Archive for the 'Gardening' Category
Goodbye Engine-less Lawnmower
June 2004: Amy and Kyle have just bought a home in Hartford, their first … it’s time for some yard work.
I was very excited to have property to take care of for the first time since I worked summers during college as the maintenance guy for our Town Park back in Vermont. As you might imagine, the lawns up there are a little larger than down here in the City. The parks I maintained involved quite a bit of mowing – acres and acres.
Our lot in Hartford, on the other hand, is 0.16 acres. Most of the land is taken up by house, driveway, gardens, and a crushed stone “patio” area, so there really isn’t much grass at all. I figured it would be a breeze to keep it mowed. A riding mower was out of the question. Not only was it complete overkill for the time and effort required, but we also don’t have anywhere to park it. A traditional push mower and a string trimmer were more than enough to keep our property under control.
The local home improvement center had numerous options for lawn mowers. One that really jumped out at me was a reel mower – the kind that doesn’t have an engine – just spinning blades that act like scissors.
Because the yard was so small, I figured it would be a nice solution. Small, so it wouldn’t take up much room in our shed. No engine, so I wouldn’t have to deal with buying and storing gasoline, and just a little more environmentally friendly than the other options. Plus, the extra effort of pushing the thing around for 15 minutes would be a good way to get some exercise. So I bought one, why not give it a shot?
July 2004: Reality of a reel mower sets in.
It turned out that reel mowers aren’t all that effective with a lawn that is bumpy and weedy. The bumps cause the reel to bounce around, making it difficult to keep the wheels in contact with the ground, which is critical for maintaining the system’s momentum, and for getting a clean cut. The result on our lawn was a very uneven cut, and lots of missed blades that eventually grew quite tall. Reel mowers are also less effective at the longer blades and weeds, meaning that the stuff I missed the previous mowing would either get tangled in the reel or get missed again. I had to use the string trimmer to clean things up.
Reel mowers work great on golf courses. I eventually realized that there were considerably more differences than similarities between my lawn and a golf course. My lawn is not made up of a uniform grass type. My lawn is neither irrigated nor chemically treated. My lawn is nowhere near as smooth. And my lawn is not mowed frequently to maintain the grass height. So my lawn is not a good match for a reel mower. Nevertheless, I was determined to stick it out for the first year to give the reel mower a fair shot.
May 2005: Kyle gets real.
Going into our second summer, I decided to get serious about the lawn and buy a normal lawn mower. I no longer wanted to work extra hard to mow the lawn, more frequently than otherwise necessary, yet still end up with sub-par results. The first couple of mows with the power mower were wonderful – the lawn looked perfectly smooth.
The reel mower moved to the back corner of the shed, out of the way. It was still available if needed, but was no longer the primary mower.
July 2005: Kyle can’t get the gas mower to start.
Gasoline engine lawn mowers have their challenges too. For me it was trying to figure out why it consistently took 25 pulls to get the things started. Seriously? Just start! I never had this problem with my reel mower.
This issue did not cause me to pull out the reel mower.
July 2008: Kyle’s gas mower needs a tune-up.
Why does the mower’s engine sound like it’s slowing down every 5 steps? Maybe it needs a tune-up. An oil change. Or a new spark plug. What else do small engines like this need? It probably needs the blades sharpened, but that’s not causing it to sound funny.
On the plus side, I figured out why it was so hard to start. When storing it in my shed, I was tilting it about 30 degrees to the side and driving it on two wheels in order to avoid an obstacle. Somehow that was causing the engine to flood, which made starting it much more difficult.
Reel mower? What reel mower?
May 2011: Kyle’s gas mower still needs a tune-up.
The gas mower still works, but the sounds it makes do not inspire much confidence. Like modern electronics, it seems to me that the lawn mower was built to be thrown away rather than maintained and kept for a long period of time. It cost about $100. And I can’t imagine finding anyone who would be willing to figure out what’s wrong, buy the parts, and fix it for less than $50.
