Fall is upon us and the snows and chill of a Northeast winter won't be far behind. Lawnmower safety, however, is a ripe subject for any season. . .especially spring. Spring's a time when a gardener's thoughts turn seriously to mowing the lawns, tilling the garden, finally being able to go jogging without ear muffs and an overcoat...or just plain walking--a walk through spring renewal.

There are, however, a great many people who find it painful to just walk; many who cannot comfortably jog; and more than a few who wince at the thought of mowing a lawn. Why? Simple: at some point in the past they refused to follow easily understood instructions--refused to apply common sense--and are now paying an unanticipated, not to mention very unpleasant, price for their errors.

Let me tell you about some of those people who once stood tall, haughtily lifted their chins and clamped their teeth together in rebellion--steadfastly refusing to follow safety rules. Then let me point out a few crucially important steps you can--and must--take to ensure that someone in your family doesn't make the same tragic mistake. These are true and authentic examples.

* First, a lady gardening in coastal Maine, was pushing her mower on a slope, in wet grass, with the wrong kind of shoes...she slipped, fell, and in a heartbeat her lower leg was severely sliced by the blade that was still running at full throttle.

* Next, two grown men made the unimaginably unwise mistake of using a rotary mower to trim the top of a shrub-hedge. Suspended on either side by ropes--on a slope, no less--they literally lifted the running machine to about shoulder height and began walking along its considerable length. If their miscalculation had backfired, imagine what might easily and quickly have occurred if a sudden blast of trimmings had hit the one on the downhill side full in the face! Not a pleasant or pretty thought! Certainly would have been a memorable experience for both of them. Certainly could have resulted in enormous catastrophic injuries...or death! Mercifully, they got away with it.

* And third, a Searsport, Maine, man wasn't so lucky. He had removed a perfectly good safety device from his rotary mower (the rubber flap in the rear that prevents toes from slipping under) a few days after he'd taped the machine's "dead-man" switch in the "run" position. As he pulled his mower backwards over uneven ground without watching where he was going, he tripped over a stone, fell backwards, and his right foot slipped under the blade housing. To make a long and painful story short, he now has a large and uncomfortable patch of scar tissue where the soft ball of his foot used to be. Mercifully, an incredibly talented and, to his eternal credit, patient surgeon was able to put it all back together again (Dr. John Gage, Waldo County Hospital, Belfast, Maine).

What did they all have in common beside their injuries? They had all either defeated safety devices on their mowers, and/or utterly ignored common sense safety rules that would have prevented a great deal of grief and pain...not to mention lost productivity and huge medical/surgical expenses.

Don't allow these incredibly dumb mistakes to occur in your family! Listen to these three responsibilities you must assume, and wedge them firmly into memory--now--before you even start the engine.

1. You must accept the responsibility to insure that your youngsters under 14 are not allowed to operate any power mower. They are forgetful, largely irresponsible at that tender age, easily distracted, and have no business attached to the controls of a power mower.

2. You must accept the responsibility to adequately protect yourself from catastrophic or crippling injury. How? Read the instruction manual--especially the section on safety. Then do what it says! Apply some common sense; wear protective shoes; check the lawn for rocks, kid or pet toys, or anything that might become a projectile...before you start the engine. The tip of a mower blade can attain a speed exceeding 19,000 feet per minute. It's usually attached to a five or six horsepower engine. The force at the tip can reach more than 10,000 pounds per square inch. You stick your foot in there, or reach in with your hand to clear grass away from the chute, and it could be sliced at the rate of 120 times per second! Trust me...a lot can happen in a second or two. Keep children and pets completely off the lawn during any mowing operation. That'll lessen the risk of their being struck by something thrown from under the machine.

3. Critically important: never, ever remove or defeat safety devices on a mower. A dead-man switch (that you may have already wired or taped in the "on" position) was designed for a very specific purpose--to shut that machine down almost instantly after you release the handle. Many fingers and toes could be saved if all mowers had a functioning dead-man switch. Additionally, the discharge-chute-deflector has proven itself to be of great value in preventing broken windows, bruised shins and ankles, and dented cars. Yeah...I know all about it! It gets in the way, so off it comes. Don't do that!

As far as I'm concerned, the most valuable safety feature is the rear toe guard--the rubber or thick flexible plastic thing that drags on the ground behind the mower. I'm here to verify the fact that taking it off because it interferes with pulling the mower backwards is incredible dangerous...and can bring about painful expense. I know what I'm talking about! Take a look at the picture of a badly chopped-up shoe (follow the link at the end of this article). The foolish person who was wearing it broke four cardinal rules: he'd removed the toe guard, had defeated the dead-man switch, was pulling his mower backwards, and was daydreaming.

I'm still paying for those foolish mistakes. (In my own defense, however, I was younger then. . .and convinced of my indestructibility and, perhaps, immortality as well. It's a young-guy thing!)

What can you do to protect yourself and your family from the dreadful and crippling consequences of these or similar errors? Don't allow your kids under 14 to operate power equipment...even if they are smarter than most...even if they're "supervised"...even if they beg or if you're too darned lazy to get off the couch or out of the lawn chair and do it yourself. Read and follow safety instructions. And never tamper with safety devices or features. Now it's up to you. You can do it. How much do you care about your or your kids' personal safety? How much is a foot or hand or an eye worth?

If your power equipment has had its safety devices removed or defeated, that's tantamount to playing with fire in a gunpowder factory. You must put those safety devices back in working order. And if you're any kind of a responsible person, you'll do it now, before another blade of grass is cut. Fail in that responsibility and you or one of your family may soon have a shoe that looks like mine to spark memories of damage. . .or lost toes. You may never be able to forgive yourself!

See a photo that demonstrates what can happen when safety precautions are ignored: http://www.HillGardens.com/mower_photo.htm

Fred Davis is a Master Gardener, Master Composter, lecturer, and long-time nurseryman. He and his wife, Linda, own and operate a popular perennial nursery in Palermo, Maine, and maintain a no-frills gardening information website at: http://www.HillGardens.com/