Did you know that collectively, Americans will spend more than $10 billion in lawn & garden equipment in 2010. You feel the pinch I’m sure because you know how much you spend each year. When it comes to caring for lawns and gardens, homeowners can empty their pockets purchasing multiple tools and accessories to get the job done.

Thanks to the Power Rake™, a patented multi-purpose mower blade engineered by Arnold – a leader in the outdoor power equipment (OPE) industry – landscapers, gardeners and DIYers have a fast, convenient and affordable solution that dethatches, rakes and scalps in a single tool.

Just one of the jobs it can do is Dethatch. Lawn thatch, a layer of dead and living roots, forms between the vegetation and soil surface. While moderate thatch formulation is normal and beneficial in lawns, too much thatch can lead to turf problems like disease and water and rooting problems. With the Power Rake, users can dethatch and bag all in one pass, eliminating the need for a two-step process requiring a rented powered dethatcher and additional bagging.

“Customers were looking for a way to tackle several outdoor tasks without breaking their banks, so we designed a tool that gave them superior results at an affordable price,” said Bryan Grabowski, product manager for Arnold at MTD Products, Inc. “The Power Rake gives them a versatile product easy for any level DIYer to use without sacrificing quality performance.”

Using the Power Rake is simple – just attach the blade to a mower and adjust the height of nylon lines to accomplish multiple chores. With the nylon lines brushing the top of the grass, the blade rakes up leaves, grass clippings and lawn debris. Set the nylon lines at ¼ inch above the soil, and the blade dethatches. Keeping the nylon lines in constant contact with the soil, the blade scalps the lawn in preparation for reseeding.

“Maintaining a yard can be overwhelming and intimidating – we wanted to empower consumers with an uncomplicated tool,” Grabowski said. “With a universal fit to most mowers, the Power Rake gives users no hassle and no guessing.”

The Power Rake has a suggested retail price of $21.99 and is available at a selection of mass retail home improvement, hardware and farm supply stores, as well as online at www.mtdparts.com .

About Arnold
Arnold is a leading manufacturer and distributer of outdoor power equipment related items, owned by MTD Products, Inc. Headquartered near Cleveland, Ohio, Arnold offers a variety of high-quality parts, accessories and attachments that enhance the outdoor power equipment ownership experience and allow users to complete their outdoor chores better, faster and safer. For more information and a full list of Arnold products, visit www.arnoldproducts.com .

About MTD Products, Inc.
MTD Products, Inc. is a leading global manufacturer of outdoor power equipment, headquartered near Cleveland, Ohio. Additional MTD brands include Cub Cadet®, Troy-Bilt®, Yard-Man®, White Outdoor®, Yard Machines® and Bolens®. MTD products are engineered for consistent, reliable performance and can be found at home improvement stores, mass retailers, hardware stores, independent dealers and farm supply stores. For more information, visit www.mtdproducts.com .

Check out these ideas for using them around your home.

Decorative Pots

Placing some pebbles around the top of a potted plant can make your container garden even more attractive. Consider the plant in the container that you want to focus. Then decide whether you want to complement or contrast the colors in the pot with the pebbles you choose. Just remember that the pebbles are there to help focus your eye on the flowers in the container. It doesn’t matter what container you use, a decorative one or a plain terracotta ceramic pot.

Japanese Gardens

Japanese Gardens use specific plants as well as rocks and water to create their peaceful and tranquil effect. Often they use pebbles to great advantage to simulate water. These gardens are often small in scale and are incorporated into a portion of the overall garden design rather than being the whole garden.

Water Features

It seems that everyone today wants a garden water feature. They can be very small or quite large but they always add an element of tranquility to any garden. Natural stone is almost always incorporated in a variety of ways when planning a water feature. Around the edge of the feature larger stones are used to add character. But pebbles are used extensively as well to cover the base of the water feature and any cords or pumps that are used for it. Remember to wet a sample of your stone before you buy it as this will show you how it will look in your water feature.

