Caring For Bamboo

Writen by Dean Caporella

There is no doubt bamboo provides great versatility in many forms of home life. Whether it's used as a fence break, in fashion or as food, bamboo just keeps producing the goods.

Nowadays, bamboo has become one of the worlds most popular decorative plants, both indoor and outdoor. From my perspective, I'm just amazed at how I have become a bamboo addict. I remember it growing wild on my parents farm in Australia and my impressions then were always how ugly it looked. It was all over the place. How things have changed.

So what about caring for bamboo? For those who can't afford to keep purchasing bamboo arrangements there are some simple steps you can follow to ensure it stays around a lot longer than you initially anticipated.

For starters,choose bamboo arrangements that are bright green in color and make sure the leaves are in a healthy condition. Doing this is half the battle in preserving your plants for an extended period of time.

The plants container should at least contain water; if it's not half full then ignore it. Checking for things like insect infestation is advised with yellow leaves and brown leaf tips strong signs you should probably avoid this arrangement. Some visible root growth is also good.

Another tip for beginners is to look for arrangements that come in glass containers. This way you can keep an eye on the water level and also check easily for water quality. However, if your plant is going to be receiving plenty of sunlight, then an opaque container might be best as algae growth would probably occur under constant light.

These are simple basic steps which will give you the best chance to enjoy a long and prosperous relationship with your bamboo arrangement. Seriously though, bamboo only requires minimal care and attention and if this writer was able to master the survival of bamboo in his home, then I'm sure even the worst green thumb out there could as well.

Dean Caporella is a professional Journalist and Sportscaster who takes an interest in a wide variety of subjects. Bamboo is one of Dean's favorite subjects "I never liked the stuff growing up on my parent's farm. Now, I think it's just amazing." You'll get all the latest views and reviews in the world of bamboo at out http://www.bamboogalore.com

Gardening Tips To Excite Toddlers And Preschoolers

Writen by Carolyn Morgan

When I was small, one of the best presents I can remember receiving was a miniature gardening set from my Mum and Dad. The set had a bright yellow plastic rake with a wooden handle, a beautiful green fork and best of all, a bright blue watering can decorated with pretty flowers.

I'd have to say the watering can was my absolute favourite! I'd follow my Father around as he tended to the garden, watering everything in sight. My Dad even helped me make a little garden of my very own, and on special occasions like birthdays, I'd plant something new and wait impatiently for it to grow.

I planted pansies once and when they flowered, picked a delightful little bunch and gave it to my Granny who gave me a great big hug!

It's funny how we remember the little things isn't it?

Children love joining parents in everyday activities and gardening is the perfect pastime to teach children about growing things and protecting plants from harm until they grow big and strong.

We live next to a school and I'm sorry to say there are children there who like nothing better than breaking branches and pushing small trees over at lunchtime. It's obvious these children have never had the thrill of growing small plants and harvesting flowers, fruit and vegetables.

A really good place to start with a small garden is growing strawberries. There's something quite like picking a big juicy strawberry that you've grown yourself. It still gives me a thrill!

Here's what to do:

Help your toddler or preschooler prepare a well-drained garden bed or strawberry pot with holes using a good quality soil that contains plenty of compost and animal manure. Do make sure you wear a mask when using these materials, especially if you decide to buy bags of material from the nursery.

Make your visit to the nursery a real adventure and take time wandering through the rows of plants to find the strawberry runners. A punnet or two is all you'll need because if the garden is too big, the child will find it hard to look after and lose interest.

Once home, plant the runners about 16inches apart and carefully place straw round the plants to keep the strawberries off the ground. There's nothing worse than dirty, gritty strawberries!

Every afternoon, make it a special treat to visit the garden bed and inspect progress. Keep an eye out for pests and weeds. And make sure visitors are shown the garden bed or pot as children love explaining what they're doing to make things grow.

Turning your toddler or preschooler into an environmental expert

Nature and children go together like rain and rainbows. There's nothing quite like wondering through a forest with an ever-curious child, looking at the leaf litter and seeing the tiny creatures living there.

Boys love worms and crickets the best, while girls like butterflies and flowers. You can explain how nature recycles leaves and fallen trees to make food for the forest soil and that you can show them how to do the same thing at home for the garden.

You'll need a kitchen scrap bin, a compost bin, some soil, and animal manure. Collect all vegetable and fruit peelings, green leaves, apple cores, and torn newspaper but definitely no meat products. Make your child responsible for emptying the kitchen scrap bin every second day or so into the compost bin.

Build the compost in layers by adding soil every few weeks to which horse, cow or chicken manure has been added and keep moist. We have a tumbler compost bin that is excellent for turning the material and produces compost in no time!

Once the material has rotted down, you'll have a wonderful supply of rich fertiliser to use on the garden. What a lovely way to teach your toddler or preschooler about nature looking after the environment.

And don't forget the scarecrow for the garden!

Your toddler or preschooler will enjoy the thought of making a little person to guard their garden.

You'll need some old clothes, a hat and shoes your toddler doesn't need anymore. Use a pair of old tights to make the head by stuffing the top part with rags. Let your child use a permanent pen to add the eyes and mouth. Glue can be used to add a big button for the nose.

Stuff the clothes with straw or old rags and mould into shape. Sew everything together with stout string. Once made, tie the figure to a strong garden stake. Add a crossbar to hold the arms out if needed.

Carolyn Morgan is a Mother of two and Grandmother of one (so far). As a practicing artist, Carolyn was determined to keep her little Grandchild amused without resorting to buying expensive toys. After much research, she found a number of activities and decided to build a website for parents and out-of-practice Grannies like her. You can see what she found at http://www.busytoddlers.com.

Organic Gardening Intro

Writen by Troy Smith

Organic gardening is easy to learn, it can save you money, and it can provide you and your family with a beautiful lush garden full of fresh produce. To garden organically you'll want to learn how to worm compost, make compost tea, and regular plain old compost.

Organic gardening can save you money, it's good for our envirnonment, and it's just plain fun. It can also serve as a good learning experience for your children. If you have a decent sized yard with a tree or two then you probably have enough leaves to start a compost bin. A compost bin doesn't have to be fancy, it can be just 4 takes in the ground with chicken wire wrapped around them. But, if you can afford it they make some very nice compost tumblers for a hundred dollars or more. If you're quite the handy man, you can even make a compost tumbler yourself. That's a whole nother article though, I'm afraid. A good compost tumbler is easy to turn and aerate your organic matter. Aeration is essential to making compost fast. The natural composting process will happen on it's own over a period of several months to a year or more. But, if you want to acelerate the process and get more compost more often, you need a compost tumbler.

Compost tumblers are great for your excess outdoor garden trimmings, but there is something else called a worm bin that you need for your excess kitchen scraps. A properly designed worm bin has several levels whereby worms can travel freely to and from. Once they digest the bottom layer of kitchen scraps, they can travel up to the layer above to begin working on new scraps. The bottom layer can be easily removed to harvest the good soil that the worms leave behind. Once, you have purchased a worm bin, you're going to need to purchase some composting worms. The worm that is best adapted for worm bins is called a red worm. Earthworms prefer to dig down deep in your garden soil to do their good work, but they do not do well in worm bins. You'll want to get yourself at least a pound of red worms to start your worm bin off to a good start. If you can afford it get two or three pounds of worms.

The third method of organic gardening that I will introduce you to is compost tea. Compost tea is made from soaking finished compost in a bucket of water over a period of two to three days. Make sure that the compost you use is finished. This means that the compost has had time to age and breakdown into a dark rich soilike organic material. You also want to let your water sit out for a while to let the chlorine evaporate. Otherwise, the chlorine can kill the good bacteria that you want to multiply to make your compost tea. You need to aerate the water with an aquarium pump so that beneficial bacteria can multiply in favorable conditions. You will also want to add some brown sugar or molasses to feed these bacteria. Otherwise, if you fail to aerate and feed the good bacteria, harmful bi-products will form in your tea which can harm your plants in your garden.

I hope I have spurred your interest in learning more about organic gardening with this brief introduction to the practice. There are plenty of more resources online to learn more about organic gardening. Please feel free to post a question in my organic gardening forum if you have additional questions and I'll do my best to find an answer for you.

Everyone Loves Flowers

Writen by Frank Vanderlugt

Flowers Truly Reach Your Soul.

Flowers are a heartfelt, natural way to lift our spirits. They can provide a smile for a tired face or even brighten a room for a convalescent. Just imagine your favourite flower. Are you smiling yet? You are definitely in a better mood.

There isn't a doubt that beautiful surroundings provide us with a favorite environment that helps us thrive. Flowers are an simple and affordable way to add a splash of color and emotion into your life.

Tropical flowers are an exciting new change from traditional floral gifts like roses , and with modern shipping methods they are availble worldwide. Their large size and vibrant colors make them an impressive gift for favorite occasions like Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, birthdays and anniversaries.

Flowers can be purchased from local florists or "Grower Direct" services that ship them worldwide. If purchasing flowers to be shipped, make sure someone is waiting to accept the order and that they are not left with the mail on a back porch in the sun all afternoon until someone comes home from work. Flowers are shipped without any water supply, and neglecting them for hours on top of the shipping time can take days off their lifespan.

If you buy tropical flowers like heliconias or gingers, or if you are lucky enought to live in the tropics and have them in your garden, here are a select few tips to help them thrive and to extend their shelf life as cut flowers.

Caring for Cut Tropical Flowers ------------------------------------------

one. Water your plants well and give them a large drink prior to cutting. This is significant for foliage plants as well because a few varieties "drink" incredibly little after cutting. Instead, they live off their stored sap.

Tropical plants have adapted to their natural environment which means frequent but short periods of heavy tropical downpour.

Look at the flower heads and notice how the petals are "cupped" to catch and store as much water as possible. These plants drink from the top and like being showered with water.

Look at the pattern on the leaves. The ridges channel water down to the stem where it's absorbed into the many layers of the plant.

two. If your flowers have been out of water for any length of time after cutting, submerge them entirely in the bath for half an hour before placing them in a vase.

three. Cut three to four inches off the stem and then place them in a tall vase FULL of clean water.

four. Use a spray bottle to mist them at least twice a day.

five. Change the water and trim a new end on the stems every second or third day.

You are able to double the vase life of your cut flowers by applying these elementary techniques.

