Projo Garden Blog

My mom loves few things more than her lawn.

She loves me more.

I think.

She's a -- woman of mature years. That's as far as I'm willing to go with that, if I still want the occasional shirt ironed and cake baked.

(And I do. She makes her own chocolate icing. But that's another blog.)

So when she asked me to look into cordless electric lawnmowers for her, with my remarkable Internet research skills, I figured my cake and ironing markers were being called in. That's fair.

Cordless electric lawnmowers have some advantages. They are less polluting and quieter than gas, much easier to start, and require less maintenance, as they don't require tuning or oil.

She had been using an electric mower with a power cord, and though it was easy to start and emissions-free (at the tailpipe, as we say), she was getting tired of schlepping a heavy cord around the yard and making sure she didn't mow over it. And that long cord is heavy, and you have to keep plugging it into different outlets ... you get the idea.

Then the darn thing died suddenly. So my research had to kick into overdrive.

It's basically the job of an editor to see all the trouble looming on the horizon and avoid it. That makes us the "glass half empty tribe" around the buffet table, speculating how long the shrimp have been out at room temperature.

So I had to tell her all the bad things up front.

Cordless mowers are heavy, around 70-75 pounds, an issue for a mature woman. They are expensive, with the top contenders at $400 and up.

And then there is the battery issue. The mower's strength is also its Achilles heel.

A battery is a finite source of power. So the mowers are only recommended for people with lawns a quarter of an acre or smaller. Reviews also advised that they only cut well when the grass was dry and not very long.

If you have a yard larger than about a third of an acre, this probably isn't going to work. You could in theory buy a second battery and swap it out, but in reality, the weight of the mower and the size of the yard will make most people choose a different style, such as a self-propelled or riding mower.

Battery life is also an issue. And with replacement batteries (lead acid) at $100 or more, you want to get the most out of them. Storing a battery in an unheated garage where it will freeze will shorten its life, I'm told. So it's a good thing if you can remove the battery and store it at room temperature through the winter. So ease of removal is an issue.

Mom was unswayed by the bad news. So I told her about 2 models. Both have a 19" cutting deck.

Consumer Reports rates the Black & Decker CMM1200 the best of the cordless. At $400, you have to order it through their Web site blackanddecker.com, which directs you to Amazon.com or Lowes.com. (Don't be fooled by its seemingly small 24 hp -- horsepower is no way to choose a lawnmower these days.)

But reviews said the battery was not easily removed. And at 76 pounds, it was a lot of mower for mom to heave around. And she wanted it before the grass got too long.

The Neuton CE 6.2, from Neuton Power Equipment, a company in Vergennes, Vt., weighs 69 pounds. And the battery is easily removable -- it has a handle built into it and slides easily into the machine. A single prong charger snaps on it just like a cell phone. And, the dealmaker, the company offers a 6 month free trial. Specs at neutonpower.com.

I was afraid mom, a child of the Great Depression, would balk at the $474 price tag, but she asked me to call the company and find out how to get one.

The pleasant rep helped me find a retailer with stock (she said the closest is in Exeter, but it didn't have this model in stock).

My parents drove to Needham Garden Center and picked up the Neuton on Thursday. They showed her how to use it, how to charge the battery and care for it. She says they were very nice.

On Thursday night, after she cooked lasagne for me, my brother, her brother and my dad on 80+ degree heat, we all watched from the porch while she successfully mowed the lawn.

(Yes, we are bad people. Really.)

But we love her even more than she loves her lawn.

This might just be the best week of the summer to go to England.

If you're me.

Not only is it the Goodwood Festival of Speed, it's also the Hampton Court Flower Show.

(When I'm not editing the Home section of the Sunday Lifebeat Home section, which is most of the time, I edit projoCars, and I have a lot of fun doing it. If you've never looked at the section or the site, projoCars.com before, take a look sometime. I try to have something for all tastes.)

But I know, I know, you're here for the flowers.

The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is another large outdoor show like the Chelsea Flower Show, and is held on the grounds of Hampton Court Palace a short distance outside London, in East Molesey, Surrey. But you can reach it easily on the London Underground (District Line to Richmond, then R68 bus), so it feels like London.

