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Mowing Your Grass Goes Solar With Sun Powered Lawnmower Idea
With many automakers focusing on developing hybrid vehicles, attention has turned to implementing such eco-friendly technology to other devices, such as lawn care utilities reliant upon traditional fossil fuels. Studio Volpi’s concept solar electric lawnmower not only offers a rechargeable battery as a power source, but also allows users to keep the mower perpetually juiced via sunlight.
More closely resembling a sleek concept car than a lawn tool, the solar electric lawnmower is able to get revved and ready for work by way of charging its removable polymer-ion battery. Once in the glare of sunlight, the mower’s photovoltaic tech “gathers even more energy to keep going and going,” according to Dvice.
Recipient of a Red Dot Design Award in 2009 due to its ability to remain perpetually charged while in use, simple one-button start-up, and quiet operation, the solar electric lawnmower is also compact enough to be easily stored within small spaces. An attachable bag used to store lawn trimmings is easily removed with a single maneuver, effectively eliminating frustration and minimizing downtime.
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When You're Unemployed and Underage
The summer job market for teens has been tough for so long that few people under 25 can remember a good year.
The last time summer jobs were easy to snare for adolescents—a decade ago—today's teenagers were still in elementary school. And the gloomy trend may get worse. The proportion of 16- to 19-year-olds landing summer jobs this year is expected to slip below last summer's record-low of 28.5%, says Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University; that compares with 45% in 2000. The Economic Policy Institute says one million teens have simply left the labor force—they're neither working nor looking for work—since the recession began, an unprecedented number.
Therein lies a huge risk for today's youth. Holding down a job, or volunteer work that replicates the demands of employment, can be an important growing-up experience, lending self-confidence, responsibility and basic job skills, teen-development experts say.
Among the best places to look, Ms. Ward says, are government-run youth programs; resorts and vacation spots; camps and amusement parks; child- and elder-care providers; moving, packing and lawn-care companies; movie theaters, restaurants, and clothing or accessory stores. "Don't buy into the idea that nobody is going to hire a teenager, because some will," she says. "Show your enthusiasm, your ambition and your drive."
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In lawn care, win the war on weeds
When looking at our frost-burned lawns, it's hard to remember them at their lush summer peak, when the battle with weeds is at full fervor. • There's not much to be done now about the brown, but you can take steps to head off an invasion of undesirable green when the weather warms up.
Know your enemy
The first step in controlling any weed is to have it properly identified. Knowing if it is a broadleaf, grass or sedge is paramount to knowing how to control it.
Broadleaf plants generally have netlike veins in their leaves and many have showy flowers. Some examples are dollarweed, creeping beggarweed and Florida pusley.
Grasses have hollow, rounded stems and nodes, or joints, that are closed and hard. The leaf blades have parallel veins and they are much longer than they are wide. The leaf blades also alternate on each side of the stem. Some examples are crabgrass, torpedograss and sandbur.
Sedges are "grasslike" weeds but are not true grasses. Sedges have a solid, triangular-shaped stem with leaves that extend in three directions. Examples include yellow nutsedge and purple nutsedge.
Take control
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Time for city to look at pesticide policy
t used to be it was just a bunch of hippies and the rogue scientists who opposed pesticides. Now groups like the Canadian Cancer Society, physicians' organizations and local and provincial governments are at the forefront of a growing movement to ban non-essential uses of these dangerous products.
The movement against "cosmetic" pesticides, which started in Hudson, Que., in the early 1990s, is the topic of A Chemical Reaction, a film to be shown March 16 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of City Hospital. The Canadian Cancer Society and the Saskatchewan Environmental Society are sponsoring the local premiere. Admission is by donation. You can watch the trailer for the award-winning film at www.cancer.ca/sk.
In addition to the film showing, there will be a question and answer session with Paul Tukey, an organic lawn care expert who is also executive producer of the film. Tukey will also be selling and signing copies of his popular book, The Organic Lawn Care Manual.
The film shows how Hudson became the first municipality in North America to ban cosmetic pesticides. That community's efforts were strenuously opposed by the pesticide and chemical lawn care industries, who challenged the right of a municipality to ban the use of substances that are allowed by national regulations. The case ultimately reached the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled that municipalities do have that right.
The cosmetic ban movement has since spread throughout Canada and now to the United States, with hundreds of municipalities banning cosmetic uses of garden chemicals.
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Local Lawn Care Customers
A page dedicated to updating my Local Lawn Care Customers.
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Weather in Cobourg Ontario
A page discussing current Weather in Cobourg Ontario as well as recent weather trends and personal observations.
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'Snow angels' help with the shoveling
A heavy coating of snow turned some Staten Islanders into white knights during recent storms.
David H. Bell of Mariners Harbor wants to thank the stranger who helped him clear a lot at Summerfield United Methodist Church in his home community.
Bell was attempting to open a church driveway to the parking lot.
"It didn't take long before I was beginning to feel overwhelmed with the size of this task, as the snow was already beginning to get an ice crust," Bell wrote in a letter to the Advance.
A vehicle with a plow attached drove past, backed up and the person driving asked if he could assist.
The white knight cleared the entrance and the lot enough for Sunday service parking. He declined an offer of payment and then drove away.
"I never got his name but he certainly was one of God's Angels," Bell wrote.
"All the members of the Summerfield Church would like to thank this person for his charitable work."
'GALLANT KNIGHTS'
Charlotte Byrne of Westerleigh wrote to the Advance to thank neighbors Aldo Galleli and Mark Ringston, whom she dubbed "Gallant Shining Knights," for using their snow blowers to clear her sidewalk, driveway and car after it became buried from a city snow-clearing plow.