Frank Vanderlugt

Visit our website at http:/www.flowers-now.info

Fire Pit Tables

Writen by Daniel Roshard

A fire pit can be an excellent place for family fun. When friends and family gather around a fire pit, it is a relaxing, pleasant experience. A fire pit table is one of these things that add a lot of style and character to a room or outdoor setting.

Some people find sitting around a fire pit on the ground, whether on blankets or just on the grass somewhat uncomfortable. This is when a fire pit table can make the experience complete. A fire pit table is a table that has a pit in the middle of the table and a wide surface area that your guests can place plates or drinks on.

Almost all the fire pit tables are designed to have the fire pit in the center. It raises the fire pit off of the ground, making it accessible to everyone to toast marshmallows or roast a hot dog without a lot of bending over.

Fire pit tables comes in many different shapes and styles. Most of the pits are made of metal and comes in all colors, so matching it to your patio furniture is extremely easy. Although metal is the most frequently chosen material, fire pit tables can be made of wood, stone, copper and stainless steel.

If you want a more sophisticated look, the fire pit table also comes in granite. This is sure to add a to the look of quality of your patio furniture. They are safe and the table stays cool to the touch, avoiding serious burns.

A fire pit table is great for family functions because older friends and relatives may have a difficult time standing or sitting on the ground. It can provide a warm atmosphere on a cool night. Depending on the style of fire pit table that you choose, the prices will vary. A standard metal fire pit table starts at around one hundred dollars and can reach thousands of dollars.

You can find fire pit tables in catalogs and home improvement stores across the country. They are also available online. By doing a simple Google search, you will find millions of links for shops that sell fire pit tables. Many people are using the online option because vendors are in fierce competition and offer incredible discounts.

Fire pit tables add an air of elegance to any outdoor patio. They are easy to use and easy to clean. You will want to host parties and small get-togethers just to show it off. Although fire pit tables are durable, you need to take into consideration the climate in which it will be kept. If you live in an area that has consistently warm weather, a metal copper or stainless steel fire pit table is perfect for you.

If you live in an area that the temperature falls below the freezing level, you may want to consider granite or stone for your fire pit table. These materials can withstand any temperatures, whether it is hot or cold. A fire pit table can add beauty and elegance to your home. It will be the envy of all your friends and family.

Fire Pit Tables are one great way to add style and character to your home. Read Daniel Roshard's interior design tips about Fire Pit Tables at Everything About Fire Pits

What Is The Right Plant And Where Do I Put It

Writen by James Ellison

Know if your plants are disease-susceptible. Your choice of plants used in your garden is as important as the soil that you put those plants in. Select plants that are disease resistant and they will be much more easy to maintain and will give you the look you are wanting. Food for thought is use plants that are native to your area.

The experience you get will tell you which are the troublesome plants. Obtain your plants from reliable sources and ask those people for their suggestions. They should be happy to help you because of return sales. The local cooperative extension service should provide much needed info for you. Some catalogs will list disease resistance plants.

Experience will eventually tell you which plant diseases are most troublesome in your region. Your local nursery and cooperative extension service are also good sources for information on local diseases and disease-resistant plants. Seed and nursery catalogs often list disease resistance in plant descriptions.

There are resistant varieties that exist for such diseases as apple scab, armillaria root rot, bean mosaic virus, blueberry mummyberry, cherry viruses, juniper tips and twig blights, lilac bacterial blight, powdery mildew, pea enation mosaic virus, potato scab, black spot, rust, tomato fusarium and root-knot nematode, fireblight, verticillium wilt, and other diseases.

What does the wrong exposure do to your plants? Take a long look at the conditions you have in your garden and choose your plants accordingly. Plants are usually clearly marked whether they prefer sun, partial shade or complete shade.

Shade plants grown in sun turn yellowish and grow poorly. They will get a sunburn which will develope dead spots on their leaves. Avoid south or west exposure.

The sun lovers are often stunted and spindly when grown in the shade. If they grow at all, they are usually weak looking and have few leaves. Reduced flowering on many plants may result from shade placement.

Use water conservation landscaping whenever you can. Most gardeners in drought climates have come to realize the importance of water conservation.But in areas where water is plentiful, however, waste in the garden is way too common. We take our water supply for granted by wasting more than we ever need and in many areas, more groundwater is pumped than nature can replace through precipitation and runoff.

Why not use drought-tolerant plants. These plants grow well with little water once they are established. Mulch every plant you have.

Some grass species need less water than others, but lawns generally need a large amount of water to stay green and growing. If you replace the grass with drought-tolerant ground covers or flowers you'll save a large amount of water and even - money. If you can click here to read a funny story that hits the nail on head for what I am saying here.

Probably your favorite plants will have high water requirements. By grouping and mulching these plants allows you to irrigate them together, thus reducing water waste.

What about fruit-pollination requirements! Many beginning gardeners are confused when their fruit trees fail to bear fruit. Could be a pollination problem.

Certain types of trees produce bigger and more abundant fruit with cross-pollination between different cultivars. The others, cross-pollinating is mandatory to get any fruit at all.

Learn a fruit's pollination requirements before planting. If your space is limited, pick a self-pollinating fruit, such as European-type plums or almost any of the peach cultivars.

Pollination will not happen without insects, butterflies or hummingbirds. When chemical pesticides are routinely used by a neighbor or yourself, the honeybees and other pollinating insects can be reduced so that fruit production suffers. Go organic.

This article is provided courtesy of http://www.basic-info-4-organic-fertilizers.com

You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the URL remains intact.

Leaf Blowers

Writen by Ken Marlborough

Leaf blowers were first manufactured in Japan during the 1970s, and made their debut in the Untied States towards the end of the decade. The annual sales by 1990, reached an estimated 800,000 in the country. It has become very popular due to its efficiency and effectiveness in ground maintenance. Today, leaf blowers are used by almost every family for cleaning patios, lawn trash, leaves, etc.

Leaf blower types can be classified according to their power sources. In electric-powered leaf blowers, an electric motor drives the fan, so they require an electrical power source provided from an electrical outlet, through an extension cord. However, there are also rechargeable battery operated units available, more suitable for smaller areas because of their limited operating time. Mixing oil and gasoline operates gas-powered leaf blowers. 2-stroke gasoline engines generally power backpack blowers, while wheeled units generally have 4-stroke gasoline engines.

There are three main types of Leaf Blowers: Handheld, backpack and wheeled or walk-behind.

The handheld leaf blowers are the most popular among homeowners, mainly because of convenience and portable size. They also provide all the power and capacity needed for most simple home maintenance works. You can opt between gas-powered or electric-powered handheld units.

Backpack leaf blowers are used more often by professionals, and are mostly gas-powered. The harness, which has a blower fit into it, is worn on the operator's back. The engine and fan are also placed on the backpack frame with a hand-held hose and spout to direct the airflow. Backpack leaf blowers are typically used, and most suitable for larger areas.

Wheeled or walk-behind leaf blowers are the best for maintaining larger areas. For example, they can be used to blow away the leaves from an entire lawn. These gas-powered units are also preferred mostly by professionals and commercial users. A hose is used for the vacuum units for absorbing debris.

Blowers provides detailed information about blowers, backpack blowers, blower fans, blower motors and more. Blowers is the sister site of Electric Pressure Washers.

Admiring Wild Flowers

Writen by Jonathon Hardcastle

Walking with my family close to nature during late Sunday times has been a practice that I definitely enjoyed while I was a kid. Especially, if these long walks took place during spring time, I became extremely excited since I was able to admire all those wild flowers that attracted my attention and collect as many as I wanted for my bedroom's vase. As during the past few years I've read about, and have seen more interest in wildflowers, I figured it was about time to jump in and add my two cents.

Planting wild flowers in your backyard is not as an easy process as you might imagine. Just because the flowers you select to plant belong to the "wild" type that does not mean that they are able to survive without any attention or be sprayed with harmful pesticides.

First of all, the one interested in exploring the wild flowers business has to understand what kind of neighborhood wildflowers would be appropriate for the specific situation he or she lives in. It is true that wild flowers tend to prefer wide open spaces with at least 8 hours of sunshine each day. It is also true, they are sun worshipers. They also like the soil to be rich in nutrients and well drained. What wild flowers do not like is the hard packed soil and also being watered for long periods of time. If you garden tends to be frequently wet, wildflowers might not be the best choice for your outdoor surroundings.

But, wildflowers can be used for weed control and with a great deal of success. It is better though if you have to give wildflowers a start or the weeds will keep the area free from your original goal of a beautiful wildflower garden. Since both love the sun, weeds and wildflowers try both to reach the surface of the ground so as to gain as much sunlight as possible. Neither will grow well without adequate sunlight. Using this information to your advantage and you can end up with a beautiful bed of wildflowers that requires little maintenance.

The Wild Flower Preservation Society, whose headquarters are in Washington, D.C., makes the following recommendation to wild flower fans, "Do not pick or dig up wild flowers in quantity unless they are abundant or weedy. Wild flowers that are not abundant should be picked or dug up very sparingly." If the years I used to pick up wild flowers have long passed, perhaps it is time to grow some of my own in my back yard and share them with the people I care about. If you belong to the same group, there is always a good possibility we will meet in one of those flower markets, someday down the road.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Gardening, Home Improvement, and Home

Mosquito Control And Some Methods To Help You Out

Writen by Rob Buenaventura

Mosquitoes are so prevalent that they are found all over the globe. There are approximately 170 species of mosquitoes in North America alone.

The types of mosquitoes that are responsible for biting humans are in the genera Anopheles, Culex, and Aedes. They populate themselves by laying eggs in standing water.

Mosquito control is largely a matter of population control. The most effective and efficient method of control is to eliminate all sources of standing, stagnating water. Mosquitoes are not very choosy about what type of water they breed in as long as it doesn't move. Common breeding spots for mosquitoes include old tires, old flower containers, tree holes, bird fountains, garden ponds, plastic litter, old coke cans and in eaves troughs.

The female mosquito instinctively knows where there might be ideal breeding locations where she is capable of laying several hundred eggs at a time on the surface of stagnant water or in an area she knows will soon be wet or flooded. If the conditions don't manifest immediately, that is no problem for her eggs, which can remain in a dehydrated condition for weeks or months until they are damp enough to hatch. So you can see how difficult mosquito control can be.

