hi Carol
hi Frank
how do you feel about uh lawn and garden work
uh well to tell you the truth my husband does most of the work yeah i feel real good about it
so you feel good about it
what kind of a system does he have does he have a power mower or a riding mower
yeah no he has a um
you know um a push mower i mean it's electric of course um i i think it's not very old about
um not that old three or four years old maybe and uh he he really enjoys it so
so you let him enjoy it
yeah that's fine
you don't feel you don't feel guilty about it
no well
last uh no i do enough other things i don't feel guilty about that
last year this is i'm almost ashamed to admit it but last year for the very first time i did mow the grass
my first time in my whole life
oh
and uh that wasn't too bad i it was good exercise
it's a it's a push mower though
well you know it's electric of course i mean it's a power a power mower it it's it's pretty powerful oh yeah
yeah but it's it's power power but you have to push it i've uh i've got to admit that the last two lawn mowers that i've gotten um were uh power driven
um-hum
they're they're uh you know they're gasoline and they have a mechanical contraption on it you pull the handle and it pulls the lawn mower for you
um it takes me about an hour to do to to do my lawn
that's about the same for ours
and uh well if you if you got got him a power mower it'd probably take him a lot less time to do it but i enjoy doing it i feel good doing it uh
i i feel a lot better doing it with a
power mower with that with a with a pull tractor on it so i don't have to push so hard
yeah
but uh i enjoy going and cutting the grass i like the way it looks
and uh
i also have other other garden equipment like uh
weed whacker or the trimmer to go around all of the the uh fence and everything
oh yeah uh-huh
does he have those as well
oh yes um let's see we've got a
weed whacker we have an uh edger you know that goes between the grass and the sidewalk
oh this this comes with the blade on it you mean uh-huh
um
right um
is that a power mower or is that a power edger or is it a
that one is electric so he's got to plug that in and drag the cord around
oh
and let's see um hedge clippers you know electric of course hedge hedge clippers
yeah
um i think that's all of the power tools we have
we um but that's that's i think that's about all they make
how often does he do it
oh once a week um actually though um we just moved
all right
to uh Texas a year and a half ago
uh-huh
and they have a new uh
system that they're trying to promote here which is uh they don't bag it as they call it um
yeah
essentially you know cutting it um probably more like every four or five days and
so it's still short enough so that you can mulch it back into the grass
and never bag it for one thing um cuts down on waste for landfills and all of that
uh-huh
so so the state is encouraging you to do that
um it's actually through the County Extension Service
uh-huh
and they put out all kinds of information on it
and then they put up uh they had a few lawns in the area that were like uh samples and they put a big sign in their yard that said you know this is a don't bag it lawn
and let you watch and see how they did it so their grass clippings were never bagged they just mulch back into the grass itself and acted as a fertilizer
do they do something to the lawn mower to to help it uh stay inside or they
yeah as a matter of fact and our lawn mower does that too it's you you shut off the where the bag would go or where it would you know spray out the side
uh-huh
yeah
so that it just mulches underneath it just goes back down um right underneath the blade
but they don't they they they have special munching mulching uh mowers but that's not one of them
right
no that's no that's not it's not necessary to have that nope
it is not
oh i always thought that it was
but you
you you have to but you're you're right though in that you do have to cut it though when it's
um relatively short you can't let it go a week or two because if the clippings are that long then they'll just lay on top
yeah
they have to be short enough that they'll still fall back down um into the grass
oh that's interesting
maybe there's something i can try this time around
it takes takes him a lot less time because even though he does have to do it every four or five days
um since he doesn't have to bag all of those clippings you know it rather than taking i don't know as an example an hour and a half to do the whole lawn it only takes an hour
huh
so you know plus less bags less waste
does he have the lawn treated
um we tried that but we really weren't happy with it so he does that all himself now
oh well i um i tried it about ten years ago and i've been doing it ever since i've been having it treated
yeah
and it makes it grow much faster uh
our season though in New England uh is is only three months or so and then it starts getting cold again in September
oh that's true
so we don't have um i guess out in Dallas you must have a a longer season