"We hear so many negative things about Staten Islanders, but I am sure that similar Good News stories unfold on Staten Island every day but we just don't hear about them," Ms. Byrne said in a letter to the Advance.
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Siberian Methane Could Fast-Track Global Warming
Unexpectedly huge quantities of Siberian methane are being released into the atmosphere, according to a new study. The resulting feedback loop could dramatically outpace the climate models that scientists and policy makers have been using as they attempt to roll back emissions.
When it comes to climate change, methane is bad news: It is 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide in causing increased atmospheric temperatures.
A National Science Foundation study in today's issue of Science found that melting permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is causing an annual release of nearly 8 million tons of methane. In deeper ocean areas, methane that escapes from the seabed has time to oxidize as it rises to the surface, transforming into less potent carbon dioxide by the time it is released into the atmosphere. In the shallow waters of East Siberia, however, methane that escapes through the thawing permafrost rises quickly to the surface and enters the atmosphere in its original form.
Eight million tons is a relative a pittance compared to the 80 million metric tons produced by livestock around the world each year. But the Siberian methane problem will only get worse as temperatures increase and more permafrost melts.
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Residual Income Opportunities
Legal Residual Income Opportunities that pay well and are simple to implement.
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Calling Mother Nature
To the editor:
Hello, you’ve reached the corporate headquarters of Mother Nature and Associates. She cannot take your call right now as she is up to her isobars in meteorological mayhem in the northeast. To get a first-hand view of her handiwork, slip, slide or spin your way through the “Garrett Pass” - should the road be open for travel. Please leave a message at the moan, and someone will get back to you by April 1 (no fooling). For other options, please press the star key now:
To receive the free booklet Why I Still Live in Somerset County - press 1.
For a preview of his new novel, Digging Out, by reclusive author, Phil G. Hogg - press 2.
For detailed blueprints of Igloos, the next generation - press 3.
Information on the new DVD, Maintaining Snowmen through June - press 4.
For snow shovel maintenance schedule - press 5.
To learn how shoveling your sidewalk could put you on the “Stairway To Heaven” - press 6.
To learn why you shouldn’t judge a man until you’ve stumbled a mile in his snowshoes - press 7.
To order the new children’s novel, Snow White and the Seven Snow Blowers - press 8.
To learn secret tips from upper echelon weather forecasters like Al Gore - press 9.
If you would like to receive the new government issue 6- foot yardstick to measure snow - press 10.
If in need of a winter attitude adjustment - press 11.
To discover how to clear your driveway in less time than it took the Waltons to say goodnight to each other - press 12.
Thank you for your call to Mother Nature. She will process your request ASAP, but right now she is planning the freeze/thaw cycle for the upcoming maple season. That’s always a sticky business. Well, gotta run (that’s maple jargon).
P.S. Because of the excess snow and ice on the ground this year, it will be easier than ever to “Spring forward and fall back.” Toodle-oo.
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Put lawn on cutting edge
With one of the snowiest Februarys in Indianapolis history behind us, most homeowners are probably eager to get their lawn ready for the spring.
First, though, it's important to make sure your lawn and gardening tools are cleaned, sharpened and ready to work when you are.
Having your mower serviced in the early spring can help avoid inopportune breakdowns and extend its life.
Here's what you can expect from a lawn mower checkup:
A service appointment should include an oil change and an inspection of the blade, sparkplugs, air filter, carburetor, cables and belts.
Some facilities will require you to drop off your mower at their shop, while others will pick up or make house calls.
Always ask for an estimate and guarantee on the work. A spring checkup could cost $50 to $150, depending on your mower.
Difficulty starting the engine, a smoking engine or a reduction in its horsepower are all indications that a mower needs to be inspected. Hill recommends inspecting air filters at least once a month. You can simply tap the filter on the ground to shake loose dirt particles. If it gets oil-soaked or to the point where you can't see a light bulb through it, it's time to replace it.
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Not A Day Off This Year
They've been working 12 and 16 hours shifts, 7-days a week for more than two months. But this weekend just might bring good enough weather to allow dozens of Division of Highways workers a couple days off.
Mike Moran, the DOH District 8 Engineer, which covers Tucker, Randolph, Pocahontas and Pendleton counties, told MetroNews Thursday his crews were still working on clearing even the main roads of snow.
"Through the Canaan Valley and Harman area we have three snow blowers working and three graters that have been additionally assigned to our regularly assigned equipment in that area," Moran said.
DOH employees in his district are running the machinery and Moran says nearly everyone is pitching in.
"We've used our construction personnel, our bridge department, sign shop. We've pretty much used every available person in the district," he said.
This has been going on since the first major snow storm that hit the state back on December 18th.
Jeff Pifer, the DOH District 4 Engineer, says his crews are in the same situation. They've been working nearly non-stop in Preston County where nearly 300 inches of snow has fallen in the past three months.
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NEW Fiskars Momentum Reel Lawn Mower
The new Fiskars Momentum reel mowers are now ready for your purchasing pleasure. We are gearing up for the summer 2010 mowing season, which means our stocking supply of momentum mowers will be here in just few weeks. We have partnered with Fiskars to make online ordering easy – you can even order your mower before our supply arrives!
The new Momentum mower has similar characteristics to the Scotts, Brill, Sunlawn, and EASUN mowers – however, it aims to target these reel mower ‘pain’ points, mainly bogging down in tall grass and clogging on small twigs. The Momentum® Reel Mower combines patent-pending technologies and Fiskars expertise in ergonomics to dramatically improve ease-of-use and cutting performance.
