GOING GREEN Part 2

I often have to tell my clients that owning home can be challenging. There is maintenance involved. In fact, a home is like a living and breathing organism. It has a life of its own. Just like your body needs proper nutrition, exercise and rest, so does your home.

The weather probably has the biggest impact on the exterior of your home - so keeping a close eye on your roof and shingles after a harsh winter like we just experienced is important.

While on the inside of your home, the furnace is one of the most important elements that needs annual maintenance to ensure that it continues to function through the cold winter months.

Now the point of today's article has to do with yard maintenance. My partner and I moved last November and the yard is more like a park. Many garden beds and a lawn that seems to go on forever!

In an effort to pollute less, we recently purchased a battery operated lawn mower. No cords and no smelly fumes. While it still consumes electricity to keep the batteries charged, there are no noxious fumes pouring out of the machine while keeping the lawns clipped.

But the biggest challenge of all - DANDELIONS! I think the City of Toronto should adopt the dandelion as its flower. Pasadena California is known as the City of Roses - Toronto? Drive around - publicly owned land is awash in a sea of yellow - Hogtown is now Dandelion Central.

This past week, I have spent 4 hours attacking the dandelions in my front lawn. New city bylaws prevent me from using any pesticide - not that I would have anyway - but the alternative solution involves time and energy. I picked up a new garden tool at Canadian Tire the other day that plucks dandelions - root and all - well mostly all the root - right out of the ground. The only problem is, you can only do one at a time. And I swear, there must be at least 500 hundred of them in my front yard. There doesn't seem to be much grass left and that's a story for another day.

But going green means I can probably give up my gym membership soon - as I intend to spend countless hours keeping the dandelions at bay and having the perfect lawn. My mother was obsessed with having a great lawn. She was an immigrant to Canada but quickly got caught up in the local - unofficial - "who has the best lawn?" competition. She loved to be outdoors and work on the lawn, pulling weeds of all shapes and sizes. She would have loved this new tool from Canadian Tire!

My mother would have been proud!