Merrimack – Larry Gardenour had worked at Advanced Circuit Technologies in Nashua for more than 20 years before a disk in his back became herniated. The injury resulted in surgery that limited his bending and stretching.

The he returned to work to find his company was downsizing.

Relegated to home and yard, the injury limited the garden work he liked to do among the 11 gardens in his backyard, a turn of fate that gave him free time to do what he loved, but lacked the full mobility to do.

That is when he got the idea for the Collapsible Refuge Collection Apparatus, a lawn and garden bag named LG-BAGZ-IT, now years in the making, and for which he was recently issued a patent.

"I came from back surgery and I was unable to do any lifting or moving around my flower gardens and my wife and I had always enjoyed yard work," said Gardenour, 57.

Gardenour developed LG-BAGZ-IT to enable people with a limited range of motion to work on their lawns and gardens.

The vinyl bag lays flat on the ground and enables a worker to rake leaves or materials into the bag, and two wheels on the back enable it to be picked up and carried away.

The lawn and garden bag was developed in a sequence of steps that began with selecting materials and making industry connections.

With a working idea, Gardenour began to visit local upholstery stores to look at different kinds of vinyl fabric that is used on awnings and lawn furniture. He found a manufacturer in Texas to supply him with a mildew, tear and U.V. resistant vinyl material.

Gardenour worked with wife, Diane, and children, Jeff, 35, and Lori, 32, to make the original prototypes and then looked to local leather shop, Page Belting in Boscawen, to do the stitching.

He then gave his earliest products to local workers to test in working conditions.

"We looked to local landscapers to do the prototype work," said Gardenour.

"We turned that loose with people who garden because they are the ones who use it on a daily basis."

The feedback led to the production of mini, residential and commercial models of the lawn and garden bag and sell for $69.95, $89.95 and $99.95.

Gardenour has sold more than 2,800 models since his bag came to the market in recent years, and is preparing to place an order for more materials from Texas.

Several local lawn and garden centers stock the LG-BAGZ-IT.

"He made something that is so easy to use and indestructible," said Depot Farm Stand owner Steven Luce. "It is one of the best things that I use in my yard so I decided to carry it."

Luce said that he sells few of the products at his store and that most of the sales come over the Internet.

Gardenour has so far stayed away from the big-box stores, which would require him to rapidly escalate his production numbers, a move that he in not yet ready to make.

"We may go to larger chains in the future, but that depends upon our growth," he said.

The company is on a stable path, he said.

"We like to hear back from our customers to get new ideas for the use of our product and we have found that people use it for hauling birdseed into garage, grocery shopping and camping," he said.

"We enjoy meeting so many nice people in so many places."