These new technologies include:
* InertiaDrive™ Technology: A large diameter cutting reel and heavy blades store energy much like a flywheel, so the Momentum® delivers twice the power to cut through small twigs, weeds or dense grass that clog other reel mowers. The mower also requires 30 percent less push force than standard reel mowers when cutting long grass.
* StaySharp™ Cutting System: Precision engineering allows grass to be cut without the blades touching – greatly reducing friction & blade wear. By eliminating the steel-on-steel contact that dulls standard reel mowers, peak performance can be maintained without annual sharpening.
* VersaCut™ Design: The Momentum® delivers the greatest cut range of any reel mower with cut height settings ranging from 1 to 4 inches. In addition, it edges three times closer than other reel mowers, and never leaves uncut strips under the wheels.
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Stay Safe While Shoveling Snow
While spring might be just around the corner, it’s still early to put away the snow shovel and sidewalk salt. A recent spate of snowstorms in the northeastern United States prompted OSHA to remind workers, employers and the general public of the hazards associated with snow removal and recovery work.
"Cleaning up after a storm encompasses a variety of tasks, each of which can carry risks if performed incorrectly or without proper safeguards," said Robert Kulick, OSHA's regional administrator in New York. "We want people to know what those risks are and what steps they can take to protect themselves against these hazards."
Common hazards can include:
* Electric shock from contact with downed power lines or the use of ungrounded electrical equipment. * Falls from snow removal on roofs or while working in aerial lifts or on ladders. * Being struck or crushed by trees, branches or structures that collapse under the weight of accumulated snow. * Carbon monoxide poisoning from gasoline-powered generators in inadequately ventilated areas or idling vehicles. * Lacerations or amputations from unguarded or improperly operated chain saws and power tools, and improperly attempting to clear jams in snow blowers. * Slips or falls on icy or snow-covered walking surfaces. * Being struck by motor vehicles while working in roadways. * Hypothermia or frostbite from exposure to cold temperatures.
Means of addressing these hazards can include:
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Global warming may be normal at this point in glacial cycle
German and Russian scientists say that it is normal for an interglacial period like the one just ending to finish with one or more brief - in geological terms - spells of warming before the glaciers return.
According to boffins based at the Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ) and at the Russian Academy of Sciences, in the Earth's history thus far there have been eras where the glaciers covered much of Europe, lasting about 100,000 years. These are separated by warmer interglacial periods lasting around 10,000 years. We are currently at the end of an interglacial era called the Holocene.
The scientists, looking into the last interglacial period - the Eemian - which ended around 115,000 years ago, say they have found that that it ended with "significant climate fluctuations" before the rule of the glaciers returned.
The scientists got their results by examining ancient lake sediments exposed by modern open-cast mining in Russia and Germany. They believe that the end of the Eemian interglacial epoch saw "possibly at least two" warming events, according to a statement issued by the UFZ.
"The observed instability with the proven occurrence of short warming events during the transition from the last interglacial to the last glacial epoch could be, when viewed carefully, a general, naturally occurring characteristic of such transition phases," concludes UFZ boffin Dr Tatjana Boettger.
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Spring Lawn Care
With spring temperatures coming this weekend, green will start creeping back into yard. Do too much or too little now and you'll create problems, do the right work and it will pay off for the rest of the year.
Your lawnmower needs an oil change, along with a filter and tire check. The sharpness of your mower blade and mower height are especially important.
"A lot of misdiagnosis for disease & insect damage is really just mechanical damage to the turf using blades that aren't sharp or trying to cut down too low or too much off the turf." Husqvarna's Brian Rowan says stopping weeds from growing is important but don't do too much too soon.
"This time of year you really want to get your lawn to a point where you're mowing before you're putting any chemicals down be it pre-emergent or post-emergent. Once the grass stand starts coming up and it's ready to mow then it’s okay to treat for that stuff."
The lawnmower hasn't been reinvented this year, but new models do make it more comfortable.
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We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change
It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it.
Of course, we would still need to deal with the national security risks of our growing dependence on a global oil market dominated by dwindling reserves in the most unstable region of the world, and the economic risks of sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas in return for that oil. And we would still trail China in the race to develop smart grids, fast trains, solar power, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources of energy — the most important sources of new jobs in the 21st century.
But what a burden would be lifted! We would no longer have to worry that our grandchildren would one day look back on us as a criminal generation that had selfishly and blithely ignored clear warnings that their fate was in our hands. We could instead celebrate the naysayers who had doggedly persisted in proving that every major National Academy of Sciences report on climate change had simply made a huge mistake.
I, for one, genuinely wish that the climate crisis were an illusion. But unfortunately, the reality of the danger we are courting has not been changed by the discovery of at least two mistakes in the thousands of pages of careful scientific work over the last 22 years by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In fact, the crisis is still growing because we are continuing to dump 90 million tons of global-warming pollution every 24 hours into the atmosphere — as if it were an open sewer.
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The benefits of "Snowpocalypse" Blizzards, by shutting down modern life, allow us to listen
The second "snowpocalypse" that hit the East Coast last week spawned so much media racket that it seems bizarre to associate that storm in any way with silence.
Yet once the strong winds died down and the tree branches stopped snapping, the blizzard did bring silence, or rather, a variety of quiet that we have lost contact with in our manic, noisy lives.
I was not in New York when that city got blitzed, but friends there say that in the deep of the night, with the snow falling hard and while the plows were elsewhere, the city was as silent as they'd ever known it to be.