After hatching, mosquitoes live on the surface of stagnant water for about ten days until they turn into adults. Only about half of the mosquitoes, the female ones, actually bite humans. Female mosquitoes need blood in order to create eggs. In one single feeding on your skin a female mosquito can consume more than its own weight in blood. Male mosquitoes feed primarily on flower nectar.

The only sure way to control mosquitoes is to remove the places where they breed from your environment. This includes old logs or any other type of natural or unnatural vessels where standing water can be held. If you own a birdbath or a pond make sure that they have efficient water pumps that keep the water circulating. Mosquitoes cannot breed in moving water.

Rob Buenaventura is the part author and designer of PeskySkeeters, an online site provides consumers informative tips and advice on mosquito control. To read more mosquito articles, check out our article library for more helpful resources.

Planting A Tree

Writen by John Ingham

The principles of tree planting are similar whatever the size of tree. The idea is to try to disturb the tree as little as possible, place it in an appropriate hole and in a situation to which it is suited. An acid loving tree should not be planted in chalky soil, nor a sensitve tree in an exposed location. Some trees need good drainage or are less tolerant of frost or sea spray. Aftercare and staking are then designed to help it settle in. Larger trees of course will need more expert handling and those in pots over about 70litres in size may need moving and planting using machunery.

To prepare for planting, a hole a little larger than the pot needs to be prepared. In heavy clay this would need to be broken up around the edges and bottom to prevent it from turning into a sump filled with water which would suffocate the tree roots. In other soils this is not necessary. Neither is it necessary to feed the tree at planting or provide rich compost as it is useful to encourage the tree's roots to search for nutrients by growing into the surrounding soil. The tree should be planted so that the ground level is close to the level of the surface of the compost in the pot.

STAKING. Most trees will need some staking to prevent the wind from rocking the tree loose. It's necessary to take into account both the size of the tree and how exposed it will be to strong winds. Tree sizes are usually measured by their girth (which is their circumference in cms at 1m above the ground) if they have a single stem or by their height and pot size. For most trees up to around 16cm girth in a normal garden situation staking is by using a single stake driven in at around 45degrees and facing into the predominant wind which is often from the south west. The stake must be driven firmly into the ground avoiding the rootball as far as possible. It will usually cross the stem of the tree about 60cm above the ground. A well cushioned adjustable tree tie is attached and it should be loosened as the tree grows. Generally it can be removed after 2 or 3 years. For larger trees double staking is used (and occasionally guying and ground anchoring for larger trees or difficult situations) which consists of using two tall vertical stakes.These would be either side of the stem and outside the tree's rootball. The stakes are joined by a cross-piece which is attached to the tree by a cushion and tree tie. For very flexible young trees it may be necessary to use a taller single stake which can be reduced in height as the tree establishes. The general principle is that trees get stronger by flexing and adapting to adverse circumstances just as the muscles of an animal do. Over-staking therefore tends to produce weaker trees in the long run.

AFTERCARE It is surprising the extent to which weeds and grasses can compete with tree roots for nutrients and water. For trees planted into lawns or meadows therefore it is important to leave a clear circle about 1m in diameter until the tree is well established.. Mulching with a mulch mat or with about 50mm of bark can help both to keep weeds down and to maintain moisture levels in the soil. It is of course essential not to let the rootball dry out for at least the first year (see below). Pruning of laterals (small side branches coming from the main stems) and of dead or diseased branches can be carried out at planting.

WATERING. It is always important to remember that a large percentage of the losses in the first year or two are caused by allowing the roots of the tree to dry out. Periods of drought are especially dangerous. However watering little and often can encourage the roots of the tree to stay near the surface instead of spreading to seek new sources of water. The spreading of the roots will also, of course, stabilise the tree long after the stakes have been removed. For these reasons it is sometimes better to water trees through tubes sunk at the time of planting which provide water to the roots a foot or two below the surface. Failing this, surface watering systems such as leaky hoses can be useful especially when combined with mulches (although there are also trees, even species such as yew native to our better drained soils, which do not thrive if the soil is damp and mulched around their roots).

The author has been a gardener, landscaper and designer for more than 25 years. He now sells large trees, plants and hedging throughout the UK from his company site www.impactplants.co.uk. This allows both professionals and interested enthusiasts to source large plants and trees which are often not generally available. Larger nurseries, providing excellent plants, often do not deal with smaller customers except through companies like mine. I also offer professional garden advice from my page at www.impactplants.co.uk/advice.html. This might involve site visits, drawing up designs and plant lists, sourcing plants and supervising contracts. It might also just be a chat to help simplify problems which might seem insurmountable to a beginner.

Funniest Pond Storiespart 1 May 2004

Writen by Brett Fogle

Get ready for some gut-wrenching, laugh out loud hilarious pond stories from all over the world...

(Continued from May Issue of PondStuff!)

We had some hilarious, truly gut wrenching, laugh out-loud stories sent in by some of you. Here we're going to highlight some of the funniest stories for you to read.

We had entries from all over the place (Inluding one all the way from THAILAND!) The competition was fierce, and to be honest - I had a really hard time deciding on one 'funniest' story, but here's a brief rundown of our entries: cats, dogs, and bunnies (?) all taking the Nestea plunge right into the water, a hungry KOI nibbling in dangerous territory, a missing flip flop, an electrifying experience for grandma, fun for the whole family, fish frape, and flying fish to boot!

First, let's start with this very funny story about 'Smokey' - who apparently thinks he can walk on water. This was sent in by Mike Lachance from Maryland:

Funny Pond Story #1

"I wish I had a photo to share of this very true story but any ponder with cats has likely had the same experience at some time or another. Several years ago, when I was enjoying the second season of my first pond (I have now built four as I've moved around), one of our cats, "Smokey", who was a natural hunter in her prime, saw a mockingbird alight on a lilly pad to get a drink of water. Well, old "Smokester" slowly crept out from under some day lillies and made a spectacular jump with all four paws majestically carrying her like a flying squirrel, right for that intruding bird.

It is not as though she had not already had a couple of encounters with the water but that day the feathered treat must have been too much for her to pass up. Well, both my wife and I were there to see her make a wonderful belly flop into the pond.

Of course, the bird was out of the way in plenty of time and I swear that that cat walked on her toes the five feet it took her to get out of the water! And of course, after removing herself from the water, in a very nonchalant manner, proceeded to lift each leg, shake off the water and as much as say "I meant to do that, you know".

Smokey often spent time at the pond later, using her tail to attract the fish (she would put it in the water and swish it around and the fish would come up to explore it. She never did catch one). She also loved to sit at the waterfall and enjoy the water moving past her. So that is my funny pond story.

=== Funny Pond Story #2

"Dear all at McArthur,

My funniest pond story is about my late aunt, who introduced me to the joy of backyard ponds. Donna had a large koi pond in her backyard that she devoted endless amounts of love and attention to. As happens with most ponds, spring brought some uninvited guests...in this case frogs. One evening Donna was working on the pond, checking the cantankerous pump and filter system, and using her net to skim out leaves and what not that had blown in.

My 80+ plus year old grandmother was supervising the work and offering her expert opinion on how to proceed. They were amazed at the number of frogs that had taken up residence, and not too happy about it. Donna noticed a frog swimming at the far side of the pond that she wanted to get out...something was not quite right about the way he was swimming, and she pointed him out to Grandma. "Mom, look at that frog swimming on his back!" Grandma was a bit skeptical...frogs doing the back stroke were a phenomenon that she was unfamiliar with.

She advised that this misfit should be removed immediately. Don't want to give the other little froggies strange ideas. Donna made several attempts at scooping the miscreant up with her net, but he was just out of reach. Only one thing left to do. Roll up your shorts and wade in after him. The answer to Mr. Frogs strange swimming technique became painfully obvious as soon as Donna reached his immediate vacinity....a faulty under water light had shorted and electrocuted him! Donna didn't need her electric rollers for a few days after that!"

Enecia Sabroff

Funny Pond Story #3

"Hello----My husband recently bought a beagle puppy, at this time he was 8 weeks old. My husband also bought two almost, semi-tame rabbits to help train the puppy to track rabbits. At this time I only had one pond that was preformed 550 gallons, my husband put one of the rabbits out to platy with the puppy, the rabbit was teasing the puppy, running a little ways then jumping over his head, then the rabbit decided he didn't want to play anymore so he started to run from Bear (the puppy), and he dove into the pond. We were thinking that Bear would go around the pond to the other side and continue chasing the bunny, but Bear just dove right in, he was so little though that he had to be rescued from the small backyard pond. My husband's only response was "he's going to be a good rabbit dog!" Well, thanks for listening to my story. Sincerely, Roberta Collins Toledo, Ohio

Funny Pond Story #4

"A story to share...

Two years ago I started with the crazy idea of building a small pond with koi fishes. After a lot of working I finally built it, and decorated it with all sort of plants. One day... mi female cat "Manchita" went to the pond to examine this new construction. She went to the border, jumped on a flat stone and starter to drink water. To her big surprise one of the fishes , possibly thinking that the white nose of my cat was food, jumped out of the water, trying to eat it.. Can you imagine the surprise of the cat ? I believe that the fish was also quite impressed with the experience. My cat almost fell into the pond , .. and from then on she never went around the pond again. She used to watch the pond from my dorm, located in the second floor and just across the pond. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of this "accident". I am sending you a pictute of this first pond; in the meantime I did build another, larger one. Unfortunately "Manchita" is not around any more, she passed away a few month ago, from old age.. This story happened in Valdivia, a city located in the south of Chile. In this country winter is approaching, with lots of leaves falling from the trees an the plants in my pond preparing themselves to sleep for a while..." Maria Fresard

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Funny Pond Story #5

"I have two ponds. An upper and lower pond. The upper pond is fed by a waterfall with the source being the lower pond (driven by a pump). The lower pond is fed by an overflow of the upper pond that flows underground for about 70 feet (12 in drain pipe). Last summer I rescued some trout fingerlings from a seasonal stream going dry near my home. I put them in the lower pond. This spring I was sitting in my kitchen and could see something flopping on my water fall. The trout had migrated up the overflow tube and were trying to swim further upstream via the water falls. No so funny but does show the strength of nature. Just a few weeks ago, Egrets found the pond and the fish.

