Lately I've been using BrightKite.com to ask for help on certain projects I'm working on in my garden and around my home. I've recently started mowing grass and this year purchased an expensive lawn mower. I've never owned a lawn mower and with this purchase I find myself on a learning curve and learning the dos and donts of lawn mower maintenance.
If I've changed the oil in my 1969 VW Bug, I should be able to change the oil in my mower. Let's go back to when I purchased the lawn mower and how I decided what features I wanted. There are a tons of sticks in my yard, so I wanted a mower that would pause without turning off. I also wanted a mower that would help me mow. These are called self-propel mowers. I went to Home Depot found a representative, requested these two features and then decided on which one to purchase. I decided on the Toro 22 In. Walk Power Mower, Personal Pace, 6.75 tp, with Electric Start.
The coolest thing happened when I bought the mower, a guy from the Home Depot followed me out to help me put my mower into my truck. I thought this was a really nice gesture and I didn't ask for the help. Anyway, I brought the mower home and put it together. I added the oil and gas, pushed the button to give it some juice and it started right up! Ok, so this self-propelled mower did not feel like it was doing any work for me. I thought I was going to go into cardiac arrest after mowing my grass. I even called the manufactures customer support because I knew I had done something wrong at the set-up.
I asked my aunt about the mower and she said self-propel means you propel and she and I went at it for a few minutes, but then my cousin Jason came over - yes all women need men in their lives - even if they come over to check your work! With a few small twist to the line that connects from the handles to the engine, the darn thing started mowing the grass for me. Imagine how delighted I was when I could mow the grass with one hand!
Since I've purchased my lawn mower I've run out of gas once, but it's started every time! This week I cut my grass and after an hour of cruzing through 3 inch grass, I decided to flush the blades with the hose. The Toro has a hand water spout where you screw the hose to the base of the mower and turn on the water. I took a picture of this cool feature, posted it on Brightkite (all with my mobile) And @benneplex or Doug Bennett posted a comment saying (in so many words), I hope you let the mower cool down - you could bust your engine block!Ok, hold everything!!! It's time to slow down and start to get close to my mower now. My lack of mower and engine knowledge could bring me a $400 mistake!
So, Doug and I shot an email about what I need to do to winterize my mower.
Re: Doug Bennett
Winterizing is pretty easy. Just buy a bottle of "Stabil" fuel additive at Wal-Mart of an Auto Parts store and add the appropriate amount to the fuel tank when you fill it up for the last mowing of the year. (Some people use it year round)
Clean everything up before winter, underneath too and change the engine oil. Come Spring you are ready to go. You might need to have the blade sharpened every other year as well.
I feel like with his little gift of knowledge on lawn mower maintenance, I'm in good shape to winterize my mower. It think I need to refer to the manual as well.
in wine barrels and all over her garden area. It was an exquisite setting and I really enjoyed learning more about hydrangeas from Mrs. Jones. So, now with my own land, I can plant as many hydrangeas as I want! This spring I planted three; one in a large container and the other two in the ground. I named the three hydrangeas Hope, Humility and Happiness. It's easier to remember the names of my flowers when they are associated with feelings I keep so close to my heart. I've been watering them and watching them closely and recently I noticed the leaves look like they've been eaten on by an insect or slug. Let's remember than I'm new to gardening, so I'm really clueless in diagnosing the attack on my hydrangeas. But the picture to the left is what I was looking at when I thought I had a slug problem.
I found a blog post on fighting slugs using beer! Yes beer is a natural killer of slugs in a garden. Apparently, the slugs are attracted to the yeast in the beer and when the slug finds it's way to the pool of beer, they get drunk and die. This was my first experiment with using booz to kill bugs.
said roaches will live through a nuclear war didn't think about beer filled bombs. After taking a closer look into the jar lid and the ramekin I noticed there were baby slugs. But I wasn't satisfied that slugs were the only problem, those slugs were just too small. So, I planned for a weekend trip to HomeDepot to get another opinion.
I'm still trying to figure all of this out, so please if anyone has any suggestions the help would be great.
I recently purchased an AreoGarden for a few reasons; I was tired of buying herbs to only throw them out a few days later, I want to make garden salads year round, and well, I've always wanted one of these sweet little indoor gardens.
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