And I remember, as a young boy, struggling down the middle of Madison Avenue on a Sunday morning when fourteen inches of snow had fallen on Manhattan. The avenue was an eiderdown of snow, as pure and white as the Yukon.
It was quiet as the Yukon, too. No cars roared, no planes flew, no plows clanked. The mayor at that time, John V. Lindsay, would lose re-election largely because he did not get the streets plowed in timely fashion. But I, for one, would have voted him back in if it meant I could hear the city so quiet again.
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This Isn't Snake Oil Tammy Lawrence Conquers Lawn Care's Organic Barrier
Tammy Lawrence faced entrenched biases when she launched Turf Revolution, a maker of organic lawn fertilizers, and she knew it. It was 2006 and she had already spent years operating a lawn-care business with her husband, Dave, in Ayr, Ont. She understood the ins and outs of the industry. Specifically, she knew that customers would be leery of her environmentally friendly products.
The problem? Up until a few years ago, the idea of organic fertilizers was viewed with skepticism throughout the industry. Chemicals and pesticides were the well-established status quo. For Lawrence, launching Turf Revolution would be about more than bringing a new product to market, it would be about changing minds. "A lot of the natural products that were out there were very mom-and-pop," she says. "They didn't have a lot of industry respect. We wanted to take that concept and build on it to achieve a mainstream appeal."
Today, Turf Revolution appears to have met that challenge. It now offers a full line of consumer and commercial products that are carried in roughly 50 garden stores in Ontario, and another 50 across Canada and several American states. It also has two warehouses in the U.S. in addition to its facilities in Ayr. Meanwhile, year-over-year sales have been growing at 78%, Lawrence says.
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Man in hospital after snowblower accident
A man is in hospital in stable condition after a freak snowblower accident.
Police said firefighters had to cut sections of the snowblower to free the man's legs after they were caught up in the blades of the machinery at his property in the area of Golf Club Road East and Woodburn Road North around 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
The snowblower was attached to the man's tractor. Police said it was unclear how the man's legs got caught in the blades or whether the snowblower's chute got jammed. He was initially in intensive care listed in critical condition but his condition was upgraded yesterday.
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Lawn care
Suddenly last autumn, numerous patches appeared on my lawn which, from my 'Lawn Expert' book, looks like pearlwort.
The expert from the maintenance company reckons it is possibly fusarium.
Do you know of any cure for fusarium and/or pearlwort and when should the programme start?
Peter Hanchard, Sutton
It sounds as though someone has got their wires crossed here.
The disease known as fusarium patch is fungal and often appears during mild wet winters on badly drained lawns, showing first as a spreading beige/orange patch of dead grass (for which there does not seem to be any other explanation), sometimes with white fluff in its centre. The patches soon multiply.
The best defence against the spread of the disease is to improve the lawn's drainage - by hollow tine aeration and the application of a sandy top-dressing, for example.
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Campaign targets lawn weedkillers, pesticides
Although snow blanketed Vermont last week, a working group of the Burlington Board of Health is about to issue this call: Wanted — two Burlington property owners willing this spring to swear off the stew of manmade chemicals many people feed their lawns to keep them as weed- and pest-free as AstroTurf.
Abandoning pesticides won’t mean going it alone. The two property owners will be part of the “Truly Healthy Lawn Lab,” a two-year Board of Health project to demonstrate chemical-free routes to growing grass.
The Lawn Lab — along with a recent, abortive attempt to toughen the Burlington’s pesticide ordinance — reflects a growing concern in some circles that lawn chemicals, singly or together, can affect human health, particularly children’s health.
“There is so much evidence that chemicals in the environment are affecting our long-term health,” said Jean Markey-Duncan, a New North End resident and one of those who pressed the Board of Health to address lawn pesticide use. “Pesticides have been linked to cancer, to Parkinson’s disease, to autism and attention deficit disorder.
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Digging out from snow's return
After such a "drought-like" winter, area residents dusted off their shovels and snowblowers Friday morning following 38 continuous hours of snowfall.
While it appeared as a winter wonderland, Environment Canada meteorologist David Phillips said there was only 11 centimetres dumped on Peterborough from Thursday night to Friday morning.
After such a "drought-like" winter, area residents dusted off their shovels and snowblowers Friday morning following 38 continuous hours of snowfall.
While it appeared as a winter wonderland, Environment Canada meteorologist David Phillips said there was only 11 centimetres dumped on Peterborough from Thursday night to Friday morning.
"That's nothing!" Phillips said. "You guys wouldn't even be talking about it if you hadn't had a winter with less than half the usual snowfall."
By this time last year, 146 cm of snow had fallen on Peterborough. This winter, 61 cm of snow has fallen.
"That's why I've called it a drought, although that's a bit of an embellishment," Phillips said.
The surprise snowfall had city crews out clearing roads by 1:30 a.m., said public works maintenance supervisor Brian Jobbitt.
Fifteen plow trucks, six sidewalk plows, five front-end loaders and a road grader were clearing the city's 900 kilometres of roads and crews had the main arteries cleared by 3 a.m., Jobbitt said.
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Winter Can Snowblow me (This post is rated R for Rant)
When you have 33 inches of freshly fallen, heavy, wet snow in your 200 foot-long driveway, and haven't had electricity for 14 hours, this is not how you want your snow blower to be...
Unfortunately, you are looking at the state of my snow blower at approximately 7 pm last night.