There is nothing left to migrate at this time. Not so funny but does an Egret taste anything like a turkey when cooked?"

Tom Gegenheimer

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Funny Pond Story #6

"We have only had a pond for a short time ... details can be seen at http://thailand4life.net/smithgarden/

The funny story must include the workmen (in Thailand) who took zero safety precautions when constructing the pond.

Watching guys shovelling concrete from a lorry and spreading it across the bottom of the pond ... when the footwear they had was just 'flip-flops' resulted in great entertainment .... especially when. several times, the flip flops came off and were lost in the cement somewhere (eventually found while they walked around bare footed) .... pictures at

http://thailand4life.net/smithgarden/images/large/DSC03062.jpg
http://thailand4life.net/smithgarden/images/large/DSC03070.jpg
http://thailand4life.net/smithgarden/images/large/DSC03060.jpg

Strangely it was only the guys .... the women laborers all wore Wellington boots .... maybe this reflects on which of the sexes is really the most sensible?" Regards, Chris

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Funny Pond Story #7

"I am building a pond at this time and I was in the process of building a waterfall in the corner of a fence. The waterfall is about 3 feet high and 7 feet wide. I thought I was finishing up the waterfall with some flat rock on the very top. So I straddeled thewaterfall with my knees on the second ledge and set the flat rock on top. When I did this the whole waterfall fell down because I build it on blocks and not a pile of dirt.

When it fell one big rock caught my foot and I slide down the fall and fell backwards into the pond going all the way under and had a couple of big rocks come down on me. Meanwhile my wife is laughing her butt of at me and I asked her to help me out she slipped on the flat wet rock that surounded the ponds edge and half way fell in with me.

Now my two boys were playing in the yard they are 5 and 3 and saw this happen to us and they thought it was time to got swimming so guess who jumped into the pond with us, the boys. Nothing like having the whole family in on the pond. We laughed for awhile but then I had to rebuild the whole waterfall again and this time I put the top rocks on from the side."

Robert H Coppa Jr.

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Funny Pond Story #8

I decided 300 gallons would be perfect. I did all the math and spent a great deal of time working with more experienced ponders. Somehow when it was all said and done my little 300 gallon pond ended up being 810 gallons and come to find out it was yet another one of my mathematical errors. Guess I should have paid more attention in that college level math class required for my Associates, right.

We got the pond all up and running but because of the miscalculation we now needed a bigger pump to feed the waterfall so I went to our local water garden supplier and asked which one to get. Budget was a concern so it was recommended that we got a ¾ HP submersible pump that cycles 44 gallons a minuet. It was only $70 in comparison to the $170 one that was its comparative alternative so… we went that route. $70 dollars later we had a working pond with a beautiful waterfall! I was so excited I could hardly wait to get fish.

Again budget was a concern so we went to the local pet store and picked up $50 dollars worth of fish, about 8 fish. 4 large gold Koi, some yellow and a blue Koi. The color excited me so much I never considered what would happen when the fish became comfortable in their new home. The swam around investigating for a day or two then started to come up missing. I had it figured that they were hiding or that a cat was getting fed to well but I never figured it was something I could have done. It was the pump… the intake valve on the pump was to large and the fish were getting to close and being sucked into the pump though the motor pushed down the hose into my waterfall.

While this is not a funny story, I must have cried for 3 days, I wanted to share it because this is the one thing I never read anything about in all the 6 weeks of reading I did on the web. I can chuckle about it now with a 'I can't believe I didn't think of that' thought.

Had I known this was possible I would have done something to prevent it by caging in my pump or spending the extra $100 to get the right kind of pump.

Hope someone else can save a Koi by my blending experience.

Thanks,

New to ponds and already thinking of making it fish free!" Sheri Furr

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Well that's it for this year's 'Funniest Pond Stories'... Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!

**************************************************
Brett Fogle is the owner of MacArthur Water Gardens and several
other pond-related websites including MacArthurWatergardens.com
and Pond-Filters-Online.com. He also publishes a free monthly
newsletter called PondStuff! with a reader circulation of over
9,000. To sign up for the free newsletter and receive our FREE
'New Pond Owners Guide' visit MacArthur Water Gardens today!
**************************************************

Fall Planting

Writen by Steve Boulden

Most people don't think of Fall as a time for planting new landscaping and garden plants. To most, it's time to put garden ventures to sleep until Spring. While it may not seem so, Fall planting of trees, shrubs, Perennials, bulbs, and cool weather grasses like Fescue is a very good idea.

Roots of newly planted plants and trees can continue to grow and become established in temperatures as low as 40 degrees. And since the roots don't have to supply the rest of the plant with energy to grow, more energy is focused on root production. Come Springtime, because of an established root system, plants shoot out of the ground with plenty of energy for top growth.

Soil Temperature

Planting in the fall, soil temperatures are still warm from a long Summer. The warmer soil temperature encourages root growth.

In the Spring, the soil is still cool from the Winter and roots are very slow to become established. Even if you grow plants from seed indoors and transplant outside when the temperature warms, new sprouts still don't have the advantage of Fall planted plants.

When Exactly Is Fall?

The Fall season officially begins with the equinox in late September. However, Fall weather varies considerably from one part of the country to the next. Basically, the best period for fall planting is around six weeks before the first hard frost in your area. You can get an idea of the average first frost date near your area from here: http://www.almanac.com/garden/frostus.php Just keep in mind that the roots need to have time to become established before Winter sets in.

Autumn Bloomers

Fall isn't just a time to put the garden to sleep and start getting ready for Spring. The growing season isn't quite over yet. You can add color and new life to the garden by replacing dying Summer Annuals and Perennials with Autumn blooming plants like Pansies, Chrysanthemums, and Ornamental Cabbage and Kale, Marigolds, and others.

It's also the time to plant spring flowering bulbs and divide Perennials.

Written by Steve Boulden. Steve is the creator of The Landscape Design Site which offers free professional landscaping ideas, plans, and information. For more free information on landscaping and growing plants, visit his site at: http://www.the-landscape-design-site.com/plantselection.html

Basics Of Composting Your Grass Clippings

Writen by Jack Greenwood

Do you know that composting your grass clippings is very beneficial to your lawn? However, you need to be careful, as grass clippings that are not well composted will give off a pungent smell and tarnish the look of your lawn.

The simplest way to deal with grass clippings is to just leave them on the lawn. This is known as grass cycling. These grass clippings will first dehydrate before decomposing and disappearing from view. These grass clippings are also natural fertilizers and this means you can save some money by buying fewer fertilizers or spend time bagging the clippings.

Most mowers can be use as grass cycler. Simply remove the grass catcher from your lawn mower and spread the grass clippings on your lawn. Make sure you cut the grasses with a sharp blade and only when the grasses are dry. Wet grasses will clog up your lawn mower.

Freshly trimmed grasses have a higher level of nitrogen and moisture, which can cause them to clump together. This will prevent air from circulating in the pile and lead to development of bad odor. To prevent bad odor from happening, you want to add some carbon material to your compost piles. These include wood chips, leaves and broken sticks. These carbon materials will prevent the grass clippings from clumping up and allow oxygen to circulate in the pile. You can arrange the carbon materials and grass clippings in alternate layers.

Another way to let the oxygen circulate in your pile is aerate it. This means turning the grass clippings and other materials to loosen up the piles. You have to do this regularly if you keep adding grass clippings to the compost piles.

You should bake your grass clippings in the sun for a day before adding them to your compost piles. This will keep the grass clippings dry and help to prevent them from souring up your compost piles.

You can also add lime to your compost piles to kick-start the decomposing process and prevent the development of molds and nasty odor.

If you have recently applied pesticides or herbicides to you lawn, do not add the grass clippings to your compost piles until the rain has wash off these chemicals completely.

These are some guidelines that you can use to turn your grass clippings into useful compost that are beneficial to you lawn.

Jack Greenwood is the webmaster of GreenLawnCareTips.com which provide information on lawn care and easy lawn maintenance tips. Sign up for your free 7-part Green Lawn Care mini course at http://greenlawncaretips.com today.

The Mystique Of The Garden Bench

Writen by David Chandler

What better way to spend a lazy summer day than sitting on a beautiful garden bench. The humble garden bench can hold a special place in our hearts and our memories. Do you remember sitting with a grandparent, parent or other family member just relaxing and enjoying the view? On the other hand, does your garden bench have a more romantic memory shared with your significant other?

Location, location, location! The location of your bench should be placed some distance from your home, if possible, and within view from your home. The bench will then call out to you to take a walk, sit down, relax, and enjoy the view. A good tip to remember is it is not where the bench looks good, but what looks good when sitting on your bench!

Garden benches come in a variety of colors and materials. The type of bench you choose is a matter of taste, although when selecting your bench, consider practicality as well as being an ornamental garden feature.

Wood benches made from hardwood such as teak, redwood, mahogany, or cedar can stay outside year-round. While these benches are pricey, they are not rot-resistant and will turn a silver gray color when left unattended. These benches need to be washed once a year with mild soap and a bit of bleach. Benches made from pressure-treated wood (as seen on decks) are another option. Painted benches made from wood should remain inside or under cover.

Metal benches options are cast or tubular aluminum, wrought iron. Although wrought iron is nice to behold, it will rust and therefore should be saved for indoor use. Cast aluminum benches are poured into molds and therefore can simulate wood or wrought iron. Aluminum benches can come in all different colors and antique finishes. The paint is baked on for durability and these benches can easily be cleaned with soap and water.

Benches made from carved stone, stone slabs, and cast stone require no maintenance other than an occasional dusting off debris.

Wicker and rattan settees say "garden," but save them for covered porches or inside. There are All-weather wicker benches, usually made from woven synthetics on an aluminum frame, which can go outside.

Also, do not rule out low-priced plastic or resin benches. They are lightweight and wash up with soap and water, though prolonged exposure to the elements can make them brittle.

For more information about garden benches, visit The Garden Bench Guide
and Garden Furniture Info

David Chandler, The Stock Market Genie
For your FREE Stock Market Trading Mini Course: "What The Wall Street Hot Shots Won't Tell You!" go to: The Stock Market Genie

Vegetable Garden Maintenance

Writen by Terry Blackburn

Weeds are unwanted plants in gardens in general, but certainly must not be allowed to thrive in the vegetable garden. They reduce available moisture, nutrients, sunlight and growing space needed by the crops. Their presence can reduced crop growth, quality and yield. In addition, they can make harvest difficult. Weeds also provide cover for diseases and insect pests.

