Blog Action Day - more hand power, less gas power

Today is Blog Action Day, a day where many blogs are focusing on the environment and how we can make a difference in reducing the negative environmental impact we are having on our planet.

As a gardening/landscaping blog, I firmly believe we all can start caring more about our environment in our own gardens. And one of the most important changes I think we should make is our reliance on gas power equipment to maintain our yards. This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine but I'm hoping what I say here encourages some people to reconsider how they maintain their yards.

Gas-powered lawn mowers, grass trimmers, chainsaws, hedge trimmers and leaf blowers all contribute to bad air quality and noise pollution and I believe their use at least by private homeowners should be minimized if not banned outright. (I even believe that most landscaping companies could reduce their reliance on gas-powered equipment and still be able to provide quick, efficient service to their clients)

There are alternatives (I've used all of these and have no need for gas-powered equipment on my 600 sq ft property):

• lawn mowers: I use a hand powered reel mower - if you don't wait until you have knee-high grass and don't have an estate size lawn (and if you do you may want to consider reducing it's size) there is no extra work (occasionally you might have to go over a more difficult section of lawn twice to get all the stray blades); on my small lawn, a gas-powered lawn mower would actually take longer, as I would have to fill it up with gas, wait for it to warm up once started, cut the lawn and then wait for it to cool down before putting it away. My hand mower I take out, cut the lawn and put away again. Easy!
• grass trimmers: I use a pair of hand powered shears- keep them sharp and clean and oiled and they work just as well as their powered counterpart; in fact they are safer for your trees, as you won't damage the bark when trimming around them. Yes, you will have to get down on your knees (or buy a long-handled version if doing so is problematic), but they are a lot quieter and safer to use. There are also ways to landscape around lawns that will eliminate or at least reduce greatly the need for trimming.
• chainsaws: I use muscle power (hand saw and axe) - however if you have a huge tree to cut down, cutting it down by hand is a back-breaking job. But keep in mind that our ancestors did so using hand power. Perhaps not having the power tools to make cutting down a tree very easy may make some homeowners think twice about cutting it down in the first place?
• hedge trimmers: I use hand-powered shears or if doing a large hedge an electric-powered one - electric ones are the next best bet to gas hedge trimmers and they are not as noisy and polluting as the gas version, plus weigh a lot less, important if you are having to stand on a ladder to trim the top. If you have really thick branches to cut, you'll have to get out the hand saw or axe then.
• leaf blowers: I use a broom and rake and dustpan - sounds too simple, doesn't it. Why are we so attached to the gas powered leaf blower? They may make the job go quicker, but you are creating air pollution, noise pollution and it can be quite dangerous as the wind velocity coming out of these is very high. Instead grab your hand tools and sweep up the leaves, grass clippings or other debris. Nothing like smelling the fresh fall air and hearing the birds chirp in the trees rather than breathing in gas fumes and dust and not hearing anything but noise.

If you really have a yard that requires so much maintenance and you don't have the time to maintain it, I would suggest reconsidering either reducing the amount of maintenance required (for example, reducing the size of lawn) or moving to a property that is more manageable. If hand-powered is going to be too much of a liability, how about at least using electric power? Most of the gas-powered tools also come in cheaper electric versions (some even are now rechargeable, so you don't need to drag an extension cord all over your yard).

Is time really an issue? Consider all the maintenance that your gas-powered equipment needs (unless you have unlimited funds to buy new every few years). You have to go and buy gas, oil and maintenance parts; you have to fill it up with gas (and if a two-stroke engine, mix oil into the gas), change the oil on four strokes, change the spark plug, clean and replace the air filter and deal with sometimes balky engines that won't start, especially if you forgot to drain the gas tank during the winter months. Hand tools just require an occasional cleaning, lubricating and sharpening, not much else. And they are cheaper to purchase and operate.

Please help our environment: think green when purchasing maintenance equipment for your garden and enjoy the tranquility of less noise and smell while doing yard maintenance!