Amazing Robotic Lawn Mower

The days of the Lawn Mower tasks on Sunday are long gone, no more family arguments about chores and duties and work in the hot sun... the robotic lawn mower operating rights is something your kids will have fights on for some time. This futuristic invention was something you could only dream about twenty years ago, when lawn mower designs were constantly trying to impress the public, when you will have one of those circular disks that shoot across your yard, gently humming and leaving grass clippings in its wake you will feel like your in a robotic dream.

Did you think you were dreaming? Well, you are not. Welcome to the twenty-first century and the advent of the robotic lawn mower. This is no space invaded robot, the robotic lawn mower is self-propelled, battery powered mower that can be programmed to cut your grass all on its own. All you need to do is to set the parameters and the time of day that you would like the lawn to be cut and wait for the robot to go do its thing. Some of the robots can run up to an hour on their powered batteries and when they are done, they return to their docking station to begin charging for its next session, as a obedient worker should do.

Another great feature is that you can program robotic lawn mower to mow in several ways, thus it can follow your mowing plan. You can tell it to begin on the perimeter and work its way to the interior, or it can begin in a spot in the center and work its way outward. Some people like to have the robotic lawn mower to move in a crisscross pattern, creating your own little backyard fairway pattern, maybe even encourage you to work on your approach golf game. Doesn't the idea of having a small private golf course in the backyard sound nice?.

A robotic lawn mower has several advantages over its noisy, manual, gas-powered classic designed lawn mower cousins. The prime advantage here is naturally the fact that you do not have to do anything other than watch the amazing technology as it winds its way through the yard. The other, more mundane advantage is that robotic lawn mowers are quieter, their gas or oil use are nothing and would not cost you anything, and they are as "green" as you can possibly be, they will not harm the environment m and would not pollute your backyard.

What about those flowers bordering the walk or the maple tree in the middle of the yard? Do not worry. Robotic mowers are equipped with sensors that can detect an object in its path. The flowers, the trees, and even your pets are safe from the wrath of the modern robotic lawn mower. They can operate on just about any slope and most are fully guarded from the elements. So, if a shower breaks out on your mower, it will live to fight those dandelions another day.

Source: Free Articles

About the Author

Daniel Roshard is a designer that has been enchanted by outdoors and garden design, he is currently writing Lawn Mower articles for http://lawnmower.zupatips.com/

Killing Crabgrass

Once Crabgrass gets foothold in your lawn it can be
difficult to fend off (even with the best pre-emergent control products!)
However it can be done! Here
is what we recommend!

The first step is to purchase our Crabgrass
Killer! This chemical is formulated to specifically attack
the roots of crabgrass! It is a
Post-emergence control for grassy weeds in Bermuda, zoysia and bluegrass lawns.
It kills crabgrass, sandbur, dallisgrass, johnsongrass, goosegrass,
barnyardgrass and more.

This concentrate and will cover up to 4,000 square feet!
For Blue Grass mix 2 oz (4 tablespoons) in 1 gallon of water to cover 200
sq. ft. Spot treat the areas that are infested with crabgrass.

The second step is critical for optimal application --
always mix a "Spreader Sticker" with the weed killing chemical.

The "spreader sticker" we recommend is called Wilt
Pruf. Mixing a spreader sticker (1 oz. per gallon) with a weed
killer will ensure the chemical spreads over the entire foliage area and then
sticks! As an added benefit, it
will keep an application from washing off during an unexpected spring rain
storm!

The weed should begin to wilt and brown within 5 days --
spot treat as needed every two weeks until you have killed off that nasty
crabgrass! It should not take more than 2-3 applications to wipe out event he
most mature crabgrass.

A couple of other notes: For best results, apply Crabgrass
Killer to the lawn in the morning (after dew has dried) on a sunny, calm day to
allow maximum absorption of the weed killer.
Higher temperatures result in a quicker uptake of this product for faster
control. However, do not apply
Crabgrass Killer if temperatures exceed 90 degrees. If daytime temperatures are
expected to exceed 90 degrees, apply the product in early morning when it is
cooler.

The combination of these two products will take care of
your weed problem!

Click
Here to Learn More about Crabgrass Killer

Click
Here to Learn More About Wilt Pruf.

Proper Pruning techniques

Pruning is a vital part of plant and tree care. This task can be confusing so we developed the following guide to help you prune properly.