Pebbles as Mulch

Mulching is something more gardeners are doing. It basically involves adding a layer of material over the top of your soil to aid with water retention. Pebbles make great mulch for setting off your plants and keeping the weeds under control. They also save you from having to water so much. Another thing is not everyone has the enthusiasm to maintain their lawns and pebbles can make a great alternative, particularly in naturally dry areas. Mulching makes for greatly reduced weeding in garden beds. It is actually quite easy to pull the few weeds that attempt to grow among the pebbles.

Paths and Drives

Paths and drives can become low maintenance when they are covered with small natural stone pebbles. The size of pebbles you choose needs to take into account whether it is a path or a drive. Foot traffic areas need smaller stones as they are more comfortable underfoot. A little larger stone ¾” are better for cars to drive over. Keep in mind that drives and paths need to be topped up with extra stone occasionally. They are very durable and much nicer looking than a plain old concrete driveway.

Pebbles give your yard that natural look and feel no matter where or how you use them. When used with thought and planning they will save you both work and water. Why not try adding some to your outdoor living space?

There are many items that could be included when it comes to gardening accessories. The gardening tools and supplies you need first of all will depend on the type of garden you are developing. You will need tools for preparing the soil to be planted and for maintaining it. You will of course need seeds or plants to grow in your garden. You may want to have plant food to help your seeds/plants flourish. Despite the many differences, there are many common accessories that you may wish to have.

The first step in starting a garden is to pick a spot where you want to develop your garden. Since most plants/flowers prefer a good amount of sunlight, you will want to choose a spot in your yard that receives the good amount of it (unless of course you’re developing a shade loving flower garden). The size will depend on your yard and what you plan to grow. One thing I will say is it seems the size you choose is never big enough. You also want to make sure that where you choose works with the rest of your back yard activities.

To get started there’s a number of gardening tools you will need to have. These tools include, a couple of different shovels, a garden rake, hoe, weeding fork and garden hose and there are many more. If you don’t have these tools, you will need to purchase or borrow them (depending on how good your neighbor is). These garden tools and accessories, along with many more, can be purchased online or from most department or home improvement stores.

Once you have prepared your gardening area, you are ready to start planting it. Though I chose to have a flower garden, many gardeners enjoy having a vegetable garden. Some people though have learned to incorporate vegetables into their flower garden. If you are looking for seeds to plant, you may to shop online at one of the many online seed shops as they have a bigger verity then any local shop.

Another gardening accessory you may find useful is special soil or soil additives for amending the soil will help to increase both the appearance and yield of your garden. Other gardeners just prefer to use plant food to give their plants that extra help. In many cases you may find that your plants will do just fine on their own if you just keep them watered. You will find that plant food and premixed food soils can be purchased in the same places you buy your plants.

Gardening is a backyard activity that is great for the whole family. You may want to consider letting your kids have their own special spot to plant a few things and watch them grow. It’s not too late to start or develop your garden this summer. You will enjoy the outdoors and the results of your efforts along with the rest of your family and friends.

You’ll be delighted with this simple way to create a garden whether you arrange your pots in a group for a massed effect or highlight a smaller space with a single specimen.

Container gardening also enables you to easily vary your color scheme depending on your mood or for a special occasion. You can choose to harmonize or contrast your colors but they need to work together. One thing is for sure you need to make sure there is variety in the heights of the plants. It is also good to think about the shape and texture of the leaves. Tall strap-like leaves will give you a good vertical background to lower growing, wide-leaved plants. Choose plants with a long flowering season so you will have color throughout the summer. Also be ready to replace any that finish blooming or are getting long and straggly looking.

Experiment with different containers . You might have an old porcelain bowl or copper urn you can use, or perhaps you’d rather make something unique with wood or cement. If you decide to buy your containers, terracotta pots look wonderful, but tend to absorb water. If you don’t want your plants to dry out, paint the interior of the pots with a special sealer available from hardware stores.

You could also buy cheaper plastic pots and then paint the outside with water-based paints to give them the effect you want. It is always best when purchasing pots, to buy matching saucers to catch the drips. This will keep more moisture in your pot, save your cement floors from getting stained, or your wood decks from rotting.

