Organic Gardening

Lawn Care Products

By Jennifer Bailey 

Lawn care products are of vital importance in maintaining the luster and condition of lawns. The use of lawn care products ensures that less labor is needed in developing and maintaining a lawn to suitable requirements. There is a diverse range of lawn care products available, and proper application is the road to a successful lawn.

Weeds are a major nuisance in proper lawn care. In order to ensure that the lawn is weed-free one should keep the lawn as dense as possible. If the grass is dense and even, weeds find it difficult to take root and grow. Thin or weak grass facilitates the growth of weeds and causes great damage to the texture and appearance of the lawn.

There are commonly two kinds of weeds - grassy weeds, like crabgrass, foxtail and other unwanted grasses; and broadleaf weeds, like dandelions, ground ivy and chickweed.

Normally, products that keep broadleaf weeds in check do not curb grassy weeds. However, products have emerged that combine the elements necessary for both grassy and broadleaf weed check.

The best weed control is achieved when weeds are new and aggressively developing. The perfect time to use a weed control product is on a temperate day after it rains, and when there is not much wind to blow the spray onto flowers or other plants.

If the lawn has abundant weeds, an extensive use of spray spread over the total lawn may be essential to keep them in check. Such sprays control over 30 types of broadleaf weeds.

If a thick, lush green lawn is already in place, spot-treatment of separate weeds or patches of weeds may be adequate. There are lawn care products intended for spot treatment purposes.

What are the most important products to my lawn?

Edger

An edger, also known as a lawn edger or stick edger, is a lawn-care tool used to cleanly separate a lawn from a walkway or other paved surface, such as a concrete sidewalk or asphalt path. Edgers may be manual or automated, typically employing a small two-stroke gasoline motor or an electric motor.

Use of an edger defines a clear separation between the lawn and the walkway, imparting a finished appearance that is neater than can be achieved by merely mowing over the border of the lawn and walkway (which frequently permits tufts of low-growing grass to hang over onto the walkway, resulting in an irregular or ragged appearance).

In operation, a manual edger usually includes a broad hemispherical blade attached to an elongated handle, which the operator uses to drive the blade into the turf directly alongside the hard surface. In addition, the blade may have a flat top to allow the operator to step on the blade, driving it deep into the lawn and turf in order to clear a space between the lawn and the hard surface.

In contrast, powered edgers may operate on any of a variety of methods, such as rotating wheel blades or thrashing wheels, which also operate to define a clear separation between a lawn and a hard surface.

Pruning Guide - Gardening Techniques

Most trees will need to be pruned during certain times of the year. It is usually when they are in a dormant season, which is late fall and winter. Shrubs with spring blooming times should only be pruned after the flower fades, while summer blooming shrubs should be pruned in early spring.

Pruning puts stress on trees and lends them vulnerable to disease, as well as, insects. Pruning basically wounds the plant, but the plant's wounds seal. You should be cautious as to how much you do prune. While it is important to prune unwanted branches, you must protect the stem or the trunk of the tree when doing so.

There are several tools available to accomplish your pruning chores. Hand pruning shears work well when cutting stems. Lopping shears are able to cut branches up to 1 3/4 inches wide and they have long handles for a longer reach.

Pruning saws can remove stems, which cannot be cut with hand pruners, or lopping shears. Pole pruning shears are for the hard to reach branches. And chain saws are for branches exceeding 3 inches in diameter.

It is important to know what you are doing when pruning. Improper pruning can turn a healthy tree into a weakened and deformed one. You should use sharp tools that can make clean, smooth cuts. Never leave stubs and if possible, never tear off a piece of bark. It is better not to prune at all than to prune incorrectly.

There is a certain order to how you should prune. First eliminate any dead, broken or damaged limbs. These should be cut at their origin or back to a strong side branch or shoot. The next step is training cuts. By cutting back side branches, you can maintain a certain shape. Finally remove weak or narrow crotches.

There are three different types of pruning for trees. Crown thinning is the removal of certain branches to increase light diffusion and air movement around the crown of the tree.

Crown raising is the removal of branches from the bottom of the crown of the tree for clearance. Crown reduction is the removal of branches to reduce the height of a tree.

There are also three different types of pruning for shrubs and flowers. Thinning out allows for growth from sides of branches by removing a branch at its source from its parent or the ground.

Renewal pruning removes a couple of the oldest, tallest branches at or slightly above ground level. And rejuvenation pruning is performed on old, overgrown shrubs by removing 1/3 of its oldest branches at or slightly above ground level.

Pruning is a vital yet difficult task to perform. It takes knowledge on how to make the cuts and where to make them. It takes time to examine which limbs or branches need to be removed. If you don't know what you're doing, you will ruin your tree or shrub. But, when you do know what you're doing, you will enhance its appearance and health.

String trimmer

A string trimmer, also called a line trimmer, edge trimmer, Weedeater (a brandname), Weedwhacker, Weed Whip, weedy, whipper snipper, strimmer, garden strimmer, or bush cutter is a powered handheld device that uses a flexible monofilament line instead of a blade for cutting grass and other plants near objects. It consists of a cutting head at the end of a long shaft with a handle or handles and sometimes a shoulder strap.

String trimmers powered by an internal combustion engine have the engine on the opposite end of the shaft from the cutting head while electric string trimmers typically have an electric motor in the cutting head.

