Out With the Old, In With the New
Toss Gas-Guzzling Tools Aside and Garden Green

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In the last few decades, landscaping evolved from a quiet, relaxing task into one where an arsenal of heavy equipment and potent chemicals keeps lawns and shrubs neat and tidy.

Chemical, mechanical and gas-powered tools certainly can be effective around the yard and garden. But in addition to being poor friends to the environment, many of these items are dangerous to users.

According to recent Consumer Product Safety Commission statistics, accidents with lawn and garden tools cause over 400,000 trips per year to the emergency room. Lawn mowers (both the riding and walking kind), chain saws and weed-eaters cause the most injuries, indicate the numbers. Pesticides and chemical weed prevention applications may produce effects that are more subtle, but no less dangerous to homeowners. When these products are factored into the mix they tend to make gardening a dangerous hobby.

Many homeowners are getting back to their gardening and landscaping roots by gravitating toward tools that are safer for people and pets ... and the environment. It's common to see compost piles in yards for feeding plants and rainwater collection systems to put rainwater to good use irrigating plants.

Additionally, manual, hand-powered tools can be some of the more effective items to use, and new innovations in design and materials utilized to craft these tools make them even more efficient and comfortable for avid landscapers. Consider these options and advice from garden-tool leader Fiskars.

Old Way: Chemical weedkillers applied to cracks and other hard-to-reach areas to eradicate weeds.

Green Way: Wouldn't it be nice to have a goat or another grazing animal to keep errant weeds and grasses in check? That would certainly be good for the environment, put poor for neighbor relations in suburbia. Easier than pulling out weeds by hand is using a Telescoping Multi-Weeder. This versatile tool weeds, edges and scrapes. It's effective at removing weeds in hard-to-reach places, cleaning walkways and driveways, and edging. For tough weeds, Fiskar's Weeder grasps upstart plants and plucks them neatly from the soil -- roots and all -- with a simple "step down, pull back" movement.

Old Way: Over-treating soil with chemical fertilizers to ensure that plants receive the right amount of nutrients and water for proper growth and healthy roots.

Green Way: Loosened, aerated soil is a boon to most plants. Earthworms are nature's soil aeration team, but it would take a large colony of worms to maintain your entire landscape. Use a Coring Aerator to loosen compacted soil and ensure air, nutrients and water move effectively throughout. The result will be more vivacious plants and lawns.

Old Way: Wheeling out the gas-powered goliath to mow the lawn and then spending an hour or more going over each and every blade tends to be the norm. And let's not forget those weekend warriors who must fire-up a riding mower despite having less than an acre of property to tend.

Green Way: A manual push-reel mower is very effective at keeping lawns neat and trimmed without the need for gas, smoke and noise. Today's models are very easy to push, so don't let the idea of a back-breaking task steer you from investigating this tried and true -- and green -- method of mowing. Plus, you get some beneficial exercise in the process.

Old Way: Risking life and limb with weed-eaters and powered edgers, and potentially knocking an unsuspecting neighbor unconscious with a flying projectile.

Green Way: Powered edgers and string trimmers can make fast work of cleaning up areas where the mower just can't reach. But who hasn't had some dangerous encounter with one of these gadgets? They throw rocks, inevitably decapitate plants (and possibly hidden wildlife), and spew enough smoke and noise to wonder what's the point. A manual edger can do just as good a job at tidying up the perimeter of your property, walkways and garden beds without the downside of those noisy contraptions.

Gardening doesn't have to be loud, complicated and peppered with bodily hazards. It can be enjoyable and safe for the environment if you choose the right gardening tools. For more information on gardening green, visit www.fiskars.com.