The day before, I had noticed that this giant behemoth monster snow-thrower (that I bought with my approximate life savings two winters ago) was kind of laying down on the job and not so much "throwing" as it was "dribbling." Whereas it used to throw snow to the other side of the street, now what it was doing was more akin to what a baby does when it doesn't like its creamed spinach, or what toothpaste looks like coming out of the tube or -- well, I'll just stop right there because you are all perverted and you will take it to weird places in your collective heads. It seemed ok as long as I wasn't pushing it hard and it wasn't under load. As I was taking tiny little nibbles at the snow bank to avoid jamming the chute, I thought, Well, the snow is really heavy and sticky so what can I really expect? and then I realized I was making excuses for my man-machine. (It's not the first time, and it won't be the last.)
After about the 5th time the chute plugged up and I had to stop it and manually eject a solid tube of slush with my frozen hand, I decided that there was no way that this is how it should work, regardless of how heavy the snow was. Something was clearly wrong in the underpants of my snow blower. I sighed and broke out the wrenches.
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Weather and Global Warming
An Overview of Weather and Global Warming and its' effects on Lawn Care and the world around us.
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Snow Blower Etiquette Ain't Emily Post
I was reading a story in the Chicago Tribune dealing with snow-blower etiquette. The piece dealt mainly with where you draw the line in terms of snow blowing your neighbor's sidewalk or the whole street's sidewalks. I say you do the sidewalks of older or infirmed neighbors, and you skip the sidewalks of neighbors you don't like, particularly if they still haven't returned tools they borrowed. As for the whole street, if you have the time and you're on a roll, why not.
Besides sidewalks, there are two other snow blowing issues that often come up -- time and location.
When I say location, I am referring to where you direct the blowing snow. Obviously, you don't want to direct it into your neighbor's driveway or into the street if you can help it. But wind can create conditions that take this decision out of your hands. On such days, all one can do is run the snow blower and let Mother Nature decide where it goes. Granted, your neighbor or neighbors may retaliate, but this is why they make 12-horsepower snow blowers for homeowners. (Go ahead, punk, make my day.)
As for time, let's be honest here. Snow blowers make a lot of noise, and they are going to wake people up in the morning. This is unfortunate, but often necessary. It all depends on the circumstances.
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Cosmetic pesticides have no place in our gardens
There used to be a poison for every ill that ailed you but pesticide pickings have shrunk considerably on garden center shelves these past two decades.
When it comes to using these products for cosmetic purposes– a greener lawn or weed-free flowers– I agree with the Province of Nova Scotia, which has released a position paper on the subject.
It wants to ban the use and sale of cosmetic (lawn) pesticides and is looking for your input by March 7.
As it stands now, only the Halifax Regional Municipality has the authority to
ban the application of cosmetic pesticides. It doesn’t have the authority to ban their sale.
Health Canada says it is good practice to reduce or eliminate any unnecessary exposure to pesticides and several provinces have enacted legislation banning their use.
The proposed ban is bad news for lawn-care companies, many of which rely on pesticide use to obtain the look their customer wants. Landscape Nova Scotia’s response to the province is to point out that uncontrolled insect and disease infestations can very quickly destroy a green space.
“Early and effective intervention using pesticides approved as safe for use, is often required to prevent total loss of a landscape.
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A Clean Air solution to lawn care
As you get ready for the annual war on weeds in your front lawn this spring, you can choose to load up on conventional weed-and-feed and launch a chemical offensive, or you can call the local lawn service to begin the assault on your behalf.
Or…you can skip the harsh chemicals and the usual services and find an organic lawn service.
Organic lawn care companies are pushing into the market. So much so, that even Chem Lawn, a king of the old guard, now goes by TruGreen and offers an all-organic plan. These days a check for “organic lawn care” will usually pop up someone in your region, if not your exact town. And a search for do-it-yourself organic lawn care products, like corn gluten pre-emergent weed killer or composts for fertilizing, will turn up products at hundreds of online and off-line retailers.
But we only know of one lawn service, the Clean Air Lawn Care franchise, that is aiming for green on a multiple levels, greening lawns with organic materials while also making its operations sustainable by using solar power and electric mowers.
Clean Air Lawn Care is a pioneer in its industry, based in Fort Collins, Colo., wants to live up to its name, offering customers a chemical-free lawn, mowed by electric mowers that are charged by solar panels mounted on the company trucks, offering a clean, quiet, non-polluting alternative.
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How to Make a Racing Lawn Mower
Lawnmower racing is the most affordable form of motor sports that is gaining popularity. Its biggest attraction is that it provides fun and enjoyment. There are many people who want to get started with lawnmower racing. However, prior to getting started, one should learn the basics of how to build a racing lawn mower.Prepare The Materials
Before building the lawn mower, you need to prepare the materials for the construction of the racing lawnmower. You need to have access to the following materials:
* Drill * Sandblaster * T Drives * Jigsaw * Brake Parts * Angle Grinder * Welder
Get Hold of a Second Hand Lawn Mower
The first step on how to build a racing lawn mower is to remove all the parts of a second hand lawn mower except the chassis. Use a sandblaster to clean and remove the dust and rust on the surface of the chassis.Strengthen the Chassis
The next stage on how to build a racing lawn mower is to strengthen the chassis. Use metal for the components located on the back axle. You can seek the help of a professional in welding the parts or do it yourself only if you have the experience.Assemble The Back Axle
The next step on how to build a racing lawn mower is to assemble the back axle. To make sure that the assembly is precise and of the best quality, you may hire the services of a precision engineering firm.Installing The Other Components
After installing the back axle, the next step is to make cutouts for the engine plate. Use a jigsaw, hole saw, or drill for cutting the plate. Next, you need to prepare the steering wheel, engine, spare tire, and wheels. You can procure cheap spare parts through the classified ads of newspapers or magazines.