Three basic tools suffice for most pruning jobs: shears, loppers, and a pruning
saw. Keep them sharp for clean cuts; disinfect after pruning diseased material.

1. When Do Roses Need To Be Pruned?

Prune in winter or early spring when plants are still dormant. Prune plants to maintain symmetrical
bushes and to encourage strong new growth. Cut back all
previous years growth as much as one-third its length. Remove branches that cross through center and remove plants understock.
Also prune weak and dead stems as needed. This will also encourage strong new growth.

2. When Do Crepe Myrtles Need To Be Pruned?

The best time to prune crepe myrtles is in February. Prune out twiggy stems and any dead wood. Thin out
crossing or crowding branches in the plants center. If tree form,
prune lower branches. Prune top to maintain symmetry. Each year
after flowering, cut 12 to 18 inches off the tips of branches that have bloomed.

3. When Do Hollies Need To Be Pruned?

Prune in winter or early spring mostly to shape plants. Cut back wayward branches and prune
out weak unproductive dead stems as needed.

4. When Do Butterfly Bushes Need To Be Pruned?

Butterfly bushes bloom in summer on new
spring growth. They can be pruned in late winter or early spring. By
pruning old blooms you will encourage new flowers. Also prune out old dead
and unproductive branches.

5. When Do Hydrangeas Need To Be Pruned?

Hydrangeas fall into two groups.
Some you prune in early spring and others after the flowers fade.

1. Early Spring Pruning
   
   Hydrangeas bloom on new growth. These plants are Climbing
   Hydrangea, Annabelle, Grandiflora, and PeeGees.
   
2. After-Bloom Pruning
   
   Hydrangeas bloom on last years stems. These include Bigleaf
   Hydrangeas, Oakleaf Hydrangeas, Lacecaps, SummerBeauty, and Nikko
   Blue. Pruning should be done when the flower has faded. Cut back the flowering stems to the strongest pair of new shoots. As plants mature, begin to thin out the oldest woody stems. Remove crowded crossing, broken, or dead branches.

6. When Do Clematis Need To Be Pruned?

Clematis can be put in three
categories: Spring-flowering, summer-flowering , and twice-flowering.

1. Spring-blooming
   
   Clematis produce flowers on stems that grew during the previous year.
   Prune when flowers are done blooming. Cut back the flowers that are
   now dead. Prune out any old dead stems as well.
   
2. Summer-blooming
   
   Plants bloom on new growth produced in the spring. Cut back stems before new growth begins. Late autumn or early spring is a good time to prune. Cut back about 12 inches of old growth. Each year the vine will grow larger and stronger.
   
3. Twice-blooming
   
   Plants first bloom in spring on stems produced the previous year.
   Late summer or fall will be the next bloom time. In late fall or very early spring, prune lightly to thin the stems. After the spring bloom, prune more heavily for more healthy stems to develop for the next bloom. After a second bloom, prune old flowers away.

7. When Do Fruit Trees Need To Be Pruned?

The most common fruit trees are apple, peach, pear and cherry.

1. Apple Trees
   
   Apple trees should be pruned in late winter or early spring before new growth starts. Always remove all suckers (summer is a great time).
   Also remove dead and other unproductive branches as needed.
   
2. Peach Trees
   
   Peach trees are fast growing and need to be pruned in winter.
   Without pruning the peaches will grow farther away from the tree's center.
   This will put great strain on the branches, causing them to break. In winter, thin out upward-growing branches that cross in tree's center.
   
3. Pear Trees
   
   Prune back in early spring. Always prune dead and unproductive
   branches as needed.
   
4. Cherry Trees
   
   Prune in winter. Prune out branches that cross in center and dead unproductive branches as needed.

8. When Do Azaleas and Rhododendrons Need To Be Pruned?

They can be pruned in winter or early spring.
However pruning at this time will prevent plants from producing many blooms. The best time to prune azaleas and rhododendrons is just after their blooming period in spring. If you prune
at this time , no additional pruning will be necessary.

9 When Do Junipers Need To Be Pruned?

Junipers need very minimal pruning. They should be pruned to correct their shape, to accent their form, or to limit their size. This should be done during the juniper's growing stages
in mid-summer.

10. When Do Flowering Trees Need To Be Pruned?

Flowering trees should be pruned after they have finished blooming. Prune as little as possible. Dead branches, branches that cross in the center, and branches that are unproductive should be pruned out.

