Are you ready for spring?
By: Beverly Allen - April 16th, 2007
While spring weather has its ups and downs, we all cling to the knowledge that warmer temperatures, and the end of the NHL season, are now in sight. On those days that still seem wintery, you can keep yourself busy by making sure that outdoor furniture, tools and garden accessories are summer-ready.
The barbeque is for many the backbone of summer life. Take the time now to do any necessary maintenance or cleaning. If you discover that the barbeque is at last beyond repair, start researching new models now, when an afternoon browsing home improvement stories doesn’t seem like a waste of good weather.
Weber has introduced new grills this season, including a version of its popular Genesis model that has porcelain enamel hoods and storage doors in trendy green, dark blue and copper, as well as basic black.
With 507 square inches of cooking area and 130 square inches of warming area, the Genesis EP-310 gas grill is roomy enough to cook for a crowd, and has three stainless steel burners and two stainless steel work spaces on each end of the grill. “Flavourizer” bars are designed to stop excess drippings from feeding flare-ups; instead, drippings that meet the bars create smoke that flavours the food on the grill. The stainless steel cooking grates, which are seven millimetres apart, provide good heat distribution. The Genesis line starts at about $900.
Weber has also introduced a lower-priced line called Spirit, which includes the new Spirit E310, which has 611 square inches of cooking space, three burners, a warming area and a removable work surface. It sells for about $630.
If your grilling skills have waned over the winter, you can get brush up and get some great tips, recipes, and cooking methods on the Weber site, where Chef Jamie Purviance offers weekly advice on outdoor cooking and entertaining at www.webernation.com.
If the plastic patio chairs you put away in October look worse for their winter hibernation, now is the time to give them a good cleaning or spruce them up with a coat of fresh paint. Krylon’s Fusion paints, which come in a variety of finishes and colours, cover plastic extremely well, with an absolute minimum of prep work. If your chairs really are fit for the pit, or if you need additional seating, add a jolt of colour to your backyard décor with cheap and cheerful plastic Muskoka chairs from Home Hardware. They come in variety of colours. Adult size chairs sells for about $20, as do matching end tables. Pint-size chairs for kids are just $10.
Grass cutting may be one of the least enjoyable warm weather occupations, but it’s one that can’t be ignored. If you’re in the market for a new mower, take a look at the Neuton cordless electric mower, which mows, mulches, and bags and which its makers claim is exceptionally quiet. It has a 21-amp motor, and weighs 48 pounds with the 10-amp battery, which mows up to 60 minutes on a single charge. Available at Home Depot for about $400. An optional rolling trimmer/edger that attaches to front of the mower is available for about $100.
This is good time to check out Home Depot’s lawn mower selection. Starting April 19th, the retailer will be participating in the Clean Air Foundation’s annual Mow Down Pollution program, under which consumers who bring in their old gas lawn mowers or trimmers will receive up to $100 toward the purchase of a more environmentally-friendly product. Old equipment will be recycled safely by the Clean Air Foundation.