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Geo-engineering: the planet's savior or untested danger?
US researchers are studying the steam from ships, condensation trails of airplanes and volcanic eruptions as they try to understand how and even if the fledgling science of geo-engineering could slow global warming.
But where some researchers are forging ahead with the new science of tinkering with the atmosphere to change the climate, many others are warning that geo-engineering is untested, potentially dangerous and distracting the world from reducing greenhouse gases.
Geo-engineering is based on the principle that making tweaks to the atmosphere, such as seeding the clouds to make them brighter and more reflective, could bring down global temperatures.
One geo-engineering study showed that large ships spewing tiny particles into the sky changed the characteristics of clouds, making the droplets in the clouds more numerous and smaller.
A cloud with more droplets is brighter and reflects more sunlight, preventing it from hitting the Earth's surface and warming it up.
Another model for geo-engineers is major volcanic eruptions, which spew sulfurous gases into the air and also result in cooler temperatures afterwards.
Some scientists have suggested as a geo-engineering strategy shooting sulfurous gas into the air from jets that fly at high altitudes. The gas would condense and form particles in clouds, making them more reflective, they have theorized.
"There's a huge scope for new methods because once you realize you can make things by direct condensation from vapor, then all different sorts of compounds are possible," said David Keith, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Calgary at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science..
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Getting tough on weeds
Don't be fooled by his boyish, Olympic snowboarder look - Travis Wilson is a killer. And he's recruiting.
"They brought me in to have someone designated strictly for removing invasive plants," said the 32-year-old, who has been volunteering with park services for 10 years and has a professional background in pest control and lawn maintenance.
This is the first time Wilson has worked for the Florida Parks System, although his extensive volunteer work has included removing exotic plants and putting in fences in five different parks across the state, including Oscar Scherer State Park in Osprey, Boca Grade State Park in Englewood, and Lake Kissimmee State Park in Lake Wales where his wife, Kiersten, works as a park ranger.
Wilson said Highlands Hammock State Park is unique in that it contains certain invasive plant species found in no other Florida state parks.
His top nemesis: the dionella lily.
"There is very little you can do to get rid of them," said Wilson of the low plant with long yellow-green leaves that literally carpets parts of Highlands Hammock State Park, including the entryway.
"When we do our prescribed burning, the dionella lily holds a lot of moisture. It hinders the burns," he said. Wilson went on to say that as the other vegetation was burned away, the dionella lily used the opportunity to creep back in and take over.
Besides choking out native vegetation, dionella lily also presents a problem for local wildlife. Wilson noted that deer will eat the plant's berries, which have very little nutritional content, as opposed to their natural diet of healthier native foods like acorns.
How do you get rid of it? Wilson literally pulls it out of the ground with help from local volunteers, then applies an herbicide to keep it from sprouting.
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Global warming has left me cold
I want to correct our terminology: It is no longer "global warming" since 49 states have snow on the ground in mid-February. It is "climate change," and the snow is the result of the earth warming. Does that logic bother you? I was taught to mistrust and dismiss double-talk when I was growing up in Oklahoma. I think we should still do so. Rural people are not the most sophisticated in our society but we deal with reality. The farmers have fed us year in and year out in spite of major shifts in the weather. Now we are being told that our agrarian and industrial activity is heating up the planet and dire results will come if we don't reverse course. I am a technocrat in that I believe science is our hope for a better life, but I find a major contradiction in this science and suspect that it is more the politics of manipulation than the science of meteorology.
Let's be realistic about the weather as we know it. In the 20th century--the one that supposedly set global warming in motion--we saw extremes in weather across the farm-belt of the United States. The 1930s had some of the coldest and hottest days on record. The droughts were apocalyptic. Much of the rural population of the Plains was driven out by economic and physical stress. What did we do to cause that? My family lived in a shack with an outhouse and stopped driving their car because they had no money to buy gas. The 1950s had another drought in the Plains and 1980 was the one I remember most, with summer heat that scorched anything standing. The Upper Midwest always has cold winters, but the variability of liquid and solid precipitation year to year was also extreme. Right now we'd like to see some "global drying" so the crops can get planted on time.
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PET CORNER: Read labels before applying lawn treatments
Winter is winding down, the chilly mornings and cold nights should subside soon, and spring is almost here. With spring on the way, homeowners will be thinking of getting their lawn in good condition for the new growing season. However, special attention to the lawn can cause serious problems for the family's dogs and cats, depending on the products used.
Practically every homeowner applies chemicals (liquid sprays, granules or powders) to the grass, shrubbery, and flowers, trying to keep the lawn green, the flowers blooming, and everything pest-free.
Veterinarians are aware that powerful lawn chemicals can be extremely dangerous to pets. A few years ago, a friend mentioned that something was wrong with her dog's feet as the skin on its pads had begun sloughing off. When she took the dog to the veterinarian, the first question he asked was "what chemicals are you using on the lawn?"
The conscientious owner assured the veterinarian that no chemicals of any kind were ever applied on the lawn where the dog is confined most of the time. I cannot recall what the vet decided the problem was, but his first question was about lawn chemicals.
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Eat Your Lawn
I admit it. I am a lawn-eater. Or to be more specific, I am an eater of those plants that live among the grasses which most people call “weeds.” Hurumph. A weed is simply a plant growing where you don’t want it to — any gardener will tell you volunteer tomatoes are weeds.
Now is the time of year to venture out on that most intimate of foraging trips — your yard — in search of edible wild green things. The weather is still cool, but the sun is shining long enough that many wild plants are thinking of spring. And spring brings flowers. Time is ticking, because most lawn edibles are not very tasty once they flower.
