(Green) Thumbs Up for American Made!
Ah, it’s finally here, the time of year we’ve been dreaming about all winter long --- SUMMER! Bring on never-ending days filled with swimming, tanning, gardening and of course grilling! Going through mid-west winters can be pretty rough but its moments and memories like those that keep us here. Just the other night my brother and I we’re driving around town (with the windows down and music blaring, of course) and in-between singing along to the new One Republic song he said “I really wish we could bottle up times like this and open them in the winter. That way we’ll never forget why we live here.” I couldn’t agree more, being guiltier than most, come late-January I find myself saying “that’s it, I’m moving” almost weekly. Thankfully though that’s all behind us now and we can look forward to new adventures and great times with friends and family!
So far this summer we’ve accomplished some much needed gardening! If you’re planning on doing a little landscaping too then don’t forget to buy American made. Thankfully you won’t have to look too far as there are surprisingly a lot of options for gardening supplies at a variety of places. We shopped at our local Ace Hardware and Wal-Mart for our projects. Here are a few great American made products that we found along the way:
Suncast Flagstone Edging – Suncast offers a great variety of American made custom wood structures and high-quality resin products. Their Flagstone Edging is an easy way to create a perimeter for any landscaping project and flowerbed! Each box contains 9 ft. 4 in. (five 22 in. sections) and is available at Ace Hardware for $18.99.
Fiskars Watering Cans – Made out of HDPE plastic, these 2 gallon watering cans are available in a variety of colors for $8.99 - $11.99.
Weed Block - We had an issue with weeds in our flowerbed so the good people at Ace suggested Weed Block. To use it we simply pulled up all the existing mulch, laid Weed Block along the entire length and width of the flowerbed, cut an “X” in the cover approximately the same size as the new plants and covered it with new mulch. We couldn’t be happier with the results and loved that it was affordably priced at $10 per roll!
Adams Manufacturing – Adams manufacturing makes a variety of home and garden accessories ranging from planters to chairs! At our local Ace we saw their Big Easy Rocking Chair ($44.99) and RealComfort Adirondack Chairs in a large variety of colors! You can also find their products at your local Lowe’s, Walmart, and True Value.
Gardex and Ames Rakes – With both of these great companies being completely American made you really can’t go wrong with either one! Gardex specializes in lawn and garden rakes with Ames specializing in more heavy duty tools such as shovels, cultivators, and post hole diggers, to name a few. We were able to find both of their tools at our local Wal-Mart!
Suncast Planters – These planters are available at Wal-Mart in a variety of sizes and colors at super affordable prices!
Hopefully this will help your green thumb get off to a good start this summer! Be sure to keep a look out for these and other great American made companies and products while shopping! Have fun and until next time… :)