To ensure the best performance possible from your plants you should always use a good quality potting mix in your containers .

Positioning your pots well will really make a difference. Try placing some on the steps leading up to your front door. An attractive pot plant on each step will delight your visitors. If you have plenty of space at your front door, try a group of potted plants off to one side. This is more visually appealing than two similar plants placed each side. Try grouping the pots in odd numbers rather than even, and vary the height and type. Three or five pots of the same type and color, but in different sizes also look attractive.

Decide ahead of time where you want your pots to be positioned; then buy plants that suit the situation. There is no point buying sun lovers for a shady position, for they will not do well.

With a creative mind and some determination, you will soon have a container garden that will be the envy of friends and strangers alike.

Birds bring life, color and song to your garden and create a whole new type of beauty there for you to enjoy. But how do you create a garden that will attract the birds?

This will only be achieved if you give the birds what they are looking for. The primary things are food, water and habitat. Water is needed for drinking and bathing and habitat for food and shelter.

Natural habitat is the first step that you should do to attract birds. Start planting landscaping plants and shrubs or native plants which will attract different birds by giving them natural environment. Wild flowers, bunch grasses and small or large shrubs will make your garden a birds’ friendly environment.

But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. You first need to find out which birds are natural to your geographic area and then you will be able to choose plants that will attract them . This should not be difficult as there is a ton of information out there in magazines and libraries, maybe easiest is by looking online.

Water is one of the major needs every bird has. This is highly important. A bird bath, pool or small pond all will instantly attract many bird families. Birds appreciate fresh water for bathing and drinking. You can improvise in the way you give them this. Use a bowl of water but keep it shallow they will appreciate that. Turn over a garbage can lid and sink into the ground, then add some stones to provide perches for the birds.

Providing some food for the birds will increase the chances of your success at attracting birds to your garden. Having the right plants in your garden will provide them food. For example Humming birds love trumpet vine while others love natural grasses for their seeds.

Birds also love you to supplement their natural food with seeds, bread or other things they like. The seeds that almost all birds prefer are sun-flower seeds, extremely easy to find, and cheap to buy also. Mixed bird seed will attract different species. Before buying seed, make a list of all the birds that you have spotted in your yard and research their food preferences. That way you can provide food for all the different types of birds present.

The second part of the equation is keeping out of your yard the things that might scare or disturb birds. Animals are the major part of this. The neighbor’s dogs or even your own dog or cat can scare the birds and may not allow them to settle in your garden. Providing shrubs and trees for birds to hide will help. The best thing is to keep them indoors or away from where you want the birds to frequent, like in the side yard.

Also, a certain species might avoid your garden because there is another species in it. Children and noise can make others stay away.

Knowing their nature and customs can be a decisive factor in bringing particular birds to your backyard.
One fun aspect of attracting birds is learning all about the birds that are visiting your backyard habitat. There are several good identification guides to help you with this like “Birds of North America” through which the wild birds can be identified.

Have fun attracting and enjoying your new back yard friends, the birds.

You can get advice from other gardeners, gardening magazines, on the Internet, in gardening books, and even in a gardening catalogue.

Planting gardening advice is pretty much the same for all plants. Plants must be placed in a position where they will receive adequate amounts of sunlight for them. You want to place them where they will have room to grow so they don’t overcrowd each other and so they will have good air flow. When you are planting you should always add some extra nutrients to the soil to lead to better plant growth. Nutrients such as mulch or compost are a great add.

Watering gardening advice on plants is a little more varied. This is because every type of plant needs different amounts of water. For instance, watering a cactus the same as watering a tomato plant would be ridiculous and kill the cactus. The amount you water will also obviously depend on where you live and how much rain your area receives and the type of soil you have. If you have sandy soil like I have you will have to do more watering than if you have clay soil. Though this again depends on how or if you have amended the soil.

Fertilizing gardening advice will tell you (from nearly every source) that your plants not only need to be fertilized when you first plant them, they will also need it throughout their growing season. The type of fertilizer you use will depend on the soil you have, but fertilizer should definitely be used on most all plants. Natural compost can be used instead. If you are interested it is easy to find advice on how to make a compost pile as well as when the fertilizer and or compost needs to be used.