I know, I know. Many of you live in colder climates and the very image of this lovely green salad in February is setting you on edge; it’s because you’ve been eating too many rutabagas and turnips. Hang in there, though, because your time will come soon enough.dandelions
Fun fact of the day: Most typical yard weeds are European migrants that arrived with settlers, and most are eaten back in the Old Country — or at least someone’s Old Country.
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Paul Tukey, crusader for safe and beautiful lawns, presents award-winning documentary film at Springfest
Paul Tukey is coming to the Springfest Flower & Garden Show on March 13 to share with the visitors a very important message: It is possible to have a safe--and healthy lawn--without using dangerous chemicals.
As the founder of People, Places & Plants magazine, SafeLawns.org (an international coalition of for –profit and non-profit organizations promoting environmentally friendly lawn care and resource conservation) and author of; The Organic Lawn Care Manual, Tukey is one of the nation’s leading experts on organic lawn care.
After becoming seriously ill with acute pesticide sensitivity from applying chemical lawn products in his own lawn care business, he became an outspoken advocate for alternatives to chemical lawn care.
Tukey is well known to millions of Americans through his popular gardening program as the host, of "People Places & Plants" on HGTV. In March of 2006 Tukey won the highest honor in gardening journalism and broadcasting when the American Horticultural Society named him the winner of the annual Horticultural Communication Award.
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Grass Stitcher aims to make repairing a lawn easy and effective every time
A couple of weeks ago I was strolling the trade show floor at New England Grows looking for something new and interesting when I came across the Grass Stitcher and it's enthusiastic inventor Frank Catalano. I was immediately interested in this product.
As soon as I saw the Grass Stitcher I thought, "Dang, why didn't I think of that"
What drew me to the product was the fact that I have recommended the use of similarly styled cultivators for the purpose of repairing bare patches. I even did a product review of the Garden Cultivator by Hound Dog solely based on using it as a lawn repair tool. While garden cultivators can be a suitable tool for some lawn repairs, they are cultivators first and mostly just break up the surface of the soil. The Grass Stitcher is designed specifically for making lawn repairs.
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Proving Global Warming (Three)
These temperatures are for the lowest 5 miles of the troposphere. Last month this region of the sky set a record for warmth. It was 1.30°F warmer than the average for the last 32 years, since record keeping began. The second warmest January was in 2007.
As you "drive" a little higher in our theoretical sky, it is still much warmer than average but you are getting above some of the "blankets" so it will feel relatively cooler than the lower troposphere. This mid-troposphere is "only" 1.12°F above average and set a record for the second warmest. The warmest was in 1998 which was 1.15°F above average.
The NCDC explains it this way:
"Because the stratosphere has cooled due to increasing greenhouse gases in the troposphere and losses of ozone in the stratosphere, the stratospheric contribution to the tropospheric average, as measured from satellites, may create an artificial component of cooling to the mid-troposphere temperatures."
Ok, now imagine that your blankets have a pretty good size hole in them. You're still hot but at least that hole lets some of the heat out. That is our ozone hole. Ozone is another greenhouse gas. It is only ten parts per million but lucky for us it is there at that perfect amount. Not too high, not too low but just right.
However, since we destroyed a lot of it and caused that hole (that we think is slowly healing), it is actually helping the planet to cool off a little. The bad news is that as we fix one problem (the ozone hole) we make the other one worse (global warming). Once you patch up the hole in your blankets, you're going to get hotter. But if you don't fix it, you could get cancer or go blind since the ozone is protecting us from nasty ultraviolet radiation. What to do? Decisions, decisions.
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Lawn Care Uniform
A Page describing the importance of the Lawn Care Uniform in the branding of Your Lawn Care Business.
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Green Back Loyalty Program
Online Announcement of the New Green Back Loyalty Program from Baxters' Four Seasons Services Inc.
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Global warming taking giant bites out of underbellies of Greenland's glaciers
In a new study, scientists have found out that water warmed by climate changeis taking giant bites out of the underbellies of Greenland's glaciers, with 75 per cent of the ice lost by the glaciers being melted by ocean warmth.
"There's an entrenched view in the public community that glaciers only lose ice when icebergs calve off," Eric Rignot at the University of California, Irvine, told New Scientist.
"Our study shows that what's happening beneath the water is just as important," he added.
In the summer of 2008, Rignot's team measured salinity, temperature and current speeds near four calving fronts in three fjords in western Greenland.
They calculated melting rates from this data.
The underwater faces of the different glaciers retreated by between 0.7 and 3.9 metres each day, representing 20 times more ice than melts off the top of the glacier.
"This creates ice overhangs that crumble into the sea," said Paul Holland at the British Antarctic Society.
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Lawn Care Advertising
A Page describing the importance and some great tips in Lawn Care Advertising.
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Lawn Care Trailer Lettering
A page describing the benefits of using the proper size and color for your Lawn Care Trailer Lettering.
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Lawn Care Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to Lawn Care Frequently Asked Questions
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What The Snowpocalypse Tells Us About Global Warming
Washington D.C.'s getting slammed by record snowfall right now, which means that in addition to unplowed roads and Mad Max-style scenes at Safeway, we also have to suffer through a flurry of Al Gore jokes and Republicans snorting about how this proves global warming is all fake. I guess the prim, boring response is that a single weather event, even an extreme one, simply doesn't tell us much about long-term climate trends.
ut blah, blah, everyone's heard that line before. A more thoughtful reply comes from meteorologist Jeff Masters, who explains why massive snowstorms in the Northeast aren't inconsistent with a steadily warming world:
There are two requirements for a record snow storm:
1) A near-record amount of moisture in the air (or a very slow moving storm). 2) Temperatures cold enough for snow.
