The Montgomery County Division of Solid Waste Services provides recycling collection services to all single-family households in the county, with the exception of households in municipalities where their local jurisdiction or a private collector provides recycling collection services. In the blue recycling bin, residents can recycle glass bottles and jars, aluminum cans and foil products, bi-metal steel/tin cans, aerosol cans that contained non-hazardous or non-automotive materials, and plastic bottles, containers, jars, tubs, lids, pails, buckets and flower pots. In the blue wheeled recycling cart residents can recycle cardboard boxes, newspaper, magazines, office and copier paper, telephone books, paperback and hardcover books, shredded paper, milk and juice cartons and frozen food boxes. By using reusable containers or paper lawn bags, residents may recycle grass, leaves, garden trimmings and brush. Or, try backyard composting of leaves and grass, or grasscycling by leaving grass clippings on the lawn after mowing. To recycle scrap metal items such as appliances, bicycles, metal furniture, lawn mowers, filing cabinets and more, call DSWS the business day before your recycling collection day to schedule a special scrap metal recycling collection. Curbside recycling collection is once per week and recyclables must be set out at the curb by 7 a.m. The county also recycles other items such as computers, televisions and other consumer electronic items, motor oil, antifreeze, tires, textiles, used cooking oil and reusable building supplies. These items can be dropped off in person at the Shady Grove Processing Facility & Transfer Station/Recycling Center located at 16101/16105 Frederick Road in Derwood. For more information about recycling, call the county at 240-777-0311, or visit http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/recycling.

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Gazette.Net gazette

Tuesday, October 23 09:27:37

Europe's gardens have become the latest front in the robot wars. Are you sick of cutting that grass every week for six months every year? Robot sales are booming in Europe. With a quarter of lawn owners saying they dislike mowing the grass, sales of machines that will do the job for them are taking off, especially in Europe where landscaping services are more expensive than in the U.S. That has spurred a legion of manufacturers to challenge market leader Husqvarna AB. Robert Bosch GmbH, Deere and Co. and Global Garden Products Italy SpA this year started offering robotic mowers, which Husqvarna sells for as much as 5,000 euros ($6,487). Honda Motor Co. plans to enter the fray in 2013. "We felt we had to get on board," said Thomas Olsson, head of Swedish operations at privately owned Global Garden Products. "For the first time you hear that people exchange relatively new manual mowers for robots."

The market for hands-free mowers, which expanded by more than 30 percent last year, offers a rare bright spot in Europe's consumer climate. Most of the customers are in Sweden, Germany, France and Switzerland -- countries that have so far proven resilient to the debt crisis. Demand for the garden robots has "exploded the last couple of years," said Mats Gustafsson, owner of Moheda Jarnhandels AB, a hardware store in the southern Swedish town of Moheda. Gustafsson said he's sold almost 60 robomowers this year, compared with fewer than 10 five years ago.

"It's still a niche market in Europe as a whole, but it's growing so fast so that in some countries it's now starting to be a mainstream segment," said Henric Andersson, head of product management and development at Husqvarna. With time, "it may be as big or bigger than regular mowers" in some countries. Six percent of all mowers sold in Germany are now robotic, and the country's automatic mower market is growing in "double digits," according to research company GfK Retail and Technology GmbH. Husqvarna, the former Electrolux AB unit that produced the first robotic mower in 1995, has six models that can care for lawns ranging from 400 square meters (4,306 square feet) to 6,000 square meters. Outside of Europe, it mainly sells the mowers in Australia and New Zealand according to Bloomberg.

The Swedish company brought the product to North America in 2001, only to retreat a year later after concluding the market wasn't ready. In addition to the greater use of landscaping services by U.S. homeowners, North American grass, especially in the southern U.S., is generally tougher than European varieties, making it difficult for the machine's fine blades to work effectively, according to Husqvarna. Bosch, the world's largest supplier of car parts, entered the robotic mower market last month when it started selling its Indego machine in Scandinavia. Deere, based in Moline, Illinois, joined the rivalry earlier in the year with the John Deere Tango E5, which it sells in Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland.

Global Garden Products, based in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy, bought its way into the $170 million market in January when it acquired LiCo srl's Lizard mower marque, and rebranded those machines under its Stiga brand. Andersson declined to discuss Husqvarna's market share, saying only "we're clearly the market leader."

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Cut the grass today! you robot

Raking leaves is a key step in preparing your lawn for the winter months. Every weekend of the last few months you have spent mowing, weeding, edging, and trimming your lawn so that it will look its best. In order to ensure your lawn makes a complete recovery after winter hibernation, you may want to spend the fall taking steps to help your lawn survive the winter months ahead.