I’ll just keep using it until it finally gives out, offer it for free on CraigsList to someone who can fix it, and then go buy a new one. And maybe this time I’ll get one that actually comes with an instruction manual that talks about how to service it and what parts might be needed. I can follow instructions. But I’m just not interested in trying to figure out what’s wrong and then try to fix it. Besides, if it makes it through this season, year 7, then it will have cost about $15 per year to own plus $10 per year in gas. I’m comfortable with $25 per year in equipment costs to mow the lawn.
July 2011: Kyle decides to part with the reel mower.
The reel mower has been sitting in the shed since it was retired in 2004. For a while I had hoped to fix the lawn so that it would be reasonable to use it to mow. But now I’ve accepted that even if the lawn does get fixed (which is unlikely), I would still prefer a gas powered mower.
It’s time to get rid of the reel mower. Would anyone like it? I’m planning to listing it for sale on CraigsList, but if any reader is interested in giving it a go, I would be happy to let it go for free.
The Ideal Time and Place to Pea
I’m ready to start gardening. Is it warm enough to plant peas yet? I know they are okay with the cold, but the very beginning of April may be too soon to plant. Especially since I’m planning to just put them in the ground rather than get them started inside. I don’t have any go-to gardening sites – does anyone have any that they like?
The next important question is where to put them. It seems to me there are two options, either the fenced area on the north where they risk being trampled by playing dogs and children, or the out-of-the-way southern portion of the yard where there’s a much better chance that I’ll forget to water them. Right now I’m leaning towards the south since “the girls” are a real menace.
I would love to put them right along the fence that separates the sidewalk from the yard, but the thought of dogs “watering” them makes me ill. Maybe I’ll put them up against the porch so that I can rain water down on them from above (i.e. without walking all the way around), and they can climb up the lattice. I guess the other option would be putting them in the middle of the yard with tomato cages or some other form of support. Hmmm.
I’m definitely open to thoughts and suggestions here … any ideas?
Greater Hartford Farm Scene: Part 2
Welcome back to part 2 of our round-up of the Greater Hartford Farm Scene. Yesterday we focused on Farmers Markets, Farm Stands, and U-Pick, which are common ways to get fresh, local, vegetables. They don’t require a commitment – you can stop in if your schedule matches up with their hours. It just takes a little bit of travel time, and perhaps some sweat, to get delicious produce for dinner and dessert. Today we’re covering Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Shares and Delivery Options, which do require a bit more of a commitment, but can be much more convenient.
Community Supported Agriculture Shares
For those of you that are interested in a one stop shopping type of method of obtaining locally grown fruits and vegetables, a Connecticut CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) operation may be worthy of consideration. The basic model with a CSA is that you purchase a share, sometimes sold in whole or half shares, at the beginning of the growing season. The farmer then uses your upfront payment as capital towards the growing season, to purchase seeds, labor, etc. Sometimes, you can pay for a portion of your share by volunteering on the farm. Then, you will receive a weekly distribution from the share over a set period of weeks. This is your dividend from the upfront payment. Buyers of the share assume some risk; if the growing season is plentiful, then the weekly distribution will be equally bountiful. However, if there are weather issues, such as the CT tomato and potato blight of 2009, the result is a smaller offering of produce.
Based on my readings and knowledge of local CSA operations, it appears that most CSA’s in the Hartford region require the weekly share to be picked up at the farming location. Farm share opportunities such as Holcomb Farm in East Granby, Rosedale Farm in Simsbury, Oxen Hill Farm in Suffield, and the George Hall Farm in Simsbury offer this type of CSA model. Local pickup makes it difficult to participate if you don’t live in an area that offers a CSA, although the Grow Hartford CSA is an up and coming urban farm model, along with the Urban Oaks Organic Farm of New Britain. Many of these CSA options have sold out for the 2010 growing season, so if you are interested in purchasing a share next summer, make sure to start the process in the late winter/early spring. CSA listings for the Hartford area can be found here on Buy CT Grown and here at CTNOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association).
