Innovations For The Backyard Enthusiast

What’s new under the sun? If you’re talking about your own backyard, plenty is new for 1995. With more people finding their pleasures close to home, manufacturers, growers and creative types have come up with ways to make your backyard more comfortable, easier to maintain, safer and even more beautiful than it was last year.

This is a great time, for instance, to be in the market for a gas grill because the models available now are a far cry from their earlier counterparts.

Among the innovations offered by such manufacturers as Sunbeam, Weber and Thermos are highperformance burner systems for even heat distribution from front to back and side to side (no hot or cold spots) and superior grease management systems that virtually eliminate flareups that can char food.

Experienced grill chefs will like the porcelainized coating on most cooking grids offered today and fuel efficient burners that require 30 percent to 50 percent less propane than earlier gas grill models.

Attacks by hornets and yellow jackets were in the news last summer, much to the consternation of those who use their backyards as another room in the house. The Safer Company’s Wasp & Hornet Killer - a fast-acting, water-based aerosol foam - freezes the insects in place, allowing you to see that your target has been hit and is not merely hiding. Safer’s Wasp & Hornet Killer should be available at nurseries, garden centers and large hardware stores.

The Toro Co. has introduced the third generation of mulching lawnmower called the Super Recycler - a definite cut above other mulching mowers. It incorporates several significant design advances that separate it from the others. Toro’s Super Recycler mowers range in price from $400 and up.