Garden weeds are hard to control because they grow rapidly, produce vast numbers of seeds, and spread aggressively by vegetative structures (e.g. runners, forming new plantlets) and/or seeds. There are several methods that should be used in a combined, coordinated effort to control weeds; they include both cultural and mechanical methods.

Organic Mulches: Some of the most commonly used organic mulching materials are manures; bark chips, sawdust, grass clippings, leaves, and newspapers (shredded or in layers). Organic mulches allow some flexibility in fertilizing and watering since they can be raked back from the plants. They should normally be applied uniformly 2 or 3 in. (50mm-76mm) deep around the base of the vegetable plant.

Inorganic Mulches: Black plastic is the most frequently used inorganic mulch. Clear plastic is of little use, as it does not exclude the light that aids weeds seeds to germinate. Gardeners should make sure there is adequate moisture in the soil before any mulch is applied. There are also several durable weed fabrics that are very effective in weed suppression. The decision of whether to use organic or inorganic mulch really depends on the season of the year and what the gardener is trying to accomplish. Organic mulches should be applied after the soil temperature has warmed in the spring. If applied to cold soils, the soil will warm slowly and the growth rate of most vegetables will be reduced. Inorganic mulches can increase the soil temperature by at least 6 to 80F. Therefore, their greatest value is early in the growing season when soils are naturally cool.

Mechanical Methods

Since emerged weeds present at seeding or transplanting are capable of growing rapidly, it is important to kill all weeds prior to planting. Weeds that emerge after planting should be removed early before they are past 3 inches tall. Large weeds are difficult to remove without uprooting vegetable plants. Early season competition to the crop by weeds will reduce crop growth, yield, and quality may also occur. Therefore it is vital that a continuous weeding programme should continue throughout the season to ensure that weeds are eliminated from the vegetable beds. Generally this is done by hand and by using a suitable tool is a quick and easy operation. With removal by hand, weeds can be hand pulled or removed using hand tools. Several small hand tools are available that are very effective on small weeds and for working near garden plants. There are a variety of effective tools that allow the gardener to stand while removing weeds.

Terry Blackburn. Internet Marketing Consultant, living in South Shields in the North-East of England. Author and Producer of blog http://www.lawnsurgeon.blogspot.com Author of "Your Perfect Lawn," a 90 Page eBook devoted to Lawn Preparation, Lawn Care and Maintenance. Find it at http://www.lawnsurgeon.com

Fresh Flower Arrangements

Writen by Steve Valentino

Flower arrangement has become increasingly popular as a hobby. Even tough flowers are already beautiful in their natural form; they need to be creatively arranged once cut in order to give them a great look especially when they are mixed with a variety of other flowers. A beautifully arranged flower can be a feast to the eyes and soothing to the soul hence the importance of arranging them in a manner that will bring out the true beauty of the flowers.

Many people who have attempted flower arrangements have found it immensely satisfying, since it adds their personal touch making it more meaningful to the intended receiver. This activity can also stimulate your creativity and can prove to be fun, especially when done with a group of friends. Apart from tapping your creativity, flower arranging can also be cost effective since you would not need a professional to get it done for you.

The following are a few guidelines for arranging flowers:

• Maintain a balance by imagining vertical line in the centre. Place similar flowers on both sides at the same angle by placing longer stemmed flowers closer to the line

• Choose a good variety colors by balancing both dark and light colors. Do not place all dark colored flowers together and do not place them all at the top as this will appear darker in light.

• The size of the arrangement should ideally be one and half the size bigger than the container however small arrangements are also lovely

• Cut the stems of the flowers and place them in lukewarm water before storing them in a cool place.

• Mix lime soda to three quarters of water and add them to the flower container to maintain the freshness of the flowers

Flowers can be arranged using any base other than the conventional vase such as bottles, glasses, baskets and even bowls to suit your fancy. Flower arrangement is a fun and enjoyable activity therefore it will how you go about it is important as it will reflect on your end product!

Fresh Flowers provides detailed information on Fresh Flowers, Fresh Cut Flowers, Fresh Flower Arrangements, Wholesale Fresh Flowers and more. Fresh Flowers is affiliated with Names Of Spring Flowers.

Abatement Consideration And Issues In Rural America

Writen by Lance Winslow

Most people who live in the city seem to be more concerned about the environment than those who live in rural areas. They are more concerned with the water and such as well. Yet the water each year is tested and those results always prove conclusive that the water in metropolitan areas is indeed much cleaner than water in less populated areas and rural areas who get their water from a well you see? So, it is rather interesting when city folks run around and demand everything be clean and pristine when in fact the water in Seattle, Houston, Miami, NYC, Boston, San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Chicago and LA is some of the cleanest water in any city in the World you see?

Perhaps the more important issues, which are not often looked at are the abatement considerations and issues of concern in Rural America. Water in wells is generally contaminated due to years of fertilizers and other things seeping into the found water from the property. Whereas city water comes in with huge volumes and massive amounts of water flowing through aqueducts, pipes and rivers it is aerated and cleaner in parts per million by a wide margin in fact.

How does the rural water get so bad? It gets bad from misuse and over use of chemicals and lack of care in the use of those chemicals. Then there are issues with storage of empty containers, old equipment, oil, grease, diesel fuel and other contaminants seeping into the water. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Hydroponics Gardening An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners Part 8 History

Writen by John R. Haughton

The History and Potential Uses of Hydroponics
Hydroponics is the science of growing plants without soil. History shows us that this is by no means a new concept. In ancient times the hanging gardens of Babylon, the floating gardens of the Aztecs of Mexico and those of the Chinese were all early examples of 'Hydroponic' culture. Egyptian writings dating back to several hundred years before Christ have descriptions of the growing of plants in water.

During the 1930s, scientists experimenting with the growing of plants without soil, using nutrients dissolved in water, discovered that the soil was needed only as an anchor for the plant's root system. Since that time more and more research has resulted in the development of commercial nutrients and purpose built systems of differing types. Hydroponics is now popular in Western Europe, Australia, Canada and many other areas of the world.

As technology advances more and more of the world's food is produced using hydroponic methods. Although rooted in history, it is still a relatively young science, Hydroponics has progressed rapidly over the past half century, it has been adapted to suit many and varied situations from outdoor farming to greenhouse production and now also indoor home cultivation. The military use it for growing fresh vegetables in submarines and the space programmes are even experimenting with Hydroponics to feed the crews on board manned space stations

The potential use of Hydroponics for future cultivation is enormous. It is already being looked at for increasing the food production in underdeveloped countries where space can be a factor. Because it is feasible to grow in areas of poor and even barren soil, arid regions of the world such as deserts could be utilised to grow crops hydroponically. The desert sand could be used as an ideal growing media and the nutrients even mixed with sea water, once the salts have been removed.

Even in countries with a more temperate climate Hydroponics can be used for food production, the temperature being maintained with the use of modern grow lights. In Holland and other European countries the production of vegetables, such as Lettuce and fruits, like Tomatoes is showing that Hydroponic methods can be very effective and cost efficient. A large proportion of this produce is now being grown that way. Some 20 plus years ago racehorse stables in the U K were looking at production of highly nutritious barley and wheat 'grass' as a feed. It was then very expensive and in its infancy, however today a large number of horse owners feed there animals in this way. It is also not unheard of for farmers to use the same methods to feed their cattle during the winter periods when the fields are too wet to graze.

With the advent of more efficient methods of production the uses of soil-less culture will advance and multiply as more people experiment with the systems available.

A partner in a thriving retail hydroponics supply business, Rickie Haughton is the owner of http://www.hydroponics-gardening-information.com The Hydroponics-Gardening-Information website is packed with good content about all aspects of hydroponics gardening and offers a free Hydroponics Information Club membership to all subscribers.

Using Annuals In Your Perrenial Garden

Writen by Jill Dow

Annuals in your pernnial garden are something to think about! Annuals give you season long color, easy propogation, they're cost efficient, and provide first season interest.

If you're just starting a perennial garden annuals are a great choice to fill in gaps. I remember my first garden. I bought a couple of plants thinking "This is gonna be great!" A few weeks later I realised this wasn't true. I needed a whole lot more plants and they cost a bunch! I opted for some annual seeds and I had a really pretty garden by the seasons end. Annuals can certainly help to fill in a garden while you wait for perennial to mature.

Even an established perennial garden may have spots where little is blooming at one time or another. Annuals are a great way to fill those gaps and keep color in your garden. They bloom from summer to fall and with a bit of dead heading you can continue to coax them back.

Annuals are simple to start from seed which makes them very cost efficient. You can certainly purchase annual bedding plants from a local garden center, but mail order or seeds at the garden center offer you a much wider variety than your standard petunia, pansy or snapdragon.

Get your free catlogues now so you can plan for next year!

Jill has been an avid gardener for the last 15 years. She faces the challenges of New Mexico's high desert at 6800 feet. You'll find gardening resources at http://www.agardenwalk.com

Setting Up A Goldfish Pond

Writen by William Berg

Goldfish ponds are a beautiful addition to any garden and a stunning focal point. Goldfish ponds have been admired in Asia for centuries, especially in China and Japan. Today, you will find goldfish ponds all over the world, including Europe and North America. Since the Goldfish hails from a wild carp that can live in cold water, the Goldfish will survive outdoors during the winter even in colder parts of the world. In some regions it is however advisable to house your fish indoors during the roughest months since it can suffocate in a pond if the ice freezes across the entire surface.

Goldfish can be kept in ponds as well as in aboveground pools. It is recommended to plant your pond/pool since goldfish will feel much safer in a planted environment. It will also be able to hide among the plants in order to avoid predators. A lot of animals like to chase and eat goldfish, including cats, birds and raccoons. Sometimes plants are not enough to guard your fish and you will be forced to cover the pond with netting during the night. In an above ground pool with straight sides, the predators will be unable to wade in and must instead perch themselves at the edge of the pool when looking for prey. This will usually be noticed by your Goldfish and it can seek shelter deep down in the pool.

