I am constantly getting compliments on our landscaping - which birds and butterflies and dragonflies and native bees also clearly love - and most of which is very low maintenance! We like the natural variety of green leaves and textures that is the foundation of classic layered ‘English gardens’.

With a few years of weeding and transplanting we have encouraged the spread of oceans of groundcover that now do the work for us! They crowd out weeds, retain soil moisture so no watering is ever needed and also help trees and shrubs survive periods of heat and drought - but perhaps the most amazing part of all is Zero raking or leaf-blowing!!!

It’s as though the ground cover swallows up the leaves and turns them into an annual dose of free fertilizer. Observing how efficiently leaves are ‘disappeared’ by nature during winter and early spring, we no longer even clear leaves off our lawns - nature seems so eager to take care of the leaves when left to do so I wish more people would try it!

So happy to fiinally be able to put the electric snowblower aside 🙂 Time to switch over to the weedwhacker, the leafblower and the lawn mower - also electrical! 

They're all the Ryobi brand and they are less noisy and lighter than the gas-powered ones, and I don't need to deal with stinky cannisters of oil in my carport. They also pack the punch I need. I've not used other brands so I can't compare, but these do just fine.

I suggest if you go electrical to choose a brand and stick with it: each machine comes with a battery, and between brands they're interhangeable, so one pack can be charging. By themselves the batteries cost almost as much as the equipment.

I'll  never go back to gas-powered. I've been eyeing an electric chanisaw...

I used to own a high quality gas-powered Honda lawnmower, which I used to mow our front yard in Wayland - after "mow and blow" crews repeatedly infested our lawn with crabgrass.   I had to drain the gas out every fall, then try to get it started again in the spring.  The Honda was also heavy and tough to wrestle around the curves in our yard - show in the photo above.

All of my battery powered construction tools are Ryobi One+, so I was intrigued when I saw Ryobi's new range of 40 volt lawn care tools at Home Depot.  I bought the 40 volt string trimmer first, which worked great.  Then the 40 volt mower.  It weighed less than half as much as my big Honda, and also worked great -- no "startup" challenges!  I was concerned about battery life with the mower, however.  How many batteries would I need to finish both sides of our front yard?  It turned out that one 5aH 40 volt battery lasted the entire time - even with thick grass - and still had 50% left!  I used the same battery with the string trimmer to finish the job.

So I bought the 40 volt blower too, which gare me a complete set.   They all use the same 40 volt batteries, so I can swap them out an put one back on the charger for big spring and fall cleanups.

I would never go back to gas powered lawn equipment.  Battery power is much easier to use.

One important tip with these and all lithium batteries:  Immediately recharge them after they are depleted.  If you leave a lithium battery in a discharged state for more than a day or two, this can damage the battery.  Also store batteries on a charger over the winter.   

I remember in March 2016, on a business trip, staying up until midnight to go online and put a deposit down on a Tesla Model 3. The wait was worth it as my Tesla was delivered in June 2018. The joy of owning an EV is, partly, knowing it is so important to our climate crisis but also the car is a joy to drive. I most enjoy the security of not needing to calculate if I have enough gas to get to work for that 8 am meeting (w/o stopping at the gas station) or whether I will make it home in time for that parent-teacher conference. Like my phone, when I arrive home, I plug my Tesla into my charger in the garage, and in the morning, I am fully charged and ready for the day! I have made longer trips with my car, to my sisters in NJ – I can make it all the way in warm weather w/o stopping to charge. I have made 12 hour trips to western Maryland and the Tesla navigation system determines the best route and at which Tesla Supercharger station to stop. The Tesla Superchargers are placed near restaurants, shops, and fast food so you can charge your body along with your car. Without hesitation I would recommend a Tesla!

We purchased a used 2014 Prius V in 2017 which we recently transferred to our son who lives in NYC, he loves the car.  Recently we purchased another used Prius, a 2013 with relatively low mileage which we love..  Our plan is to make our next car purchase electric.