waiting on more grass and less weeds... But I trust you Steve (Grumpy Gardener), and I'll eventually get there.

So, two lawn season and still going strong. No gas, no lawn mower repair shop, no cord, no problems! No reason not to buy now and get an end of the season deal!

Post from April 2012:
I am in love... with my lawn mower! It's a new lawn season and I have a new mower. This year it is a cordless Black and Decker battery powered mower. It is so quiet, powerful, and can take on tall grass, um yeah, I put off cutting grass a while until I got the mower, and best of all no gas. It sounds like a big fan and I guess technically it is a big fan with very sharp blades.
Grass cutting always makes me think of summer at my grandmothers. She was a scheduled woman certain days were grocery days, then there was grass cutting days. The day before glass cutting days I was allowed to cut tracks into the grass with trimmers to play cars, runway, or whatever needs paths. Of course they were gone by the end of the next day. So, on grass cutting day, grandmother would put on capri length pants and her grasshopper shoes to head out to the lawn. To this day my sister and I refer to a certain length of pants-capris coming to mid-calf- as grass cutting length. Grass cutting length is not flattering, though functional, and the equivalent of shorts if you were born in the nineteen-teens!
Join me in the green revolution and try an electric lawn mower!

Some days... I'm an organic gardener

The first warm day of the year brings out the Master Gardener in all of us. We ignore all the wayward garden decisions in the past... it is all about optimism. Though I am the prodigal daughter of the compost bin, I have once again vowed to add to the bin regularly, as well as turn it often. This was after I cleaned it out in what has turned out to be a bi-annual clean out.

Though I do not clean it out often, I have developed a few methods that make it easier. I have an Envirocycle composter. It is easy it add items, spin, and it makes compost tea!


The challenges was how to get the rich soil back out and what about the bits that are not ready yet. The first was solved by a narrow shovel. I choose one with a short handle. The latter was solved by riddling the compost.
What? Never heard of riddling compost?  It's a process to remove all the bits from the soil. There is a tool called a "riddler" in the UK and a sieve or sifter here.

Not wanting to spend on a sifter, I used an old baking cooling rack over my wheelbarrow.

So this year I will be better at adding to the bin, spinning it and I will net a full wheel barrow of compost in one year instead of two!

The first yard bouquet

Every year I get excited about the first yard bouquet for my desk. Being in Alabama, it will usually include hydrangeas and gardenias. Though my hydrangeas bloom first, it seems it is never worthy enough to create a bouquet until you have something that is scented. Once the gardenias bloom, the bouquets are ON!

One of the thing I love about hydrangeas is the  bigger they grow and the deeper the roots spread in the soil, the more contact they have with minerals that can change their color. Each year you can have a variety of color and they can change from year to year. Adding soil amendments can change the color, but I like the surprise of finding out what I will be getting each year.
Growing flowers for cutting gardens are beneficial on many ways. They provide you with an opportunity of enhance or alter your indoor environment with the addition of color. Additionally, the flower provide food for bees, hummingbirds and if they make berries, food for birds in the winter. Cutting gardens are a win/win for the indoor and outdoor environment!


"Yard" bouquests in your work space, like this one on my desk, provides for a place
for you eyes to rest when thinking. Allowing your eyes to rest on something from
nature "resets" you brain faster than resting on something man-made!