[June/July 2008]

Dear Garden Hotline® listeners:

Think twice before you crank up the lawn mower to mow your half acre of turf, or start the garden tiller for the flower or vegetable garden, and even when using your gas-powered weed whacker to cut the weeds or trim around the edges. Why, you ask. At over $4.50 per gallon of gas, that’s why. The old-fashioned reel type, push mower is back. The hand cultivator or scuffle hoe is back. The hand clippers are back. What do all of these tools have in common? Their source of power is YOU, not gasoline. I must say that the cost of gasoline is one consideration I have never given much thought to when maintaining my property. I just filled my gas cans at the local filling station and, to be honest, I don’t know that I ever looked at the total. This last weekend, I filled 2, 5 gallon gas cans and the total was over $22.50. I use to fill up my car for that amount or less. I say “use to” as it cost me $76.00 + this past weekend. Yes, I do have an OLD reel type mower, a hand cultivator, and grass clippers. I’ll have to dust them off, and oil the moving parts. I may have to sharpen the blades too as I have no idea as to when that was last done.

Now to something positive…. I wish you could have seen my Rhododendron collection in bloom this spring. It was a sight for winter-tired eyes. Other than a few leaves and buds nibbled by deer during January, there was NO winter burn. The snow cover from January into March kept the soil from freezing deeply so moisture was available to the roots. The timing of the spring rains provided plenty of moisture to every flower bud which, as you can see, fully developed into a magnificent bloom.



Ralph Snodsmith
Host, The Garden Hotline® Online