Flame Weeding

Weeding is fun!

I'm looking over the array of carefully selected seed varieties that are promising a bountiful crop of vegetables, flowers & herbs in the coming growing season. Then I survey the garden beds. Winter weeds have taken over the garden, crept in right under our noses, or Roses as it were :-). So much work to be done before the fun of planting can begin!

Wouldn't it be great if your could just erase the old leftover plants from last fall, the grasses and vines along the fence line, dandelions and thistles that have stealthily increased in population, those prickly berry canes that try to sneak into your garden? Make it a clean slate, so to speak.

That can be a daunting task though, and backbreaking work to prepare the garden. You want to focus on the growth of spring, not laboring to clear the past! (Especially if you let things slide a little in the fall ;-)) It's tempting to resort to “easy” chemicals to knock back the spring weeds, or use pre-emergents...but are they really as safe as we've been led to believe? And what is the long term effect on your garden, soil, and your food?

The intense heat of the propane flame destroys the cell structure of living plants,causing them to wither and die within a day or so. While it doesn't immediately kill the deep roots of perennial weeds, repeatedly knocking back the top growth will eventually exhaust the plant. Additionally, weed seeds and overwintering pests and their eggs are killed by the heat and cannot become resistant to this form of control. Flame weeding takes the power of heat, and uses it in a controlled and efficient manner.

And you know what? It's fun! (shhhhh!)

I LOVE WEEDING... with my Red Dragon garden weeding torch. I can slip on my handy backpack tank  for rough terrain or just pull a grill tank on the dolly-cart in the tamer areas.

First I can clean up the gravel driveway of any weeds that have popped up since last fall.

Then attend to the mulched areas around the ornamental and fruit trees and bushes.

I no longer waste string line when trimming the grass and weeds along the stone walls, patio or walkways. A clean sweep with the flame weeder is all that's needed. Fence lines are another chore to look forward to..... Well, it's true if you're flame weeding! Then clean up the veggie garden, turning last year's leftovers into soil building ash and bio-char. And, at the end of a chilly spring day, light a fire for marshmallows with the kids.

Now string trimmers do have their place. There are times when a weed whacker is a wiser choice than a weeding torch. If you are working near highly combustible materials like pine needles, around plants like Poison Ivy or certain evergreens, or under very dry, windy conditions.

(You might consider converting your motorized 4 cycle trimmer to a low polluting, low emissions fuel: propane.

Find out more about converting your small engine equipment, including lawn and garden equipment, generators, and more to propane: click here.)

 Just call me the Hank Hill of gardening!

Red Dragon Flame Weeders are made with pride in the USA .

Buy flame weeders from WayCoolTools.com

Propane upgrades for small engines

We are thrilled to be offering AltFuel propane conversion kits for small gas engines. All components are made in the USA, and the company is run by two young entrepreneurs from Ohio.

All kinds of equipment can be quickly, easily, and inexpensively converted to clean, green, domestic propane by anyone with basic tools and knowledge of small engines 1-45 hp. ATVs, golf carts, mules, log splitters, generators, power washers, backpack blowers, snowthrowers, string trimmers, leaf vacs, mowers of all kinds, wood chippers...
For more information on all of the benefits of propane as an engine fuel see: AllPropaneMowers.com
So, if you are already running propane mowers or trucks and want to switch over your other existing equipment, this is a great way to do just that. Or, if you want to check out propane as an engine fuel, this is an easy, cost effective way to do so. (The kit can be removed quickly and you're back to the original gasoline engine). You can also run your engine as a dual fuel engine (either gasoline or propane) The kits are transferable to other equipment, only needing a different "adapter block" if it is a different engine type.

Depending on the size of the engine, you can use recyclable 1lb cylinders(available widely at camp, hardware and variety stores), the NEW refillable 1 lb cylinders from Manchester Tank(coming soon), 5-10 lb cylinders, grill tanks or forklift cylinders with adapters.