Managing weeds, insects and disease gardening advice is probably the most sought after advice in all of gardening. Pests invade all gardens and if you don’t control them or get rid of them, they will take over and ruin your garden. Chemicals and pesticides can be used, and are some places. More and more though, cities and municipalities are restricting their use. Today gardening advice will usually clue gardeners in on more natural control methods which are better for the environment and everyone involved. Chemicals can be harmful, and detrimental to the environment and the people using them. Depending on what your problem is there are usually several choices to choose from.

Gardening is not an easy task but it’s a lot of fun. There are outside forces you will have to fight against such as weather, insects, disease, and weeds. This will cause even the most seasoned of gardeners to seek out gardening advice once in a while. Who wouldn’t, none of us can know everything? What you need to do now is find specific advice for the plants you have in your garden or that one plant that is giving you trouble.

Gardening advice is relatively easy to find online, and most of it is relatively sound and will help you with your gardening question.

One popular backyard activity that many enjoy is simply relaxing though you may not even consider it an activity. When relaxing, many individuals are taking a small break. There is nothing wrong with taking a break and relaxing from your many other activities. Others though just want to enjoy the fresh air and take in a little and enjoy a little bit of Mother Nature. Some people really enjoy just sitting outside alone, reading a good book or doing some homework. While it is nice to relax outside, you will need to have good, comfortable patio or lawn furniture in order to do it.

While most of the time patio and lawn furniture is used for relaxation, there are other activities, such as eating or doing some outdoor crafts that it also gets used for. If you are looking for some lawn furniture you can find it just about anywhere. It’s available at most retail stores though the quality is certainly not the same everywhere. I personally enjoy wood lawn furniture the most and you can’t beat Cedar or Teak wood furniture for style and longevity.

Of course relaxing demands you bring out a few snacks and drinks. Having the right furniture to set things on is very important. Choose your drinks and snacks wisely though. During the hot weather you should stay away from caffeinated beverages or sugary dinks. Instead of a sports drinks or soda, water may be a safer and healthier alternative. You should also avoid snacks that are high in sugar. Don’t only be comfortable but be healthy this summer.

Other accessories you may need depends on what you will be doing. For instance, if you have a pool and are planning on swimming, you will need to purchase pool accessories and pool supplies. Of course if you have a pool you will also need some quality patio and lawn furniture for relaxing on when you get out of the pool. Loungers are perfect for this.

Outdoor sports and games are activities the kids really enjoy. This may mean you need to purchase some sports equipment. The equipment you will need will all depend on which games you are planning on playing. Some of the popular backyard sports games include baseball, softball, soccer, and kickball. Though your yard is probably not big enough to play full scale it is easy to make up some rules that fit your yard. Even if it is just the grand kids having some fun it is equipment for them to play with. Baseball just isn’t the same without a glove and a good ball.

It is always important to have what you need in the way of accessories on hand in order to make your next backyard outing enjoyable, relaxing and safe.

So here are some flowers that will help you understand a little what to look for when you study them.
Hepatica is a wild flower that everyone loves. Spring hasn’t really decided to come yet when this little flower pokes its head up and gives us a welcome to the season ahead. With a white flower which has dainty tracings of pink, a thin, wiry stem, and narrow, grass-like leaves, this spring flower cannot be mistaken. The blossoms are tucked under a covering of dry leaves waiting for the warm sunshine to bring them out. These small flowers are protected by leaves with a fuzzy covering, reminding you of a similar covering new fern leaves have.

The hepatica wastes no time putting on a new suit of leaves after the blossoms have had their day. That way the new leaves have a chance to develop properly. Hepaticas seem to like growing in clusters and are most likely to be found in rather open places in the woods. The soil it loves is loose and rich. So you should plant yours only in partly shaded places and in a bed with good rich soil conditions. If you are planting them with other woodland specimens make sure you give them the most exposed position so they can catch the early spring sunshine. You may want to cover hepaticas with a light layer of leaves in the fall. Then in the late winter (late February or early March) depending on the weather take this leaf covering away. The hepatica blossoms will be all ready to poke up their heads. Plant a number of the roots and allow the sun good opportunity to get at them. For this plant loves the sun.