Three basic tools suffice for most pruning jobs: shears, loppers, and a pruning
saw. Keep them sharp for clean cuts; disinfect after pruning diseased material.

Gardening: Growing Great Tomatoes

For many people, growing big juicy tomatoes is part of what makes vegetable gardening so enjoyable. Whether purchasing plants from your local nursery or starting tomatoes from seed, there are a few basic steps to follow to ensure that you harvest an abundant crop at the end of the growing season. There are many different varieties of tomatoes to choose from, depending on whether you will be cooking, canning, slicing, or eating miniature or grape-like varieties right off the vine. Sweet 100's are very abundant, and are good for salads as well as eating fresh from the garden. Roma tomatoes are good for making salsa, because the peels are not as tough as others so you don't need to peel the skins off. Romas are also known as the classic paste and sauce tomato. There are Early Girls, Early Boys, Big Boys, Big Mamas, Sweet Baby Girls, Beefsteaks, French Rose hybrids, Big Rainbow, specialty tomatoes and many more. So start by choosing the kind of tomato you would like to grow.

Planting Tomatoes from Seeds

Tomatoes grown from seed will require six to eight weeks before they can be planted in the garden. Purchase individual containers or flats, starter soil or mixture, and the seeds of your choice. Fill each container with soil, pressing it tightly to remove air and to avoid settling problems after watering. Typically, seed companies print instructions for planting right on the tomato seed package. Each variety is a little different so follow instructions carefully.
Prepare a label identifying the type of tomato and the date started. You can make your own from Popsicle sticks or purchase them at the store or garden center.
Insert your label in the pot and mist with water. Place containers in a sunny window and keep seeds moist by placing a plastic bag over them. Small greenhouse containers are also available at your local nursery. Watch for seeds to germinate and remove plastic when plants emerge. Wean out weaker looking seedlings to give strong ones more room to grow. Keep moist by misting or watering tomatoes when needed. When plants have a second pair of leaves it is time to transplant these seedlings to your garden or a large pot in which they are to grow.
It is a good idea to harden off or acclimatize a plant to outdoor conditions before planting by setting it out in direct sun during the day and bringing it in at night. After a few days, the tomato plant will have adapted to the new surroundings and can be transplanted in the desired location. Place plants directly outdoors after the threat of frost in a shady location, out of the wind and protected from heavy rains.

Purchasing Started Plants

If you prefer to purchase plants from your garden center or greenhouse, select dark green plants that are stocky in size and that do not have any fruit. The fruit will stunt the plant growth and the total yield will be reduced. Tomatoes are one of the few plants that will tolerate being planted deeper than they sit in the pot. So a taller plant can be placed a little deeper if preferred. As mentioned, harden off the plant before moving it to a final location.
Preparing Garden Soil For Tomato Plants The soil should be deep, loamy, and well-drained for the best harvest. Tomatoes prefer a slightly acidic soil with a pH of 6.2 to 6.8. The term pH balance refers to acidity or the alkalinity of your soil from a numerical scale of 1.0 to 14.0. The neutral point on the pH scale is 7.0. Higher than 6.5 indicates alkaline soil, lower than that indicates acidic soil.
Test kits are available at garden centers or through local horticultural organizations. To raise the soil's pH, work agriculture lime into the soil. Use sulfur to lower the pH of alkaline soil. Using fertilizers and compost amendments will also change the soil's pH over time. Adding decomposed organic compost will improve any soil structure. You can purchase or make your own compost. Once you have cultivated your garden area and prepared the soil, it is ready for the plantings.

Planting The Tomatoes

Inspect all of the transplants, looking for insects, wilting or blight. Plant only healthy plants. Tomatoes prefer full sun, so choose an area with at least six to eight hours of sun per day. Practice crop rotation in your vegetable gardening by planting tomatoes and other vegetables in a different spot every year. Tomatoes prefer to be planted by chives, parsley, marigolds, nasturtiums, garlic bulbs, and carrots. Avoid planting tomatoes by potatoes or members of the cabbage family.
For large healthy tomatoes, give them plenty of room to grow. Space plants twenty-four inches between rows and leave twenty-four inches between plants. With your shovel or spade, make holes slightly larger than the plants. Tap gently on the bottom of the individual container, loosening the soil and gently removing from the pot. Tomatoes are susceptible to cutworms, but placing a 3-4 inch nail next to each stem before planting or wrapping strips of newspaper around the bottom of the stems will help prevent these pests. A paper cup surrounding the stem also works well.
Place tomato plant in hole and back fill with soil until it is well compacted. Place a rack or cage around each individual plant to help support future growth. Water around the base of the plant, avoiding the foliage. Do not over water or soak the seedlings as this can promote disease and rot.

