When the weather warms up and the days get longer, it's time to . Tuck your soup and stew recipes away for a few months and get your palate primed for potato salads, burgers, and garden-fresh vegetables. But before you sear a single steak, make sure your grill is good to go by giving it a thorough clean.

There's no need to reach for chemical cleaners to get your grill grates clean, either; just grab a fresh lemon and some salt. No matter whether you're pulling the dust cloth off your grill for the first barbecue of the season, planning an epic July Fourth in the middle of the summer, or serving up one last burger night before the weather turns cold, it's important to keep the grates clean so that no built-up food accumulates on the cooking surface. Leftover bits hanging around from last week's dinner are a food safety issue, and you don't want yesterday's marinade to show up in today's dinner because .

Not to mention it's just kinda gross. Use the lemon trick between each grilling session, and you'll never have to worry about greasy, unsightly grill grates again. How to clean a grill with lemon and salt Outdoor grilling is fun, and you can cook up almost anything — even a whole fish — as long as you have the right gear.

But let's face it, it can also get pretty messy. There are grease splatters everywhere, and if you put the food on the grill before it's hot enough, you'll also get lots of stuck-on bits of edibles after you've finished cooking. It's easy to get all that g.