A planted goldfish pond is easier to maintain since the plants will aid you in keeping up the water quality. Live plants can use organic compounds excreted by fish as nutrition. This means that the organic waste will be absorbed by the plant instead of staying in the water and polluting it. Live plants will also inhibit algae growth since plants and algae compete for the same nutrients. If you still experience excess algae growth, you might be feeding your Goldfish too much. If you feed your fish a lot of food, they will subsequently produce a lot of waste and there will be plenty of nutrients for plants as well as algae in the water. Some algae are a natural part of any pond or aquarium, but excessive algae growth should be counteracted since it is unhealthy for the fish. Keep in mind that if you use a chemical to kill the algae, or if an algaecide is involuntary introduced to the pond, the dead and decaying algae will use up a lot of oxygen and your Goldfish might suffocate and die. Using natural methods to combat algae, such as plants, is therefore recommended.

When you have filled your Goldfish pond you should treat the water with a water conditioner if you use tap water containing chlorine and/or ammonia to fill your pond. Check that the water temperature in the pond is at least 60 o F before you add any fish. A common beginner mistake is to add all the Goldfish simultaneously to their new home. This will cause a rapid change in water quality since the bacterial colonies that inhabit the pond are too small to process the sudden increase in organic waste. Instead, you should ideally add one or two fish and allow the bacterial colonies to grow larger before you add any new fish. This will naturally also depend on the size of your pond and if you are using any type of filtration. In a large pond, excess waste will be dilute by a very large amount of water and therefore less likely to reach concentrations high enough to harm you fish. Good filtration will also help removing organic waste and other toxins from the water.

So, how much Goldfish can I fill my pond with? As a rule of thumb, one Goldfish per 30 gallons is recommended, but this is naturally a very imprecise ratio. As mentioned earlier, the water quality is one of the limiting factors. Plenty of water, developed bacterial colonies and good filtration will make it possible for you to house a larger number of Goldfish. There are three basic types of filtration: biological, mechanical and chemical. Biological filtration will be taken care of by the mentioned bacterial colonies. A mechanical filter will filter the water through some form of filtering media where larger debris will get caught. The most common form of chemical filtration is the addition of carbon to the mechanical filter, where the carbon will bind various types of toxins.

Another important factor to keep in mind when you decide how much fish you wish to add to your pond is aeration. Fish require air to breath and will suffocate in a poorly aerated pond, especially if decaying plant matter consumes a lot of the dissolved oxygen. In an open pond, there will however be a considerable gas exchange between the water and the surrounding air. The larger the surface area of your pond, the more oxygen will be brought to the water. A large surface area will also make it easier for the water to release carbon dioxide. Plants in the pond will also produce oxygen and consume carbon dioxide. In some ponds, this will however not be enough and if you want to be able to house a large number of Goldfish some type of aeration is recommended.

Read more about garden ponds or Goldfish and types of Goldfish.

Grow Organic Vegetables

Writen by Vince Apps

There are more reasons than ever why anybody with access to a few square feet of the outdoors should grow their own organic vegetables.

You may be shocked at how much of the produce at your local supermarket has been genetically modified. Some estimates now put this at over 50%. While there is no strong evidence that genetically modified foods are immediately harmful to your health, there are no long term studies either. Do you want to take that risk?

Let's take a look at pesticides and fertilizers. Farmers no longer use crop rotation or natural manures to improve soil fertility, so they are forced to use ever increasing amounts of chemicals to improve yields and multiple pesticides to protect the weakened plants. Pesticides penetrate deeply into the leaves of plants and pestiside residues remain even after you have scrubbed them.

To quote from The Environmental Protection Agency – "Pesticides are designed to kill pests. Many pesticides can also pose risks to people. The health effects of pesticides depend on the type of pesticide. Some, such as the organophosphates and carbamates, affect the nervous system. Others may irritate the skin or eyes. Some pesticides may be carcinogens. Others may affect the hormone or endocrine system in the body."

Sure you can, and should, buy organic fruit and vegetables but have you seen the prices? Anybody with even a modest vegetable garden can grow healthy organic vegetables at much lower cost than those at the local supermarket. Not only can you grow them at much lower cost, but you can grow them one hundred percent better.

Even the long-keeping vegetables such as potatoes, onions and squash are noticeably tastier picked straight from the home vegetable garden; but when it comes to peas and corn and salad vegetables- well , there is absolutely nothing to compare with the home garden ones, gathered fresh, in the early slanting sunlight, still gemmed with dew, still crisp and tender and juicy, ready to carry every atom of savory quality and taste, without loss, to the dining table.

It is not in price or health alone that home gardening pays. There is another point. Agribusiness has to grow the things that give the biggest yield. They have to sacrifice quality and taste for quantity and long shelf life. You do not. The strawberries on the supermarket shelves may look bright and red and uniform but you will soon find they taste more like the cardboard of their containers when compared to a home grown variety picked straight from the vine.

And this brings us to what may be the most important reason you should garden. It is the cheapest, healthiest pleasure there is. Give me a sunny garden patch in the springtime, give me seeds to watch as they find the light, plants to tend as they take hold in the fine, loose, rich soil, give me succulent and tasty springtime salads. And when you have grown tired of the springtime, come back in summer to even the smallest garden, and you will find in it, every day, a new vista, new pleasures and, yes, new challenges.

Better food, better health, better living -- all these the home vegetable garden offers you in abundance. So, turn off that computer, pull out some old clothes and find a spot to dig.

Vince Apps
http://manualofgardening.com

International Flower Delivery

Writen by Eddie Tobey

As our global community continues to expand we often find ourselves with friends and families who live in countries outside of the U.S. In the past this caused somewhat of a dilemma if a person wanted to send a gift of flowers internationally. It was not as simple as calling the local florist; it was almost impossible to find a florist who could wire transfer the order to another florist in a different country. This has changed, however, because of the availability of resources via the Internet.

Do a simple search in any major search engine for "International Flower Delivery" and you will yield hundreds of results. Many companies are now offering international flower delivery and it is usually just as simple as ordering domestically.

Many online flower companies have access to florists worldwide. It is usually simple to find an online company, select your product and specify that you need the order to be shipped internationally. The company will then relay your order to the affiliate florist in that area and your flowers will be delivered.

Some companies may charge a processing fee for international flower delivery orders and others will not. The same holds true if the recipient resides in a very small or rural area where flower delivery may take additional time. Some companies will also have a delay in delivery to verify the recipient's address. With all flower delivery orders but especially true with international orders, it is very important to have the correct address including spellings for street and city names.

Flower Delivery Info provides information on same day, next day, international, and online flower delivery in various regions Flower Delivery Info is the sister site of Flower Bulbs Web.

Concrete Acid Stain Cheer Up Your Concrete

Writen by Josh Walker

If you have lots of concrete around your home, then perhaps you've considered the idea of doing something to make it a little more attractive. Many people have heard of paints or coating agents, but the idea of concrete acid staining is unfamiliar to most. Basically, it involves coloring the concrete by causing a chemical reaction on the concrete's surface.

Concrete acid stain causes a chemical reaction by mixing acid, water and inorganic salts. There are already minerals present in the concrete, and once they are mixed with the three added ingredients, the concrete changes color. It doesn't matter whether your concrete is new or old; it works beautifully either way. If you take the time after acid staining to protect the concrete, then the effect will last for a very long time.

Some people who've come across the idea of acid staining concrete have the mistaken idea that it can only be done outdoors. This isn't true. You can stain both interior and exterior walls, entrances, walkways, patios, driveways, retaining walls, or any other area of concrete that could do with a bit of cheering up and color.

The acid stain doesn't just change the concrete's color; it also gives it a marbled, mottled look, which is very attractive. The colors produced are beautiful, no matter what type of concrete is acid stained. Generally, the end color is an interesting mix of earthy brown and elements of red and green. You can choose your own color by mixing and matching the available colors from a hardware store. However never make the mistake of thinking your acid stain will be uniform in color - every slab of concrete will have its own individual shade.

If you think that you'd like to cheer up your concrete, then investigate the option of acid staining. It can really make a difference to the appearance of your concrete.

If you want to read more about concrete acid stain, click over to Josh's site at http://www.infoaboutconcrete.com.

How To Choose Contemporary Rattan Weather Proof Garden Furniture

Writen by Angus Charlton

In today's market place there is such a wide range of contemporary garden furniture available. Here's some advice for helping you choose the right furniture for your garden or patio area.

If you've decided that you want to be a the cutting edge of garden furniture design then there are 4 options available in style and materials used for the contemporary look rattan garden furniture.

Hot out this year is the plastic rattan finish which is both appealing to the eye and fully weatherproof. There is no need to pack away this furniture as winter closes in, it can simply be left outside all year round. It give a very modern look and feel to your patio area whilst giving a quite a high level of comfort. Rattan furniture is available is around 30 different colour shades, but it's worth while check on the actual guarantee on the fading of the rattan due to the UV rays of the sun. German manufactured plastic rattan has the highest non fading guarantees usually of around 5 years, whereas some of the plastic rattan manufactured in the Far East is only guaranteed for around 1 year. This is an important point worth check when making a purchase.

Most plastic rattan will have an alloy frame underneath, which is again fully weatherproof and very light weight. If you intent to store the furniture set during the winter months, remember to check whether the chairs are stackable as this will save you a considerable amount of space.

Other smaller points worth checking are that the feet have rubber or plastic mounts on to stop your timber patio deck being market. If the table has a glass top this should be made of toughened glass and also needs to be removable so that it can be cleaned easily if food or drinks are spilled.

If you intend leaving the garden furniture set outside during the winter but want to prolong the life of the set, find out whether covers are available either from you retailer or a specialist garden furniture cover retailer.

Plastic rattan is set to be one of the biggest contemporary garden furniture products of this season, available in May different colours and designs. Remember that you should first works out exactly what sized set you want before making a purchase. Two things should be taken into consideration, firstly the size of your family and likely number of guests you will be entertaining and secondly the area you will be filling with your furniture set. You should allow ample room around your garden furniture both for people to freely move around and for accessories such as parasols and patio heaters to be placed.

Also consider whether or not you will want a parasol for the centre of the table and check that the table has the necessary sized whole.

Once you've taken all these factors into consideration and done your homework you are in a great position to buy your ultimate dream rattan contemporary garden furniture set, getting it right first time.