Water early in the day to discourage blight.

Using a rake, spread organic mulch, such as weed-free straw, over plants at least two inches deep. These is an effective way to prevent weeds, preserve water and keep the soil warm, thus reducing the maintenance required for vegetable gardening. Fertilize the plants throughout the growing season with compost or organic matter. Water when needed and inspect leaves periodically for the signs of tomato blight and insects. If blight is discovered, remove any infected leaves and destroy them.

Treat plant with a fungicide.

Be sure to remove all debris from your garden in the fall, as blight can survive on the dried tomatoes over the winter.
Most tomatoes take 100-days to bear fruit, so follow these easy directions and get ready to harvest the fruits of your labors and enjoy that first BLT of the season.

Items Needed For Growing Tomatoes:
- Tomato seeds or plants - Containers or flats - A small greenhouse kit or plastic bags - Starter soil or mixture - Marking pen - Popsicle sticks or labels - Rake - Spade and shovel - Water, sun, adequate soil and patience

About the author: Karen Gross is a professional gardener and design consultant. She writes for www.vegetable-gardening-4u.com, providing valuable tips and advice about s eed companies, greenhouse kits and other vegetable gardening topics.

Square Cast Iron Plant Trolley

Square Cast Iron Plant Trolley Square Cast Iron Plant Trolley

Picking a Healthy Plant

When it comes to getting started with your garden, you have two choices; planting seeds, or buying entire plants. Both have their own benefits. If you plant seeds and care for them every day, you will find it is a much more rewarding experience when you have a full, healthy plant.

However, this method is a lot more risky. I can't tell you how many seeds I've planted and never seen any trace of whatsoever.
If you choose to buy the plant from a nursery and install it in your garden, it reduces a lot of the work involved in making it healthy. However, I have found in the past that many incompetent nursery workers will absolutely ruin the future of the plant by putting certain chemicals or fertilizers in. I have adapted to this incompetence by learning to choose the healthiest plant of the bunch. Here I will discuss some of the techniques I use in my screening process for plants.

It may sound superficial, but the one thing you need to check for on your prospective plants is how nice they look. As far as plants go, you can truly judge a book by its cover. If a plant has been treated healthily and has no diseases or pests, you can almost always tell by how nice it looks. If a plant has grown up in improper soil, or has harmful bugs living in it, you can tell from the holey leaves and wilted stems.
If you're browsing the nursery shelves looking for your dream plant, you want to exclude anything that currently has flowers. Plants are less traumatized by the transplant if they do not currently have any flowers. It's best to find ones that just consist of buds. However if all you have to choose from are flowering plants, then you should do the unthinkable and sever all of them. It will be worth it for the future health of the plant. I've found that transplanting a plant while it is blooming results in having a dead plant ninety percent of the time.
Always check the roots before you plop down the money to purchase the plant. Of course if the roots are in absolutely terrible condition you will be able to tell by looking at the rest of the plant.

But if the roots are just slightly out of shape, then you probably won't be able to tell just by looking at it. Inspect the roots very closely for any signs of brownness, rottenness, or softness.

The roots should always be a firm, perfectly well formed infrastructure that holds all the soil together. One can easily tell if the roots are before or past their prime, depending on the root to soil ratio. If there are a ridiculous amount of roots with little soil, or a bunch of soil with few roots, you should not buy that plant.
If you find any abnormalities with the plant, whether it be the shape of the roots or any irregular features with the leaves, you should ask the nursery employees. While usually these things can be the sign of an unhealthy plant, occasionally there will be a logical explanation for it.

Always give the nursery a chance before writing them off as horrendous. After all, they are (usually) professionals who have been dealing with plants for years.
So if you decide to take the easy route and get a plant from a nursery, you just have to remember that the health of the plants has been left up to someone you don't know.

Usually they do a good job, but you should always check for yourself. Also take every precaution you can to avoid transplant shock in the plant (when it has trouble adjusting to its new location, and therefore has health problems in the future). Usually the process goes smoothly, but you can never be too sure.

About the Author
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