Saxifrage is another March flower worthy of mentioning. This plant grows in quite a different environment. It grows in dry and rocky places and can often be found in the chinks of rocks. It has white clusters of flowers on hairy stems. I have found it in dry, sandy places right next to a group of a big rock. It has been said that the saxifrage roots twists it’s self around rocks and in fact works its way into them so that the rock itself splits. Whatever, it is a rock garden plant.

Columbine is another plant that is most likely to be found in rocky places. It loves having good drainage conditions. You can see them nestled here and there in rocky crevices with their red heads nodding at the top of slender wiry stems. The roots are not very deep in the soil, often hardly covered by it. But that doesn’t mean the columbine doesn’t care about its soil conditions. It needs to have good soil with good drainage.
So as you can see you must not make the mistake of thinking all wild flowers like their feet wet.

Bluets are a personal favorite. When they come into bloom you know that all traces of winter are gone and things are settling down outdoors. When they first bloom their blooms are lovely, little delicate blue blossoms. But as June comes and the weather gets hotter and hotter their blooms color fades, until at times they look almost white. They are known by some as Quaker ladies, or innocence. Whatever you want to call them they are charming. They tend to grow in clusters, sometimes in sunny fields, sometimes by the road-side. By this we know that they are more particular about the open sunlight than about the soil.

The Wild Geraniums purplish flowers are showy, and the leaves are rather coarse and deeply cut. This flower is not good for cutting for a bouquet. It drops its leaves very quickly after picking and almost immediately drops its petals. Its color and leaves give a boldness to the plant that is rather attractive. It is found in rather moist, partly shaded areas of the woods. It adds good permanent color to your garden, well as long as blooming time lasts.

While there are all kinds of wild flowers I might have suggested. I have mentioned these flowers to help you understand how to study the soil conditions for the purpose of starting a wild-flower garden.
Study one or two flowers at a time and after you have become acquainted with them, try adding some more to your garden next year. Soon your wild flower garden will have captured your affection.

It is not a question of luck, but a question of understanding. Wild flowers each have their personality. Just like all flowers each plant grows best under certain conditions so understanding what each flower is accustomed to in Nature is very important. We need to copy Nature herself. Suppose you are hunting wild flowers in the woods and you choose a certain flower, you need to notice the soil they are in, the place, conditions, the surroundings, and the neighbors.

NOTE! I personally do not recommend actually collecting your flowers from the woods. For one thing where I live it is illegal to remove certain flowers from nature, period. It is also illegal to remove any flowers from public places nature parks etc. If you have some private property that someone has given you permission to collect from that’s ok but even there certain flowers are protected from transplantation. All nurseries have wild flowers or their seeds that you can buy for planting. My strong suggestion is to observe them in nature and buy them from your local nursery.

So suppose you observe dog-tooth violets and another wild-flower growing near together. Then try planting them similar in your own new garden. When you find a violet enjoying a more open area; then it should be planted similar in your bed. I’m sure you get the point. If you wish wild flowers to grow in your garden make them feel at home.

If you insist on collecting your wild flowers from the woods they should be transplanted after their blossoming time is over. Take a trowel or small shovel with you so you can be sure to take some of the plant’s own soil with the roots. Replanting it with its own soil will give it the best chance of survival.

Prepare carefully the bed into which you plan on planting these ahead of time. You should plant your new friends as soon as possible into their new home. The bed needs to have soil like the woods, deep and rich and full of leaf mold. The soil should have excellent drainage. You may think that the soil in the woods is saturated with water but this is not true. If you have clay soil you may have to dig your garden up very deeply and put some stone in the bottom. Then put a deep layer of top soil. On top of that, where the top soil once was, put a new layer of the rich composted soil mixed with a lot of leaves. Then water well before placing your plants into their new home.