"Strimmer" is correctly a tradename, but it has slid into British English use as a genericized trademark and spawned a back-formed verb "to strim" = "to use a string trimmer on".

Electric edge trimmers have the advantage of being very light, easy to maneuver and easy-to-operate devices. However, the length of power cord that can be deployed across the ground limits them and they are usually less powerful and robust than the gasoline-engine ones.

Electric machines normally are limited to 2.5 mm (0.100 inch) maximum diameter nylon because of their lower power output (400 to about 1200 watts).

Gasoline-engine powered trimmers usually have a minimum of 21 cc displacement motors. At this size they can easily turn 2 mm (0.080 inch) line and some have nylon blades as accessories to the line-reel.

A 32 cc engine can swing a 2.75 mm (0.110) line and often has metal-blade accessories. The head contains a safety shield on the user side and a rotating hub which may also be called a head or spool.

While this type of trimmer is heavier, uses a gasoline-oil mix and vibrates significantly, they are much more mobile (not attached to a power outlet) and are not very limited in maximum power for commercial use. Large trimmers, used for cutting roadside grass in large areas, may be quite heavy—being suspended from the body by a harness—and may be a two-hand-controlled device.

These very large trimmers are often referred to as brush cutters.

A line-trimmer works on the principle that a line that is turned fast enough is held out from its housing (the rotating reel) very stiffly by centrifugal force. The faster it turns the stiffer the line. Even round-section nylon line is able to cut grass and slight, woody, plants quite well.

Some monofilament lines, designed for more powerful cutters, have an extruded shape—like a star—that helps the line slash the material being cut and thus it is able to cut quite large woody plants (small shrubs) or, at least, ring-bark them very effectively. These lines make disks less necessary for tough jobs.

The line is hand-wound onto a reel before the job is started, leaving both ends extending from the reel housing. The motor turns the reel and the line extends horizontally while the operator swings the trimmer about where the plants are to be trimmed. The operator controls the height at which cutting takes place and can trim down to ground level quite easily.

 As the line is worn, or breaks off, the operator knocks the reel on the ground so that a release mechanism allows some of the line in the reel to extend and replace the spent portion.

A small cutter on the line-guard ensures that the line length exposed for cutting does not exceed the length that can be swung efficiently by the motor. Newly extended line operates more efficiently because of its heavier weight and surface effects (the star-shaped edges).

Trimmers that have nylon or metal blades usually have straight driveshafts because of the higher torque required to turn the disk and because of the shock loads that are passed back from the blade to the driveshaft and its gearbox(es).

Smaller line trimmers have curved driveshafts to make holding the cutting-head at ground level much easier and with less strain on the operator.

Use

The speed of the spinning hub is usually controlled by a trigger on the handle. A common mistake is to run the trimmer at full speed when near objects. High speed near objects tends to wear or break line and damage objects without working faster.

Running at a slower speed can actually shorten the job by requiring fewer passes and fewer stops to reload line or untangle the hub. The speed should be varied depending on the nature of nearby objects.

Also, at slower speeds the line will whip around thinner objects without grabbing, eliminating additional passes near objects like sign poles and chain link fences.

For vertical cutting the whole machine can be tilted or some trimmers allow the head to be adjusted at different angles. (Note: Vertical cutting is not recommended near sidewalks or other concrete and pavement edges. It leaves open grooves that allow water to collect and cause damage.)

Most trimmers use two stroke engines and require gasoline mixed with oil. Due to pollution laws four stroke engines are becoming more popular. For instance, Honda and MTD manufacture a four stroke engine trimmer.

 Other companies, such as John Deere, now carry Low Emission two stroke engine trimmers. Stihl manufactures a hybrid four stroke engine trimmer with no oil resivior. This engine is lubricated using pre-mixed gasoline, like a two stroke engine.

Safety

While the monofilament line may be slightly safer than a metal blade in terms of cutting, the open design can make it more dangerous than a modern shrouded lawn mower.

The rotating hub has a tendency to grab clothing and other items similar to the dangers of a power take-off and rotating the filaments tend to throw rocks and other hard items.

Eye injuries are common for both users and bystanders. Users should always wear safety glasses. Closed toed shoes and long trousers are practically required, as they will protect from flying rocks as well as the constant spray of plant bits. Hearing protection is required for internal combustion string trimmers. Long sleeves are recommended.

The trimmer should be turned off or to idle when near bystanders without the proper protection. (Refer to the manufacturers manual for additional safety instructions.)

The power should be disconnected (or the engine stopped) before the line is replaced or before any significant work is done in the line-reel area (such as removing grass stalks that have wound onto the reel).

The line guard should not be removed because it stops material being flung back at the operator's legs and because it carries the cutter ensuring that the line length is not too long for the trimmer. When using a disk the operator can easily overload the driveshaft and damage the machine or strip the gearbox gears.

Using a string trimmer in areas where there is poison ivy or similar plants can result in the operators' legs being sprayed with irritant sap. Even if the legs are adequately covered, there's a risk of subsequent exposure to the harmful oils, for example, when disposing of the waste plant material or when cleaning the trimmer.

Hedge trimmer

Garden hedges, which used to be cut with a knife or with pruning shears, can now be cut with a powered hedge trimmer. The power source can be gasoline or electricity.

The former tend to be more powerful but can be heavier and more difficult to start. The latter tend to be lighter and less powerful. Powered hedge trimmers are generally designed with safety devices such that they only work when both of the operator's hands are on the handles.

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