Lawn Care Tips by MTD

Here are some general lawn care tips to help you on your way to a beautiful, healthy lawn. Recommended Mowing Heights

Varieties

Watering Your Lawn
During the driest period of summer, lawns require at least 1" of water every five to six days. Most sprinklers apply 1/4" to 1'3" of water per hour, so they need to run approximately four hours in one spot. If water runs off the lawn before 1" is applied, turn the sprinkler off, let the water soak in for an hour, then continue watering.
Proper Thatching
Consistent use of mowers with collection systems reduces the need to dethatch. However, when you do dethatch, you improve drainage for air, water and fertilizer to reach the grass roots.
After dethatching, use an aerator to perforate compacted lawns, allowing penetration of air, water, seed, fertilizer and water thoroughly. For severe thatch problems, it may be necessary to repeat this process the following season.
Aerating Your Lawn
In the spring, you may want to consider renting an aerator which removes cores of soil from the lawn. This opens up the soil and permits greater movement of water, fertilizer and air, increasing the speed of decomposition of the grass clippings and enhancing deep root growth.
10 Tips On Mulching Your Lawn
Your community might be one of many now passing laws and ordinances prohibiting the collection of lawn debris. A mulching mower may be the answer! Mow often. Every 5 days under normal conditions, every 7 days under dry conditions.
Mow slowly. Walk at an easy, relaxed pace.
Mow at full throttle for best performance. The throttle controls blade speed.
Mow with a clean mower to avoid grass build-up under the deck.
Mow with a sharp blade. A sharp blade cuts more cleanly.
Mow only when grass is dry. Wet grass causes clumping.
Mow at higher cutting heights. Cut no more than 1" to 1.5" of grass length with each mowing.
Mow twice at different settings (high, then low) if grass is extra tall.
Keep your lawn clean, healthy and fertilized.
Read your owner's manual carefully. Understanding your mower's operation will help ensure optimum performance.

Garden Tip #2

Garlic Harvesting: Garlic is ready to harvest when 90 percent of the tops are brown and dry. When several different strains of garlic are planted, harvesting can start in June and continue through the first part of September. In harvesting, the bulbs are undercut to loosen the ground and permit the garlic to be pulled out. Dirt is removed from the roots and the garlic is placed in rows with the foliage of one plant covering the bulbs of the next, to prevent sun scald. Secondary covering of straw or dirt may be provided if the plant leaves are not sufficient. Garlic bulbs are placed heading into the prevailing wind to hasten drying.
Curing time depends on weather and size of the plant. The bulb is considered cured when the sheathing is dry and paper like in texture, when the skin protecting the cloves is dry, inflexible, the root crown is hard, and the cloves can be easily be separated from the bulb.

Successful Transplanting
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Transplanting is an important step in the life of your plants.
If you do it carefully, your plants will have a better chance
of happily surviving the transition to outdoors. Rushing
your plants into the ground before they're properly
hardened off, or injuring the roots when you're handling
them, can injure them and delay flowering and fruiting.

Here are some guidelines for transplanting:
1. The seed packet will suggest when the seedlings can
be successfully transplanted outdoors. It might say
"Transplant outdoors 2 weeks before the average last frost
date" or "Transplant after danger of frost has past". Count
backwards 1 week to 10 days, and that's when you can begin
to harden off the seedlings.
2. Hardening off means gradually acclimating the plants to
outdoor temperatures, wind, and light. Here is a sample routine:
* The first day, set the flats or pots outside in partial shade and
protected from wind, for a couple of hours.
* Increase their time outside by an hour or so a day for
several days.
* Next, place the flats in full sun for half the day. Over the next
couple of days, gradually increase the number of hours they are
left in full sun. Be prepared to water frequently, because sun and
wind will quickly dry out the soil.
* Once they've become accustomed to full sun all day, leave them
outside overnight if there's no danger of frost.
* After about 10 days of gradual exposure to both day and night
conditions, your plants should be tough enough to take the shock
of transplanting.
3. Transplant on a cloudy day or in the evening so the plants will
have time to get settled in before the hot sun increases moisture loss.
4. Water the plants well before transplanting. The biggest risk newly
transplanted seedlings face is their roots drying out.
5. Prepare the soil and have a watering can ready. Working quickly,
cup the roots in one hand as you remove the transplants from their
containers, then set the transplants in the ground at the same depth
they were growing in the containers. (Tomatoes can be laid horizontally
in a trench so that only the top two or three sets of leaves are above the
soil. This allows a larger root system to develop.) Firm the soil gently
around the plants, and water them.

Click on Burpee Seeds for many more garden tips.

P.C. Tip #1

Ever found yourself wishing you could return to a site that you have left, your back button won't do it. For a number of reasons you can get away and can't get back. When this happens, IE4 users, just click your "History" button and there it will be. If it was the last site you were at it will be shadowed. Explorer allows you to set the length of time it stores things in your history,thru view options. I just don't know about other browsers but I'm sure that they will have a like feature on them also

Kitchen Tip #1

NEVER!!! Fry bacon in the buff.