Here are a couple of video links...

 

Our old tiller is converted to propane

 

Alex at GIE explaining the basics

Overview of the conversion process

2 great gardening events in Virginia

First, Michael Dirr will be at the Piedmont Landscape association's annual seminar in Charlottesville. Michael Dirr is the author of several essential gardening tomes that we became familiar with while taking Ian Robertson's Horticulture classes.
http://www.piedmont-landscape.org/2011SaveTheDateFlyer.pdf
THEN, the next day in Danville we have Eliot Coleman at the VABF(Virginia Biological Farmers) conference. Eliot has also authored several books on organic vegetable growing which he does year round-in MAINE:
http://www.vabf.org/annual-conference
Exciting times for gardeners in central Virginia!!

Clarington Forge

We are pleased to offer the Clarington Forge brand of classic English garden tools, hand made in England. These are the tools originally called Bulldog and marketed by Smith & Hawken back when they were still an independent company.
These tools are the standard by which all other garden tools are measured. The Digging Fork and Digging Spade were invented by the Cistercian monks craftsmen at what is now called Clarington Forge in Lancashire over 800 years ago! All tools are manufactured using a unique specification steel which results in exceptionally strong tool heads with the flexibility to absorb all the shock and pressure of hard work, without distorting or breaking.
The ash handles are strong and beautifully crafted, and replaceable if that ever becomes necessary.
If you are a serious gardener or landscaper, do yourself the favor of owning these classic tools. Perfect for planting, tilthing, double digging and all the necessary garden chores that become a pleasure when using the right tools.
See our website for current prices and more information.

How to use the patented Barnel center oiler bolt

We're happy to announce the addition of a new refillable oiler pen to our online garden tool catalog. Why is this important you ask? Well that's a great question and I'm glad you've asked because it presents me with the chance to expound on the merits of the patented Barnel center oiler bolt which is a standard feature on many of the Barnel products offered at waycooltools.com.
The center oiler bolt is one of the features that sets these pruners & loppers apart from other garden tools and sets a new industry standard in efficiency and ease of maintenance.
The center bolt itself is an oil reservoir that can be easily filled with the pen oiler. This enables you to oil your pruner from the inside while you work. This eliminates the need to disassemble your pruners, apply oil that will only last a short time, then re-assemble and reset the pruner blade gap so they cut properly.
All you need to do is insert the pen oiler tip into the oiler bolt nipple and squeeze until oil comes out. Wipe off any excess oil and...you're done!
This is a WayCoolTool! need we say more?

