I was in the marketing business for a while, so I appreciate when someone is passionate about their product. But some of the gardening gadgets that come across my desk are good, and some are really, really bad.
It's the Trunk Organizer for plants. It expands to one, two, three or four compartments. Each measures about 12 inches square by 12 inches high. Forty-eight inches long when fully expanded, it folds away neatly with wraparound Velcro strap. Made from durable wipe-clean material, it will hold plants (and the soil they drop) in the car or at home.
Design Within Reach, a great catalog and Web site, usually focuses on modern furniture and household items. But this month, they are promoting an electric lawn mower. The Neuton Battery-Powered Mower is a smart alternative to loud, gas-guzzling machines that are difficult to start. It runs on a rechargeable battery, and in place of a pull cord, this mower starts by turning a safety knob and squeezing the handlebar.
When the handlebar is released, the blade stops spinning. The Neuton Mower produces no emissions, and the 24-volt battery gives you enough juice to mow for 45 to 60 minutes, or approximately a third of an acre per charge.
According to the Web site, the EPA estimates that out of the 800 million gallons of gas used to fuel lawn mowers in the U.S. every year, about 17 million gallons are spilled, which can contaminate ground water. That is enough to make you consider spending $500 on this alternative mower.
One last really cool item that came across my desk: a living wreath. These are beautiful! Since my pal Julie hates silk flowers, I'm always very mindful of my front-door décor. Usually I do dried flowers or something like that, but I'm ordering one of these forms from Kinsman Co. (www.kinsmangarden.com).
"Clip-together design makes it easy and quick to create living wreaths to decorate doors, walls, fences and table tops. Use succulents, ivies, small annuals and herbs to make strikingly unusual floral decorations," the Web site explains. The kit comes in several sizes, and the metal forms have a liner that keeps the soil and roots in the wreath.
Making a difference
There's a group of ladies in Williamson who are making a difference in their town - and they should be thanked and saluted. The garden club of Williamson is planting and caring for beds throughout the town, and all of these bright little pockets of flowers and greenery are welcoming to visitors and appreciated by everyone in the town.
Sara Busse is a Charleston resident and master gardener. She may be contacted at sjbu...@gmail.com.
I was in the marketing business for a while, so I appreciate when someone is passionate about their product. But some of the gardening gadgets that come across my desk are good, and some are really, really bad.
A woman called the other day promoting a gadget that calculates the sunlight in your garden. Here's what she told me:
"The most common mistake gardeners make is putting plants in locations with improper sunlight conditions. These plants do not thrive and gardeners are disappointed.
"It is not practical to stand in the garden all day and watch the path of the sun. We may not be aware that during the course of the day, trees, buildings, walls or fences block the sun, all affecting the amount of available sunlight in desired areas of our garden," she explained.
She was selling the SunCalc, a sunlight calculator that measures the accumulated sunlight that falls on a specific location of your property over a full 12-hour period.
Now I'm a busy gardener. But one thing I do have time for is studying the sunlight in my garden. It's not rocket science. Shade. Part shade. Sunlight. I don't need a $30 doohickey to figure this out.
A simple hook for hanging pots from your deck or other vertical surface is a product that I'll consider. The fellow selling the Terra Latch (www.theterralatch.net) showed me how easy they are to install, and how easy they are to use with pots from 4 to 10 inches wide.
The only problem with this hook is it only holds the pot, not a saucer, so you'll need to use pots with saucers attached. At $3 each, they are a good bargain. I saw these at the Cincinnati Flower Show, and the salesman suggested using silicone to attach saucers to the pots, which is a viable solution.
The Rain-Mat for hanging baskets is a 7-inch square that you put into your growing medium at root level as you plant each basket, hayrack or planter. These mats soak up water rapidly and provide a stable reservoir into which the roots will actually grow. They can reduce the need for watering to as little as once every seven to 10 days. I'll try this one.
Every gardener has had dirt in the car. Even when you use the plastic the garden centers offer, it seems something always falls over or leaks a bit of potting soil onto the carpet or seat of the car. There's a product available from Kinsman Co. (www.kinsmangarden.com) and from other places, I'm sure, that I'm going to purchase this season.
It's the Trunk Organizer for plants. It expands to one, two, three or four compartments. Each measures about 12 inches square by 12 inches high. Forty-eight inches long when fully expanded, it folds away neatly with wraparound Velcro strap. Made from durable wipe-clean material, it will hold plants (and the soil they drop) in the car or at home.
Design Within Reach, a great catalog and Web site, usually focuses on modern furniture and household items. But this month, they are promoting an electric lawn mower. The Neuton Battery-Powered Mower is a smart alternative to loud, gas-guzzling machines that are difficult to start. It runs on a rechargeable battery, and in place of a pull cord, this mower starts by turning a safety knob and squeezing the handlebar.
When the handlebar is released, the blade stops spinning. The Neuton Mower produces no emissions, and the 24-volt battery gives you enough juice to mow for 45 to 60 minutes, or approximately a third of an acre per charge.
According to the Web site, the EPA estimates that out of the 800 million gallons of gas used to fuel lawn mowers in the U.S. every year, about 17 million gallons are spilled, which can contaminate ground water. That is enough to make you consider spending $500 on this alternative mower.
One last really cool item that came across my desk: a living wreath. These are beautiful! Since my pal Julie hates silk flowers, I'm always very mindful of my front-door décor. Usually I do dried flowers or something like that, but I'm ordering one of these forms from Kinsman Co. (www.kinsmangarden.com).
"Clip-together design makes it easy and quick to create living wreaths to decorate doors, walls, fences and table tops. Use succulents, ivies, small annuals and herbs to make strikingly unusual floral decorations," the Web site explains. The kit comes in several sizes, and the metal forms have a liner that keeps the soil and roots in the wreath.
Making a difference
There's a group of ladies in Williamson who are making a difference in their town - and they should be thanked and saluted. The garden club of Williamson is planting and caring for beds throughout the town, and all of these bright little pockets of flowers and greenery are welcoming to visitors and appreciated by everyone in the town.
Sara Busse is a Charleston resident and master gardener. She may be contacted at sjbu...@gmail.com.
Get Connected