Delivery
A final option, which my wife and I just tried for the first time, is the recently launched delivery service Connecticut Farm Fresh Express. CTFFE delivers once a week on a year round basis. You can select from all kinds of Connecticut grown and produced products. Their online store opens Thursday evening, and closes on Monday at Noon. Orders are processed on Wednesday and delivered to your door for a fee that ranges between $5.00 and $15.00. For delivery to Glastonbury, it was $9.50. There is no minimum order, and the products available change each week, so be sure to check back frequently. This service runs throughout the winter, so it would be especially helpful to track down those Connecticut grown root vegetables to keep the stream of fresh produce flowing throughout the winter months (see photo of crazy carrots). We ordered some baby gourmet carrots, flounder and cod freshly caught off the Connecticut coast, as well as locally-raised beef, pork sausage and ground bison. Also, locally roasted organic Ethiopia Yirgacheffe coffee from Ashlawn Farm Coffee will be sampled for the first time tomorrow morning. The Hartford Courant had a nice write-up of the CTFFE operation and its founder, Deb Marsden, and we were pleased to support such an entrepreneurial start-up business.
Well, that blog entry has about exhausted this correspondent. Keep your eyes peeled for the next entry on one of the most important factors when examining towns for a potential homes purchase, namely, the type of garbage collection services provided!
Thanks for the update, Farm Boy, we’ll look forward to your next report.
Greater Hartford Farm Scene: Part 1
Greetings! My name is Farm Boy, and I’ve been offered the opportunity to write about all things environmental for the Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog. I’m very excited about exploring topics such as local agriculture, recycling, composting, etc.
As the summer season creeps into August, it seems to be as good a time as any to discuss the local farm scene in the Hartford area. The Connecticut Department of Agriculture website offers a wide array of information on options for buying local products. In the Hartford area, there are primarily three methods for purchasing local produce and other foodstuffs, with a startup delivery option also available. Today we’ll focus on the first two, Farmers Markets and Farm Stands & U-Pick.
Farmers Markets
There are several farmers markets that operate in Greater Hartford. In fact, with a visit to the Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s Farmers’ Market website, you can find a market pretty much every day of the week during the peak growing season from mid-June through early October.
Some of the more notable markets include the Coventry Regional Farmers Market on Sundays, and the Hartford Regional Market on Reserve Road, which operates year round in the wee hours of the morning from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Although I have never been, a representative of CT Grown told me, “Bring a Wagon and a Flashlight!” A web search on the Buy CT Grown website lists 63 Farmers Markets within a 25 miles radius of the 06106 zip code. Farmers Markets offer a wide selection of seasonal products at fair prices.
Farm Stands and U-Pick
Another popular initiative of the state’s Department of Agriculture has been the Connecticut Grown program. This has resulted in a great website, Buy CT Grown, which is an extremely helpful resource to locate all types of Connecticut grown and produced products, ranging from the standard fruits and vegetables to the more eclectic listings for distilled spirits and fish markets. This is also a great tool for locating Farm Stands and Pick Your Own/U-Pick opportunities.
The primary advantage to Farm Stands and U-Pick is that the prices tend to be more reasonable than Farmers’ Markets or other purchasing opportunities, because you are saving the producer the time and effort necessary to bring his or her products to market.
While there are many great farm stands in the area, South Glastonbury stands out for its U-Pick opportunities when it comes to fruit, especially berries (Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry and Blackberry) and tree bearing fruit (several varieties of Apples, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Nectarines and Cherries). Several of my favorites include Belltown Orchards, Dondero Orchards and Carini’s Berry Farm, although a trip to Rose’s Berry Farm for weekend breakfast is most likely in order for the first time visitor. Come fall, be sure to visit Woodland Farm for fresh pressed, unpasteurized apple cider.
Come back tomorrow for more on the Greater Hartford Farm Scene, including Community Supported Agriculture Shares and Delivery!
Elizabeth Park Concert Season
Last Wednesday was the first of ten concerts in Elizabeth Park’s Summer Concert Series. Admission is free, and the music officially starts at 6:30. Call some friends, pack a picnic, and come on down to enjoy a different band each week. Our top correspondent, Grant, snapped a few pictures of the crowd and band this past week. Hope you can join the fun!
Grant, thanks for the pictures!