Idea seeds intravenous feeder for your lawn

Lawn care is a serious undertaking in suburban Southern California. Take it from a native--dark was the day any of us kids dared tread on my otherwise-pleasant neighbor's perfectly manicured grass.

So it's no surprise that an Orange County man has found a cure for busy gardening enthusiasts. The Garden I.V. uses your current sprinkler system to distribute fertilizer around your yard. Three years ago, it was inventor Mike Palmer's wife who remarked how tedious it was to manually feed the lawn while the watering was done by automatic timer.

Credit: Mike Palmer

Finding no practical solution at his local hardware store, Palmer designed an infuser that fits on each anti-siphon valve in your sprinkler system. The pre-filled Garden I.V. fertilizer cups are inserted into each infuser, then sprayed with the water to feed the lawn.

Each infuser costs $26.32, and Palmer--who left his career as a mechanical engineer in the aerospace industry to develop his gadget--says most houses will need at least four, one for each anti-siphon valve. For now, his Web site is the best place to order the I.V.

So will this turn the summertime ritual of running through the sprinklers into a dangerous chemical bath? Palmer says no. The fertilizer, which is water soluble, takes only five minutes to distribute. After that, it's just good old H2O.