Angus Charlton is managing director of Arboreta Garden Furniture Store (http://www.arboreta.co.uk). He is a keen gardener who has developed a garden furniture business that resources from sustainable rainforests and contributes to the art of Feng Shui for gardens.

Landscaping Can Make Or Break Curb Appeal For Homebuyers

Writen by Mark Nash

Homebuyers love an inviting home even before they see the interior. Home sellers can take some easy steps to turn a drive by or Internet photo of their home into a showing appointment. Mark Nash author of 1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home offers easy tips for your readers and viewers to prepare their home for spring market.

-Purchase a seasonal wreath for your front door.

-Place a pair of planters that match the style of your home on the front porch. Fill with blooming flowers or loosen frozen soil with hot water and fill with evergreen boughs and red or yellow dogwood available at your florist or garden center. If you have window boxes duplicate flowers or evergreen look.

-Don't put silk flowers or plants into any exterior landscape.

-Give buyers a glimpse of your summer gardens when selling a home in the winter. Display a collage of photos of your landscaping in spring, summer and fall.

-Clean up any tree branches, leaves, trash and pet droppings in front and rear yards.

-Position spotlights from home center stores at the base of ornamental trees to up light branches for a dramatic effect.

-Spread decorative bar mulch over flowerbeds and around tree bases for a manicured and professional look.

-Take down any leftover holiday decorations. Resist using clear Italian lights to accent trees or shrubs. Kitsch is out.

-Clear away snow and ice from sidewalks and driveways immediately, to illustrate pride of ownership.

-A fresh application of driveway sealer on asphalt can give it an update.

-Edge sidewalks and driveways, irrigate and mow lawns and prune shrubs and trees. Well-maintained homes attract buyers.

-Spread new decorative gravel to freshen up driveways. Bare spots and irregular levels can distract buyers from the overall look upon arrival.

-House numbers should be easily visible from the street. Make sure they're lit at night.

-Limit yard ornaments to a favored few. Excess ornaments can make yards look busy and buyers might want them included in a purchase contract.

-Make sure your barbecue grill is clean and operational, especially if you plan to leave it.

-Clear gutters of debris and make sure there are no weeds growing in them. Look for clogged and dented downspouts. Place splash pads or gutter extensions to move rainwater away from the foundation, a typical home inspector complaint.

-All soil should be graded down hill away from foundations. Do it before an inspector red flags it.

-Trim trees and shrubs back around air-conditioning condensing units. Remove covers for home inspection testing.

-Take a good look from the street or road at the front of your home. Look for shrubs that are over grown or dead and remove and replace with shrubs that are to scale to your home. Small inexpensive bushes send the wrong message.

-Add annual flowers in home foundation beds. Select one or two colors to create visual uniformity. White and purple are a good choice to add color punch to a landscape.

-Paint and refresh yard lights, flagpoles, mailboxes, window boxes, fences and trellis. Don't forget the swing set or play equipment.

-Have pool bottom painted and any deferred pool maintenance performed. Keep water crystal clear and inviting. Keep pool temperature on the warm side when buyers stoop to test the water.

-Lay sod or bare spot grass seed in lawn areas that need attention, near play equipment, dog runs and non-paved pathways. Unkempt lawns are the number one landscape turn-offs for buyers.

-Replace broken bricks on terraces, cracked concrete patios and steps. Eliminate trips and falls on property showings.

-Restore screens on porches and lanai's. Dirty, rusty and ripped screens limit functionality to homebuyers.

-Have irrigation systems flushed and checked. Don't overlook outside water spigots.

-Verify that drains in exterior basement stairwells and garages drain properly and are free of debris.

-Hire a landscape designer to make plan to perk up a tired landscape. Professionals can provide a fresh perspective that can appeal to buyers.

-Plant low maintenance plants and shrubs that are appropriate to your area.

-Educated plant lovers are on the rise and they know which plants are winter hardy. High maintenance plants such as roses can overwhelm first-time buyers.

Mark Nash's fourth real estate book, "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home" (2005), and working as a real estate broker in Chicago are the foundation for his consumer-centric real estate perspective which has been featured on ABC-TV, CBS The Early Show, Bloomberg TV, CNN-TV, Chicago Sun Times & Tribune, Fidelity Investor's Weekly, Dow Jones Market Watch, MSNBC.com, The New York Times, Realty Times, Universal Press Syndicate and USA Today.

Discover Micro Greens And Learn How To Grow Your Own

Writen by Hugh Harris-Evans

Gourmet vegetable confetti is how one chef has described them. Served in trendy restaurants around the world, micro greens are the plant's first true leaves which are both tasty and nutritious. Coming between the sprouting seed stage, where the whole sprout is eaten, and the baby stage, when the head or root is formed, micro greens with their minute but perfectly formed leaves provide a colorful addition to any dish.

What varieties of vegetables are used for micro greens?

Many different types are grown in this way. Arugula, a mildly spicy member of the brassica family; broccoli which is noted for its anti-oxidant properties, and both green and red cabbage varieties. Oriental cabbages are also used, as are kohlrabi, swiss chard and radish. Red colored leaves are provided by beetroot and red kale.

Can you grow micro greens yourself?

Yes, simply sow the seeds in a flat or pot filled with soil and harvest the seedlings when their first set of leaves appear. Micro greens can be grown any time of the year - even inside during winter. For use in the house you can buy special felt pads on which you grow the seeds instead of soil. Each crop takes between two to three weeks from sowing the seeds until they are ready for harvesting.

How do I use micro greens in my cooking?

Either as a garnish or as the main ingredient of a dish. They will add an extra dimension to your cuisine. Some have a milder flavour than their fully grown cousins, but others have a strong pungent taste. The latter can be added to a mixed salad to give it some extra bite. The milder varieties have some unusual flavours, one type of mustard having a distinct taste of mashed potato. For some serving suggestions a quick search on google will provide you with plenty of recipe ideas.

I hope that this brief introduction to micro greens has given you some ideas, and perhaps will encourage you to try growing a crop yourself.

Hugh Harris-Evans is the owner of The Garden Supplies Advisor where you will find further articles, gardening tips and product reviews. http://www.garden-supplies-advisor.com

Japanese Beetles In The Roses

Writen by Doug Green

Adult Japanese beetles are one quarter to one half inch long with copper colored wing covers and a shiny metallic green head. Between the green head and tiny tufts of white hair along their side you'll recognize them easily as they happily munch on your roses.

While they generally don't eat dogwood, forsythia, holly, lilac, evergreens and Hosta, they'll eat darn near everything else. These beetles feed on flowers and fruits making a skeleton of the leaves by eating the green parts and leaving the veins. Adults are most active from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. on warm summer days. These voracious pests prefer plants in direct sun, so shady areas are usually less damaged.

The bacterial spore, sold as 'Doom' or 'Grub Attack' is generally used to control these pests. Using a hormone lure in your yard simply attracts more beetles to your yard. Put the lure somewhere else a hundred yards away encouraging the beetles to go elsewhere. Unfortunately, reducing the beetles in your yard will not reduce their attacks in succeeding years. These beetles are great fliers and can travel upwards of ten miles from where they hatched.

Handpicking is also effective on your prized plants – drop the beetles into a bucket of soapy water to kill them. There is some data that suggests hand picking is as effective as spraying noxious chemicals and you know you have killed the beetle when it drowns in your soapy bucket. One trick is to hold the bucket of soapy water under the plant and then shake the plant. Beetles will fall off the plant right into the bucket and you'll get more beetles if you do this in the early morning before they start feeding and flying. Several birds (grackles, cardinals, meadowlarks) feed on the adult beetles so encourage birds in your yard. If you decide to use a lure, place it at least 100 feet away from your garden. Lures attract beetles and if you place one in your garden, you'll have all the neighbors beetles visiting as well. Find a neighbor who doesn't garden to host the lures and traps.

Doug Green, an award winning garden author with 7 books published answers gardening questions in his free gardening newsletter at http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com

Make A Fiberglass Support Cover For Your New Silicone Mold

Writen by Delmar Germyn

Just like when you made your silicone mold this is another messy little job. There are gloves for fiberglass work so you should get a pair or two. Wear old cloths, the resin will never wash out. You should get some thinner to clean your hands with - the gloves will help a lot but you will end up with some on your hands no matter how careful you are. By now you are probably wondering if you want to make your own mold. When your first concrete or hypertufa casting comes out you will know. It is a great feeling to see the results of all the work you did and you may decide it was worth it. That is when you should start planning your next project.

Go to a place that sells fiberglass - you can find them in the Yellow pages - to get the materials you will need and be sure to get extra, you don't want to run out once you have started. You can estimate the amount of roving by wrapping your mold in a piece of cloth and then measuring the cloth to see how many square feet it is. The fiberglass supply guys should be able to give you an estimate of how much resin and hardener you will need if they know how much roving you are going to use. Don't forget to tell them you will be doing 3 layers. There will be a layer of fleece and two layers of roving.

Buy roving, not cloth. The cloth is for jobs where you need high strength. You will not need it for your cover. You will also need three or four 2 inch paint brushes. On the way home stop at a fabric store and buy enough of that stretchy fleece to cover your mold.

Now we begin... Cut the fleece so that it fits the mold fairly well. If you want you can glue the fleece onto itself with fabric cement here and there. This is not usually necessary but you may have to. Now mix the resin and hardener - be sure to follow the instructions exactly - and paint it onto the fleece. Soak the fleece and push it up as tight as you can to the rubber mold. Try not to have any air pockets between it and the silicone mold.

While you wait for this to harden you can cut your roving into strips one or two inches wide and about a foot long. I don't make the any bigger than this because it makes them to hard to use. Lay them out somewhere handy and if the fleece has hardened you can start the second step. This is the real messy part.

Paint some mixed resin onto the fleece and pick up a strip of roving. Put the strip onto the fresh wet resin and smooth it out as best you can, but don't worry if it is not perfect. You are doing this for strength, not beauty. Repeat this until your mold is covered with a layer of roving. You will need to work quickly here so you finish before the resin starts to set. If it starts to set throw it away, you will have to mix more. You cannot use it once it has started to harden, don't even try. Now that you have a layer of roving on you can paint it with some more resin and build up at least one more layer and cover with a coat of resin.

Let this all set up and there it is. The ugliest looking mold on Earth. But inside lies a thing of beauty. If you have done a good job it will last for many, many pours and some beautiful concrete and hypertufa pieces will come out of it.