Cashing in on soil health at Rodale Institute

Earlier this season we visited Cindy Conner at her home in Virginia. We were blessed to see the methods she uses in her video & class room teaching first hand and came away from her garden greatly inspired to try her techniques and tell the world. The World.. How could you possibly feed the world as we know it with the methods we learned from Cindy Conner?
Well we went to the Rodale institute http://rodaleinstitute.org/ in south eastern Pennsylvania to find out. We went there to participate in the "Cashing in on Soil Health Field Day" and what an education it was.
Many people from far and near who are organic farmers and gardeners (or want to be), folks from the organic food industry, equipment manufacturers, folks from the guvment and the and the many volunteers and staff at Rodale came together to for an extra special day of learning and fellowship
We had the privilege of meeting Tim Lasalle, the CEO of the Rodale Institute and hear some background information on global warming. (yes,.. it's real) We heard the facts surrounding global climate change and the neat thing is something can be done about it.
You see all those plants we use as cover crops for the purpose of building soil health and reducing erosion actually LIKE to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Whats more the folks at the Rodale Institute have developed a machine and a method for locking the carbon that those plants absorb from the atmosphere into the soil and improving soil health and fertility in the process. It gets even better than that. Dr. Tom O'Donnel of the Global Emissions Exchange http://www.globalemissionsexchange.com/shined a great big light on how farmers can actually help those who would like to offset their carbon output and how they can benefit from the sale of their carbon credits due to the fact that they though their wise growing practices have sequestered TONS of carbon dioxide while producing a superior crop to feed the worlds people and animals.
We got a pretty in depth instructional tour of the U.S.D.A. web soil survey site http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov from John Chibirka of the U.S.D.A. Natural Conservation Services entitled This ain't your daddy's soil survey! A Technological Jump into the 21st Century.
An awesome lunch was graciously served the the Rodale staff and we spent some time in conversation with some of the participants of the event from the Organic Valley family of farms http://www.organicvalley.coop/
After lunch we all climbed aboard the tractor drawn wagons and headed out onto the 300 acre research farm for an in depth tour conducted by a group of researchers from the Rodale Institute. There we got to see the techniques we were wondering about after we visited Cindy Conner's garden. There it was. Rather than tilling in the cover crops you instead use a devise first made by the Rodale Institute and now available from manufacturers such as I & J manufacturing http://www.croproller.com/croproller_development.html in Gap Pennsylvania called a roller crimper that does just that. It rolls and crimps the cover crop so that it becomes its own mulch layer. A second device on the back of the tractor simultaneously plants your next seasons crop right through the cover crop. You get the benefit of improved soil fertility, natural weed control, erosion control and moisture retention all in one pass. On top of that you are also doing your part to help reduce our nation's carbon output and profiting from it in the process.

Way Cool? We think so!

And now for some links we think you'll really like:
http://www.hero-farmers.org/
http://www.organicheros.org/
http://www.farmingwithhorses.com/contact.php

Up Coming Gardening Events at Rodale Institute:
* Wednesday, October 7 10am-12pm
Farm and Garden Equipment for the Novice
Jeff Moyer, Owen Maguire, Mark Scheetz

* Wednesday, November 4 10am-12pm
Pruning 101
April Johnson

* Wednesday, December 2 10am-12pm
Build Your Own Gardening Containers
April Johnson

Workshops are subject to change.
Fee: $20.00/person
Register by calling 610-683-6009 or email ribooks@fast.net.
(Pre-registration is required.)

Going Green with Congressman Roscoe Bartlett in Frederick, Maryland

Doug MacMaster of Thompson Gas in Oakland Maryland invited us to join him and exhibit our propane mower at the Go Green Energy Conference in Frederick Maryland which was sponsored by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett. Green was the theme and there were lots of interested people from around the region who turned out to see the environmentally friendly innovations ehibited at the event.
Solar solutions had a large showing there as well as the propane powered vehicles and machinery exhibit we were blessed to be a part of. There was a propane powered Rouch F-150 pick up truck and Blue Bird school bus which ran smooth and quiet with no smelly fumes. The exhaust pipes are cool to the touch even while running, and only water vapor is emitted- none of the black soot that we see with gas or diesel fuel systems! The LEHR Eco Trimmer once again received a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and we saw lots of people sign up for the Thompson Gas prize drawing. First prize was 200 gallons of clean, green propane. Second prize was a LEHR propane Eco Trimmer and third prize was a free 20 LB gas grill tank refill. I'll let you know, a lot of the folks there wanted to win second prize.
Congressman Bartlett stopped by our exhibit and was happy to see the solutions that clean burning propane offered to our current environmental concerns. The propane mower and flame weeder were familiar to him already as he is aware of the new technologies that offer real, immediate solutions to our environmental concerns.
Like all the people we met from his Maryland district and areas around the region he enjoyed trying out the LEHR Eco Trimmer.

Thanks again to Doug McMaster and the folks at Thompson Gas for the invitation and a special thanks to Congressman Roscoe Bartlett for sponsoring this event.

We are very optimistic about the benefits that clean burning propane offers as a motor fuel.
It is technology that is available Right Now.
For more information on the benefits of switching to environmentally friendly propane instead of gasoline or Diesel please contact us via the WayCoolTools.com contact page.