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As with many hobbies and passions, gardening has its fair share of must-have plants and eye-catching products. But, you can't have it all. I tend to be swayed by functionality but that's not what makes the world go around, is it?
The products and/or services featured below are fantastic. I cannot give you any product or service guarantees here...just passing along information! If the links don't, please copy and paste in your browser. Please go to "Contact Us" to email your experiences.
If you live in the NYC tri-state area, check out their website then call
Teich Garden Systems to discuss creating one of their patent-pending designs just for you. This is so much more than what you see in photographs. It is perfect for your backyard, side yard, on the deck, on the roof, for your towns' school, local senior center, etc.
This garden system is a dream for seasoned and first time gardeners and an absolute must have for ANYWHERE gardening is difficult - i.e., rocks, poor soil quality, and if plant eaters such as deer, rabbits, or woodchucks roam. It is beneficial, practical, and beautifully engineered for productivity.
This idea is so ideal that not only do we have one, but I am a consultant! Check out
www.teichgardensystems.com
Click www.YardLover.com to find great products and prices on garden needs. Attention city gardeners! Struggling to find what you want or it's just too difficult to get out of the city to find what you need? Have it arrive at your door. Finally, a Gardeners Online Superstore!
The WOW factor. You walk down aisle after aisle in a convention and then you are...amazed. This is big...literally. www.glassbyjm.com
Weeding EASE? Oh, yes! Really. www.Cobrahead.com This was the "ooh and ahh" product at the 2007 Philadelphia Flower Show. Fun hearing reactions from all ages of gardeners as this tool sliced between pavers and slid into heavy soil effortlessly.
"It's about time," I yelled over to the frantic creator of these soil and weight-saving products flying from her hands. Best practical find at the 2006 Philadelphia Flower Show now widely available. Container gardeners' dream! www.UPS-A-DAISY.com
Talk about a SMART product for around $5.00 to protect these beautiful creatures, yourself, and from severe damage to your car! The Save-A-Deer-Whistle is placed in the grill and, at over 35 miles per hour, the deer stop and watch me drive by.
Check out www.deerwhistle.com
There is a sound clip you must hear - www.mohicanwindharps.com
If you have open space for the wind to catch it, you are in for an incredible treat!
Harvest the rain and water with Mother Nature's finest. Our Spruce Creek Rainsaver works great and blends in beautifully. We cut the gutter so the water flows right in and, once filled, runs through a hose behind the compost bin, and into the tomato area of the garden. Best producing and tastiest we've ever grown! Don't waste water or the electricity to pump it from the well; great choices on www.sprucecreekrainsaver.com
Want the best in wood plant containers? www.site-craft.com also has benches, deck floors, etc. Ask for Wigens Lindor, 1-800-937-0203. This wonderful man knows his woods!
www.reneesgarden.com
The best quality seeds...fantastic growing directions, explanations, and ideas...period. Not only do her seed packets show perfect paintings of each flower, herb, and vegetable, but the website has wonderful photos that makes envisioning placment a breeze.
Check out her new introductions (dare you to just choose one!). This photo from her website is of Garden Babies Butterhead. Now who doesn't have room for these 6" heads of sweet tasting lettuce? Just pull the buttery-textured leaves from the outer edges to use for the next meal so it will keep growing.
What a brilliant, classy woman Renee is - my (garden) hat is off to her!
The perfect garden chair. Just leave it outside. Sink in and your body jellos
(is that a word?) I designed a round-backed purple one (See Concept Garden, click onto Manhattan Botanical Garden) for the Pier 84 "beach area" with native grasses around it, but it was nixed for being too attractive!
www.archiesisland.com
Weeds...goodbye. Weed killer by www.perfectlynatural.com I received a sample. It was a dry day. I sprayed, forgot about it, and they were dead.
After 18 years in the city...we are in the forest! No kidding...and there is a clearing in the woods with a real lawn on it. So, here it is: the most researched garden product of 2006 was the lawn mower. The winner is...
SUNLAWN MM-1 - MANUAL REEL MOWER www.sunlawn.com
 It arrived! Never thought I’d be in the market for a lawn mower, but here it is, brought up by UPS on the porch. It took me a half hour to unpack the Sunlawn MM-1 reel-style push mower (I am challenged that way...as with technology), then I attached the handle with the supplied wingnuts, adjusted the blade height, and I was out there mowing a 16” cutting width within the hour.
Ah, it is such a nice sound…so q-u-i-e-t compared to the high-powered lawn service machines!
Honestly, I cannot name any other chore that is so much fun. I love it! Even the birds don’t flinch on the feeder when I’m a mere 10’ away and I’m getting some cardio in whilst bettering the environment. The blades won’t need sharpening for 5-10 years and it leaves the cut grass to recycle into the soil. No raking up or disposing those heavy clippings - I do grab some fresh green matter to add to the compost bin to churn things up
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The Sunlawn was the ideal choice for the half-acre we want to retain as lawn. This is not like an old heavy push mower you may have used long ago. The results looked so good we decided to keep a bit more lawn than initially planned! And, we learned that a mowed lawn is also a natural buffer between us and deer ticks living in dense woods and stone walls.
So, throw out that dangerous, smelly gas-and-dollar-eating mower, get off your “sit-down” and use your legs as well as your head. You don't have to store gasoline, either! The safe and lightweight (25 lbs.), Sunlawn push mover also reduces airborne particles so even allergy sufferers can enjoy using it. And a really nice surprise, the handle is made of cushy foam (no, it is not sticky!) so off go the garden gloves.
They have a grass catcher and an electric rechargeable model available; see their website.
“No, that’s okay, Honey, I’ll do the lawn!”
Thanks Terry and Sandra Jarvis- for coming up with such a quaint, quiet, and quality mower that is ideal for anyone caring for the environment, the health of their lawn, and not wanting to add more noise to the peace of their homes.
Local Mentions
Finding quality perennials, annuals, shrubs, and trees are vital. In northern New Jersey, but serving the Metro area, I just can't say enough about the folks (and owner, Jeff) at Victoria's Nursery, 578 Paramus Rd., in Paramus. Yes, they deliver. 201-251-2555
Just up Rt. 301 from "antique-heaven" Cold Spring-on-the-Hudson (a left on Rt.9 ands up about a mile on the left), are a wide selection, incredible baskets, plants, supplies, organic produce, imported pasta, and homemade pies - - say hello to Vera and Dominick. It's cash and top quality only at the Philipstown Farm Market & Garden Center.
Since 1989, the Hudson Highlands Land Trust has been the source for intelligent, practical information to work with, protect, and preserve the resources of this unique place on Earth. For smart landscaping now, and in consideration of the future, take a few minutes to explore www.hhlt.org and be sure to forward to your neighbors.
Sure cure for plant addiction Limit your perennial purchasing while visiting nurseries and botanical gardens with this two-seat roadster. Our 2007 Solstice drove off the showroom on the full 'Corn Moon" of August `06 - the day the Moon is closest to Earth - and a traditional Garden Party date. .
BabeBee's debut ride down to the Hudson made quite a splash!
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