Winterizing a lawn varies depending on where you live and how harsh a typical winter is. There are certain key tasks to complete before you can rest for the winter season.

Remove fallen leaves and debris. Leaf cleanup is among the tasks homeowners dread the most. Raking leaves can be arduous, but it is well worth the effort. Fallen leaves can smother the grass and lead to dead spots and decay next season. Wait until the majority of the leaves have fallen from the trees before you begin to rake; otherwise, you could find yourself repeating the process throughout the fall. Mulched leaves can be added in small amounts to garden beds to provide rich organic material for next years crop of flowers.

Be sure to pick up any twigs and other debris as well. Additional debris can become up trapped under snow and hinder grass growth when spring arrives.

Cut your lawn short. Unless the season is unseasonably wet and warm, your lawn shouldnt grow too much in October and November. Continue to cut your lawn until there is no visible growth for about two weeks. It pays to give it a short cut before frost arrives so that long piles of dead grass will not smother any new growth in the spring. Also, long grass tends to bend down upon itself, trapping moisture that can lead to fungal diseases like snow mold.

Aerate the lawn. Soil can be compacted over time, especially in yards that see heavy foot traffic. You can rent an aerator from a lawn supply store so that water and fertilizer can reach the soil.

Fertilize. Now is the time to give the lawn fresh food to overwinter and also replenish the strength of the root system. All summer long the lawn has been depleting the soil of nutrition, but autumn presents a great opportunity to strengthen those roots. Consider a slow-release formula designed for winterizing that will feed the lawn all winter long.

Edge the garden beds. Take advantage of the cooler weather and slow-growing grass to re-edge around flower beds. Even though the grass above the surface of the soil will stop growing, the roots will remain viable and the lawn will still be sending out rhizomes and tillers to produce new grass blades in the spring. These can easily encroach on garden beds. Edge now so you will have less work to do in the spring.

Trim hedges and trees. If there are any overhanging tree branches or shrubbery blocking sunlight from reaching the lawn, cut back these areas once the foliage has thinned. Take advantage of your towns leaf and twig pickup services.

Seed bare patches. Scour the lawn for bare patches and put down some seed in these areas. The cooler weather will enable the seeds to germinate without having to compete with weed growth.

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Handy tips to get your lawn ready for winter

Europes backyards have become the latest front in the robot wars.

With a quarter of lawn owners saying they dislike mowing the grass, sales of machines that will do the job for them are taking off, especially in Europe where landscaping services are more expensive than in the U.S.

That has spurred a legion of manufacturers to challenge market leader Husqvarna AB. (HUSQB) Robert Bosch GmbH, Deere & Co. (DE) and Global Garden Products Italy SpA this year started offering robotic mowers, which Husqvarna sells for as much as 5,000 euros ($6,487). Honda Motor Co. (7267) plans to enter the fray in 2013.

We felt we had to get on board, said Thomas Olsson, head of Swedish operations at privately owned Global Garden Products. For the first time you hear that people exchange relatively new manual mowers for robots.

The market for hands-free mowers, which expanded by more than 30 percent last year, offers a rare bright spot in Europes consumer climate. The European market may grow as much as 20 percent annually over the next five years, Olsson said. Most of the customers are in Sweden, Germany, France and Switzerland -- countries that have so far proven resilient to the debt crisis.

Demand for the garden robots has exploded the last couple of years, said Mats Gustafsson, owner of Moheda Jarnhandels AB, a hardware store in the southern Swedish town of Moheda. Gustafsson said hes sold almost 60 robomowers this year, compared with fewer than 10 five years ago.

Its still a niche market in Europe as a whole, but its growing so fast so that in some countries its now starting to be a mainstream segment, said Henric Andersson, head of product management and development at Husqvarna. With time, it may be as big or bigger than regular mowers in some countries.

Six percent of all mowers sold in Germany are now robotic, and the countrys automatic mower market is growing in double digits, according to research company GfK Retail and Technology GmbH.

Husqvarna, the former Electrolux AB unit that produced the first robotic mower in 1995, has six models that can care for lawns ranging from 400 square meters (4,306 square feet) to 6,000 square meters. Outside of Europe, it mainly sells the mowers in Australia and New Zealand.

The Swedish company brought the product to North America in 2001, only to retreat a year later after concluding the market wasnt ready. In addition to the greater use of landscaping services by U.S. homeowners, North American grass, especially in the southern U.S., is generally tougher than European varieties, making it difficult for the machines fine blades to work effectively, according to Husqvarna.

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Robots Replace Gardeners as Sales Surge for Auto-Mowers