It is always nice to plan so that your wild-flower garden is continuously in bloom from early spring to late fall. Here are some suggestions to help you with that.

For March – try the Hepatica spring beauty and Saxifrage.
Then comes April – the beautiful Columbine, the tiny Bluets and Wild Geranium.
For May – there are the Dog-tooth Violet, the Wood Anemone, false Solomon’s Seal, Jack-in-the-pulpit, Wake Robin, Bloodroot and Violets.
June – is blessed with the Bellflower, Mullein, Bee Balm and Foxglove.
For July – I would choose the Gay Butterfly Weed.
Let Turtle Head, Aster, Joe Pye Weed, and Queen Anne’s Lace make the rest of the season brilliant until frost.

One last comment: Wild flowers are wild and some of them when they take root can be fairly invasive so if you don’t want a runaway garden filling your whole yard you will have to set your wild flower garden in an area of the yard by itself or be aggressive at keeping it in control.

Next time we will look at some specific wild flower and the conditions each loves.

Electric leaf blowers are often the choice of most homeowners. They are quieter, lighter and more eco-friendly than gas leaf blowers and cordless models make quick work of small jobs and hard surfaces. For yards that extend beyond the reach of a 150-foot extension cord, gas leaf blowers offer cord-free portability and extra power but are noisier and more of a hassle to fuel and maintain.

The electric leaf blower is a lightweight handheld unit generally intended for decks, small yards or walkways. Most models weigh less than 7 pounds, so they are easy to handle without tiring your arm too much. Some models also have an optional vacuum mode that shreds the leaves as it picks them up. Which can make your job that much easier. Even though they are light weight, some of them can be almost as powerful as gas models. But these electric models don’t produce any smelly, polluting exhaust. The only downsides to an electric leaf blower are the cord and maybe some power.

If the yard is small enough to be reached via an extension cord, Toro would be the way to go for an electric blower. Consumer Reports gives Toro the top three slots for electric blowers: Ultra Blower Vac 51599, Super Blower Vac 51592, and the Toro Rake and Vac 51574, respectively.

Leaf blowers powered by gas engines are the most powerful tools in use today to move leaf and debris in the landscape trade. Gas powered blowers allow you to “cut” the electrical umbilical cord, and take advantage of higher performance machines when electrical and cordless blowers just don’t meet the needs.

Most of the gas blowers are powered by 2-cycle engines although 4-cycle engines are becoming much more common in both handheld and backpack models. Their power is rated in cubic centimeters; the more cubic centimeters an engine has the more powerful the machine. Small properties (under 1/2 acre) should be fine with a gas leaf blower in the 25-30 cc range.

Apart from the noise, and they are noisy, gas blowers have one major fault – they can be heavy. I find this especially true of blower vacs which collect the rubbish at the same time. It doesn’t take long trying to graciously balance one of these machines at the end of your arm to realize the toll it’s going to take on the old muscle structure. This is probably one of the major reasons why manufacturers developed the backpack blower.

Backpack blowers are more commonly used by professionals but are also being bought more and more by the home owner with a large lot. The blower fits into a harness, which is worn on the operator’s back. With the engine and fan attached to the backpack frame it frees up the arms and hands to control the hose and spout to direct the airflow. Backpack blowers are powerful and convenient. They have a larger, more efficient fuel tank and air filter and therefore have a longer life cycle.

Maybe you’ve been thinking that you’ll be able to get away with an unnamed box store hand held blower. However, I never think it is a sensible idea to buy a cheap box store one. They’re usually very unreliable and weak compared to a quality name brand blower. The top leaf blower brands are Stihl, Toro, Echo, Black & Decker, Craftsman, Homelite, Poulan, Ryobi, Husqvarna, and Tanaka.

The type of leaf blower you should buy will depend on many factors, including its intended use, your personal strength, and the amount of area you’ll need to cover while using it. Manufacturers make several different types of leaf blowers for different uses, and some are made for residential projects, while others are generally aimed at commercial use.

They will sure help with the clean up this spring and then you will have it for helping out in the fall as well.