It's not hard at all to get temperatures cold enough for snow in a world experiencing global warming. According to the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the globe warmed 0.74°C (1.3°F) over the past 100 years. There will still be colder than average winters in a world that is experiencing warming, with plenty of opportunities for snow.
The more difficult ingredient for producing a record snowstorm is the requirement of near-record levels of moisture. Global warming theory predicts that global precipitation will increase, and that heavy precipitation events--the ones most likely to cause flash flooding--will also increase. This occurs because as the climate warms, evaporation of moisture from the oceans increases, resulting in more water vapor in the air.
According to the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, water vapor in the global atmosphere has increased by about 5% over the 20th century, and 4% since 1970. This extra moisture in the air will tend to produce heavier snowstorms, assuming it is cold enough to snow. Groisman et al. (2004) found a 14% increase in heavy (top 5%) and 20% increase in very heavy (top 1%) precipitation events in the U.S. over the past 100 years, though mainly in spring and summer. However, the authors did find a significant increase in winter heavy precipitation events have occurred in the Northeast U.S.
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GREEN SCENE: Speak up now on B.C. pesticide regulations
As announced in the throne speech last August (not the one this week), the provincial government is conducting a public consultation on the use of cosmetic pesticides in B.C. The consultation is being done electronically (you can find the consultation paper online at www.env.gov.bc.ca) and the deadline to receive submissions is Monday, Feb. 15.
Cosmetic pesticides are those used to improve the appearance of vegetation and yards. In comparison, non-cosmetic pesticide use includes applications for commercial food production or for the elimination of carpenter ants, which can cause structural damage to buildings.
Banning the cosmetic use of pesticides in residential areas is gaining increasing support since the town of Hudson, Que. passed a bylaw against their use in 1991. Although the Hudson bylaw was challenged in court by companies that profit from the use of pesticides, the Supreme Court of Canada finally ruled in favour of the town in 2001.
This set the stage for other governments to take action. In 2003, the province of Quebec passed strong legislation banning the use of cosmetic pesticides. Since then, Ontario, Alberta, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick have all passed legislation of varying strengths.
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Viking Nursery
A Page describing Viking Nursery in Harwood Ontario.
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Environmentalists Urge Pesticide Study
Environmentalists are pushing lawmakers to form a committee to study the effects of pesticides on children, but lawn care businesses object to the study, saying it would lead to a ban on chemicals important to their work.
About 50 people from both sides of the issue attended a House Environment and Agriculture Committee hearing on the bill yesterday morning. After an hour of testimony, committee Chairman Rep. Tara Sad, D-Walpole, tried to move the first of a full day of hearings along by limiting each speaker's comments to two minutes. Still, the hearing lasted more than three hours.
The bill would form a committee to study the use of pesticides, herbicides and their alternatives in residential neighborhoods, schools and other places children gather.
Dr. Alan Eaton, from University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, warned that HB 1456, as written, is too broad and should be rewritten to focus on specific materials. Pesticides also include the sprays used to kill mosquitoes during West Nile Virus and EEE outbreaks, he said, and to kill bees and hornets.
Eaton didn't say outright the bill should be killed.
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Canada bans all weed 'n feed products
In the most simple, common sense legislation I've ever come across, Health Canada has decided to no longer allow the coupling of pesticide and fertilizer combination products, commonly known as weed 'n feed. It's kind of a federal stamp-of-approval on the trend of banning all cosmetic herbicides that has swept many provinces and municipalities, without actually going that far.
Weed 'n feed is an herbicide and fertilizer combination product that is supposed to kill weeds and feed the grass at the same time. However, the timing of fertilizer applications generally does not coincide with the timing of killing weeds. Also, the herbicide ends up being applied to the entire lawn often to areas it is not needed. Fertilizers and herbicides are two very different products and combining them is not sound turf management. Weed 'n feed just doesn't make sense.
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Pesticides
Dear editor,
I am honorary Canadian observer on the umbrella U.S. Pesticide Working Group. I live in suburban Ottawa and have a substantial lawn maintained in anexcellent condition, without any pesticides and with very little effort. Few people know that herbicides were unavailable for weed control prior to WWII and were initially used for military purposes.
The lawns in my neighbourhood tend to be quite large and despite the Ontario ban, in effect since the spring of 2009, are kept in an entirely satisfactory condition.
In North America we allow the industry to register and use pesticides while vital health data are outstanding and may or may not arrive. In the European Union, companies are given deadlines to submit the necessary health data. In the event of their failure to do so, the registration is withdrawn.
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States Try to Tax More Services as Coffers Deflate
Will plumbers, lawyers and hot-air balloon operators be forced to pitch in to solve state and local government revenue shortfalls?
Sales taxes today mainly, though not exclusively, hit sales of tangible goods like cars and couches. Faced with the worst budget crisis in a generation, many states are looking to expand sales taxes to services, such as lawn care or accountants' advice. The goal, legislators say, is to broaden the tax base to cover a broader swath of the economy as traditional sources of tax revenue decline.
Although in early stages, service taxes are being considered by legislators around the country. In Kentucky, representatives have introduced a measure to extend sales taxes to some high-end services like limousines and balloon rides. In North Carolina, the legislature last year considered, but didn't pass, a proposal to tax services such as car repairs and lawn care.
In Maine, the legislature last year passed a law that would lower income taxes for most residents but extend sales taxes to services such as car repairs and dry cleaning. It faces a voter referendum in June.
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