oh gee i'd i'd say our grass is getting green right now so i'm sure he'll in fact he may have already cut it once i can't remember
no kidding
no kidding
um but it'll be yeah we'll have to start cutting real soon
wow
and uh
then oh well in on into October November i'm sure
oh we i i don't go that uh that deep it starts getting cold when as soon as the cold weather comes it stunts the growth of the uh the grass
right
i know in the summer time i've got to uh i've got to hold actually hold it as long as i can uh as long as i can make the grass
i can't cut it i think it's the recommended three three and a half inches they want me to leave it
so i can cut it
let it get that long wow
well in the summer time so that the heat doesn't uh burn the grass
right
and they recommend that i keep the blade very high
s o because it's that high i have to do it frequently as well i try to do it every uh uh six or seven days
if
what kind of grass do you have
um i really i've got a mixture i guess
uh-huh
it's all different kinds but if i let it grow too long if i let it go like a week and a half two weeks then it starts seeding on me
right
and that's it gets too long and then it uh starts bunching up underneath the lawn mower and i can't get it out and and it's uh it it turns out to be a real mess so i've got to do it uh
uh no later than once a week
right
and i uh i don't block off my my uh chute but i don't pick up my grass either
i leave it on the lawn and uh i try to go over it again i do pick up or i rake up uh
um-hum
you know the clumps that uh that occur but i try to leave it down there
right
i did pick up uh a lawn sweeper
oh really we don't have one of those
yeah that's kind of that's kind of like uh the old-fashioned carpet sweeper only it's it's wide and you put it on your grass and what it does is it sweeps the lawn and it only picks up
uh-huh
oh
you know the height that you you set it at so i set it very high and it just picks or it skims the grass it doesn't dig way down deep so i don't have a lot of grass that i uh that i collect
does it work for leaves
oh yeah works very good with leaves because leaves typically if you pick them up right away uh they'll sit on top of the grass
oh
right
and uh i'm trying to find a way how to uh electrify it or motorize it because of this i have to push
but it uh it's it's wide enough to pick up uh like the width two widths of a lawn mower
oh well
so you can do it relatively quickly
oh yeah
well that's sounds interesting we uh we don't
well i don't know if we do that very much
i think i remember my mom had one of those
i i try to take the the clippings and uh
i don't know
put them in a mulching not a mulching but uh
to let them decompose
right
i think that is mulching uh what do they call that
a compost pile right
compost pile
i haven't been very successful i'm on my third year now and i still have a a pile in the back yard and it it doesn't decompose i guess i got
it's not composting
you supposed to put chemicals on it
i don't think so no i think it's supposed to be natural
no
it's
it's not working
oh well
it's getting it's shrinking down it's getting small
but it uh it's still grass it's it's dried up grass and it it just stays there it doesn't turn into dirt
i think you're supposed to turn it every once in a while
what air it out
well i think it it on the inside is where it the chemicals you know it starts to break down
uh-huh
and i think if you're supposed to turn it
huh
i mean not not very often but you know go in and and stir it up so to speak to get the
yeah
stuff on the outside in to the inside
i'm going to have to try and do that
it might help i don't know
maybe it'll work
yeah
uh the other thing i was thinking of doing is getting some chemicals to try and help the process up uh a little more a little faster
i don't know i i i think the idea is supposed to be natural so that
you know there's no
chemicals no chemicals in it
no chemicals and plus then you can use it as a fertilizer and not have to worry about
spreading those chemicals like on your lawn or your bushes or whatever
yeah
i um i'm seriously thinking of discontinuing the chemical service because of the uh
um i guess what i didn't realize was that that they're actually putting poisons on my grass
uh-huh
and it wasn't until uh a year or two ago where the state required anyone putting chemicals on lawns that they tell the the customers what they're actually putting on the lawn and what the uh the hazards are
and uh my children are all grown up now but
when they were younger i was fertilizing my grass and didn't realize that some of the the chemicals that are on the grass that are being put on by the chemical companies um stay there longer than
than than a few hours
and they're playing on they were playing on it
and yeah and my uh dog was out there playing in the grass and they were playing in the grass so i don't what long term effects that they uh the chemicals
sure
had on the grass but that's bothered me to the point where i'm thinking thinking about discontinuing it this year
yeah
and try to get more uh