I have only been to Hampton Court when the show is not on, and it's worth visiting for its walk-in maze and the "Great Vine" -- reportedly the world's largest and oldest grape vine, planted in 1768, which has its own greenhouse and competition-free area cleared for its venerable root system. That's a plane-ticket-seller right there.

But what is making me wrinkle my freckly little nose in frustration is that Hampton Court garden designers have a large pond to play with -- called the Long Water. And this year they have turned it into an authentic Thai floating market -- complete with 15 life-size boats and boaters supplied by the Thai Tourist Board, laden with goods. It's a beautiful sight.

Think we could do that in Waterplace? Huh Barnaby! Couldwecouldwe!

The guerrilla gardeners I blogged about last week are there. Porsche has a garden with a ... Porsche in it. (I like gardening ... and cars. But strangely, not so much together. Neither is flattered by the proximity.)

So once again, here's a roundup of slideshows, stories and goodies from far away.

The Independent, Telegraph and Times of London all have nice slideshows. (The links take you to a slideshow index page, you need to scroll down a little.)

The Royal Horticultural Society has a lot more information and photos, including the best photo of the Thai floating market.

And if you're craving a closer-to-home garden event, the Wickford in Bloom garden tour on July 19 looks like a treat.

I have noticed that my memory has improved since I started gardening. I believe the brain cells have created more synapses as I have tried to memorize all the Latin names that I was not familiar with before. I also have to keep up with all the names of new hybrids of various flowering plants.

Gardening forced me to become better organized in filing names and catalog orders. I could imagine getting aggravated at myself if I could not find the name of the new flowers in the garden when I was ready to post them on projo's Your Garden Shots slideshow.

Having to check and recheck the spelling of many difficult names, such as the lily Rudy Triteleia, above, also kept me on my toes.

Gardening, I believe, not only gives physical benefit from all the stretching and bending (and also justifiable reasons to go and get a body massage); but also improves or at least preserves one's memories.

Like most Americans, I like bad behavior.

Oh don't be like that. This country was founded on bad behavior.

Burning the Gaspee, taking unsporting potshots at the Redcoats, throwing all that perfectly good tea into the harbor.

Declaring our independence without a Hall Pass from the king.

Speaking our minds.

So praising doing something a bit naughty, for a good reason, is really an excellent way to celebrate July 4th. Don't you think?

To that end, I really liked getting "On Guerrilla Gardening: A handbook for gardening without boundaries", by Richard Reynolds, (Bloomsbury) in the mail awhile back.

It's kind of hard to believe, but gardening upsets some people.

I'm not talking about planting something illegal or dangerous or anything bad like that.

Reynolds advocates maybe planting a garden someplace where you don't exactly have official permission, like on abandoned plots of land, making something beautiful or useful where there was only blight before. In some cases, these gardens can grow food for the hungry.

He praises people who do things like make "seed bombs" -- balls of earth and flower seeds that can be furtively thrown from bags or car windows to scatter beauty along the roadside.

The book lays out a history of rebellious gardeners, like Johnny Appleseed. And records big moments in People versus Land Owner history. Sometimes you win, sometimes you get plowed under.

On a more practical level, the book has a lot of advice for people for whom gardening isn't as simple as "step out back door, turn on hose". For someone whose garden may be on an empty lot, a roof, in a crack in the sidewalk, at a community garden or other off-site site, issues like where soil, soil and water are coming from, and how much room roots have to grow become important.

To be sure, some activities in this book can get you in trouble. Trespassing is illegal. You might think that plant is nice, but it may be invasive or cause a problem where you plant it. And it's a bad idea to throw anything out of a car window; it's dangerous and you'd probably get a ticket.

Don't do stupid stuff. Seriously.

But to think of gardening in a new way.

To question the status quo.

To think for yourself and love your community.

That's not just cool, that's downright patriotic.

Have a great July 4th.

I’ve been walking to work recently, to save gas and stop contributing to air quality problems.
And mostly because I just don’t live that far, and in nice weather it’s a pleasant walk.

You notice a lot more when you walk than when you drive.

When I drive I mostly notice all the people who slow down at every 3-foot break in the curbing on Benefit Street, wondering if they can fit the Sequoia in, or stopping the car in traffic to drop someone off and THEN have a conversation about what to have for dinner through the window.

Breathe. Relax. Be nice.

When I walk I notice:

* Trees are cool. Literally. The temperature drops noticeably between treeless areas downtown, even areas shaded by buildings, and the leafy East side. That’s like nearly free air conditioning.

* Plants like water. Believe it or not, a lot of people neglect to water, and plants die. Plants are particularly vulnerable early in the season. Sometimes the weather report promises rain, and doesn’t deliver, so check on them, Stick your fingers down into the soil if you need to.

* Overwatering is bad though. A mature tree is fine with about an inch of rain or watering a week. Even a vegetable garden in peak season requires only about 2 inches a week. A slightly dry plant will bounce back, but a waterlogged one will probably die. Don’t water the sidewalk, deck or other hardscaping, or create runoff.

* RISD does a lovely job with their landscaping, particularly down by the river. Thank you for making my walk home nicer. I hope the new guy keeps it up.

* There are a lot of amazing new colored plants and flowers these days, whether it’s restrained leaves in green and white or pale yellow, or frilled leaves and flowers in crazy colors. They’re fun. But I think it’s a mistake to make a steady diet of them and only them. I think they work better when you mix them in with a few rest strokes of something more sedate in the background –– a plain green leaf.

* I hate red bark mulch.

* OK. I hate pretty much all mulch.

* When you plant a garden, at great expense, you really should take the trouble to pull a few weeds. Weeds are nature’s success stories, they’re going to succeed at the expense of anything they can take advantage of, using up available water, soil nutrients, space and sunlight. It’s amazing sometimes how when you pull the weeds, other plants that have been languishing just take off.

* The Bajnotti Fountain in Kennedy Plaza is just beautiful with all its jets going.

* And the city and Clean and Safe Team downtown do a nice job of keeping things tidy. Thank you, too.

* My colleagues have been admiring the large colorful basket planters hanging from lamp posts downtown and want to know where they came from. If you know, please let me know so we can say thank you.

I believe I have more company nowadays, people trying to walk or bike at least part of their commute. If it’s at all a possibility for you, I recommend it. You never know what you’ll notice when you take the long way home.

Yesterday as I was leaving the house, an alarm went off in my head. It's almost my birthday and that means the strawberry fields await. My sister and I had planned to go out for dinner, but I cancelled at the last minute and told her there was only a small window of time for me and it was now. She knows me, so she understood. If I don't get my berries stored away for the winter, I get mean!

And I am so glad I decided to go.

Out in the back of the fields at Schartner Farms, I had already picked a 10-pound basket, one that I'd brought from home, and set it between the rows so I could fill another, when I heard a woman say that the full basket made a pretty picture sitting there in the sun. I looked up and she showed me her basket – the type you buy at the farm, made of white cardboard. It had darkened some and was a bit worn by time and use and it had that heftier look of older things. Then she told me why it was so special. On the bottom, was a year-by-year record of all the times she'd been picking with her daughter, who was only five when they began picking together (she's a college student in Boston now). Some of the entries said "We didn't go" and many had descriptions of picking conditions, such as:

1998 - Strawberries rotting on vines due to rainy season

The beauty of it was that Elaine Goryl, of Smithfield, took that treasured basket to pick yesterday afternoon, even without her daughter by her side, just because it held so many memories and because it was the next best thing to having her there.

I've done something similar, I told her, where, every year, at our annual Mother's Day picnic at Blithewold, we take a picture of my twin daughters in front of the same tulip bed near the entrance to the grounds. From the first year when they were just two years old, fiddling with a Chapstick, to this year's photo, ear buds securely in place, I've documented their growth and personalities as they've evolved. Each year, the photo is more meaningful as the chain of tradition grows longer.

If you have a tradition you decided early on to record, let me know about it by commenting here. If I have a chance to scan some of the tulip photos, I'll add them later. Check back!

Saturday morning we plan to upgrade the active projo blogs to a new version of the Movable Type software. All blogs will remain available during this process. Afterwards you’ll see a new look and some new features, and we’ll welcome your comments about them.