Go ahead and make one! Who knows, you may be one of the rare people who actually enjoy doing this. Once you have it done I'm sure you will enjoy using it and will be something that you can be very proud of.

An old time Seer, I have been around this Planet for 2.34 centuries. I used to travel with my dragon to fairs and teach gardening skills. I did a lot of work in the UK a couple of hundred years ago. It was me who got Queen Mary interested in Hypertufa. The old gal really liked making her own planters and statues. She even made a couple of bird baths that are still there today. Now, thanks to the Internet I can stay at my home in the new world with my wife and dog and dispense my knowledge without the hassles of passports and taxis to and from the airport. Dels Molds Hypertufa Projects Hypertufa News

A Concrete Alien At The Beach

Writen by Delmar Germyn

I arrived at the beach today at around noon. When I arrived there was a crowd of 20 or so people gathered at the picnic area. This is a nice wooded area with 6 o r 7 concrete picnic tables and a small playground for children.

The crowd was gathered around a tree looking up and pointing. Up in the tree about 20 feet off the ground was an Alien! It was a silver color with a long neck and a big green head. It had huge black eyes that seemed to be looking down at the crowd. It seemed to be suspended there as if its parachute had gotten snagged in the branches.

The people that I was near where saying that it had been there for a couple of days. Others said they had seen it last week after the big thunderstorm. I heard one man saying to another that he had seen it once last year, but when he came back to show it to his wife it had left!

There was a couple of people with cameras getting pictures to give to there friends. Sooner than I would have thought there was someone throwing rocks at it. No wonder the last one left. A couple of young guys started off to find a ladder.

The sudden appearance of this silver and green guy was not a surprise to me. I had been at the beach at about 5:00 am that morning with a ladder, a hammer, and a nail. I had an Alien with me too! I climbed as high as I could and hung the "little silver man" in the tree.

You can make your own alien out of concrete, or hypertufa. Paint it pink and put it out where it will be found. Then join the crowd and listen to the "experts" tell everyone all they know.

Nice day on the Bay! I went fishing once. The fish I caught told me to go home and start a Blog! He said fish taste awfull, throw me back and spend some time Blogging. Beware the Dreaded Theet O Vac! You can help Mankind overcome the Thetan problem that Ron L. Hubbard devoted over 35 years of his life to. Think about it. "decimus nusiri diegg"

hypertufaprojects

http://www.yukon5.com

http://www.delsmolds.com

The Magic Plant Copier

Writen by Kenneth C. Hoffman

Did you ever wish you could have a copy of the beautiful plants you come across in your travels? You can and it's easy. Most people would be glad to let you have a few cuttings of their plants. They have to prune them anyway twice a year. You may find a rare sub dwarf evergreen in a brilliant green, a hybrid azalea in flaming orange or a weeping golden chain tree in somebody's yard. Remember that only the tops of weeping trees will weep so don't use the suckers from the base.

After taking the cuttings, wrap them in a wet towel and Saran wrap until you get home. Take a five gallon empty paint bucket and pierce a ring of 3/8 inch holes half way down the sides for drainage. Mix half sand and half coarse gravel and fill the can up to the hole line. Don't put a hole in the bottom of the can. Fill the can with sharp sand (not from the beach) up to the top.

Cut the bottom of the cuttings on an angle and split the ends into three parts about two inches from the end. Dip this splayed end into a packet of Rootone and stick the cuttings four inches apart about six inches deep. Fill with water (no fertilizer) and place in a shady spot. In three to six weeks, check to see which cuttings sent down roots. Water once per week or when needed. When they have roots, transfer them to individual six inch pots and move them to a brighter spot but not full sun. In six weeks you should have a dozen or more plants ready for the garden.

Plants that are easy to root are most evergreens, forsythia, pussy willow. corkscrew willow, fire thorn and fruit trees. Be careful you don't plant the willows near drainage pipes. Any plants you have left over make wonderful gifts and if you are willing to give up some garden space for a few more five gallon cans, you can make a good dollar selling to the local nurseries. Good luck.

Retired portrait photographer. Comments welcome.

How To Grow Garlic In Your Home Garden Successfully

Writen by Joyce Moore

Greetings fellow Gardeners!

The following tutorial refers to garlic growing specifically, but can easily be used for most onion crops as well.

The following information is for general garlic growing that I have used for my own home garden. Of course, there are lots of specialty seeds and plants that require more specific techniques but as I am not a professional horticulturist, but a home gardener like yourselves, I will stick with what I know!

For basic garlic growing you need a few things. First of all your garlic cloves! We started out by growing garlic from garlic heads bought at the store, but then I decided to try some new and different varieties! Last year I ended up the with some German Reds left over after my fall selling on virtualseeds.com, so decided to plant them with the idea of offering them to my customers in 2001. This way, I could be assured of the freshest product possible and it allowed me to use the garden space normally left fallow all winter to good use. spring So, I planted in October and waited for spring.

Remember to work in some good compost and bone meal before planting your cloves. I planted mine about three inches deep or about three times the size of the clove. We have fairly mild coastal winters so not a lot of hard ground freezing until around January and then it is only for a few weeks at most. More on this subject later in the tutorial.......

Viola! Come late spring, what to my wondering eyes to appear, but garlic sprouts!

Let's back up a little to discuss the two basic types of garlics for the home gardener. Generally speaking we are talking about hardnecks and softnecks.

HARDNECK GARLICS(See picture at top of page) are very popular because they are easy to grow in most types of soils as long as the soil is fertile and well draining. Hardnecks will store for three to six months on average so are grown for early winter usage. There are many different varieties from the German Reds that I offer my customers to Spanish Roja and more. As you can see from the titles, these garlics most often have some coloring to them such as streaks of purple, red or brown. They are valued for their high allicin content and great flavor that holds up to cooking. Hardnecks can be a little challenging when separating the cloves as they have a fair amount of "parchment" or the papery skins you have to peel away to get at the "meat". They tend to have a inner circle of large cloves with few to any smaller cloves on the outside. Hardnecks are planted in the late fall and harvested in early to mid summer.

SOFTNECK GARLICS are the ones you see in the grocery store and in garlic braids. These are normally white such as the silverskins. The variety you see in the store most likely is "Colossal" or another generic variety. Stores and their customers want the whitest garlics. Flavor is good and can be from mild to very strong. The necks are more pliable than hardneck varieties so they make good candidates for braiding. Softneck garlics advantage is that they store longer, up to nine months. They generally have numerous cloves in a head. Softnecks also are planted in the fall with later harvesting in late summer.

Do you have garlic in your refrigerator that has begun to sprout? Can they be used in cooking? Not likely as the cloves will feel "empty" as the plants have already used the stores to start the plants. Can the cloves be separated and planted? Sure, and garlics can be planted in the spring but generally don't do well as an annual crop. They are genetically meant to be planted in fall so they can establish roots, then they wait for spring to start growing in earnest.

PLANTING: In most parts of the country, you want to plant your cloves about six weeks before your winter freezing weather sets in. This is to allow the cloves to send down roots and get established in the soil before hard freezing weather sets in. This keeps the garlics from being forced up and out of the soil during hard freezes and thaws. As you plant your cloves, be sure to add some good quality compost and a tablespoon of bonemeal to the bottom of the hole so the plants will have some excellent nutrition to draw upon. I plant mine about three times the size of the clove or around three inches below the surface. If you live in a colder climate with significant freezing, then do plant deeper to protect the cloves, and consider mulching, just like you do when you plant bulbs like tulips and daffodils. Water in the cloves and you are done till spring!

OK, spring has arrived and you anxiously watch the plot for any sign of growth.........and there they are! Now is the time to fertilize with some nitrogen based fertilizer or compost as you can see in my picture at the top right of the page. We fertilized with a home made mix of compost, bonemeal, canola seed meal, dolomite lime, and potash. We also set up watering through soaker hoses so that we watered the plants, not the weeds.

Weeding is crucial! Let me repeat...... weeding is crucial! The next most important chore you need to be vigilant about is weeding! Garlics do not want to compete with other vegetation! So semi-weekly weeding with a hoe is necessary. Do not dig down in the ground around the plants or you can tear up the developing bulbs. Just a light scratching of the soil is all you need to keep the weeds at bay. I use a "hula hoe" and love it!

HARVESTING: By the first of July, I can see that my crop is getting ready to be harvested. How do I know? First of all, the weather has gotten hotter so I know that the bulbs are forming underground and secondly by observing the plants. Now the tops are starting to brown and die back, a sure sign that harvest time is near. So I stop watering about ten days to two weeks before harvesting. This is necessary so the plants can start to "hardened" the outside of the bulbs.

Mid July is here and it's time to harvest. The plants have now browned to about 60-75 percent. I gently pull on the first plant and it comes up easily! Of course, mine are planted more shallow than most of you will do so the bulb is nearer the surface. Most gardeners will need to gently spade around the plant in order to get the bulb loosened and pulled up.

CURING AND STORAGE: Now all that is left is to "cure" the bulbs and store for usage. Curing refers to allowing the bulbs to dry out in a warm but shaded area. Don't wash your plants but let the soil dry naturally, then brush off when you are ready to store or hang. I am drying mine on a pallet so that air can circulated around the plants. As you can see by the picture, garlics need to be dried in a single layer. Drying takes from two to three weeks depending on the weather or your choice of storage area. Some people will braided them and hang for curing. What is important is that the plants have good circulation of warm, dry air so that mold and mildew doesn't take hold. When your garlics are done curing, then clip off the top to about 1.5 inches from the bulb and you may snip back the roots. Garlics can be stored in a dark, dry, cool place such as a basement, storage room etc and used as needed. Check them periodically as some varieties do not store as long as others. Ideal storage temperatures would be in the 40's to 50's. Don't forget to keep your biggest and best bulbs for this year's fall planting! Rotate your crops each year. Garlics are pretty much pest free but can pick up soil diseases which can devastate a crop.

Thanks for reading my tutorial on garlic growing. This tutorial is from my own personal experience so soils, growing conditions and weather may be different for your location and you may need to amend these guidelines to fit your situation. A great source for information on garlic growing is your local county extension office. Ask to speak to a Master Gardener or stop by and pick up a helpful brochure on garlic growing. Most of all, have fun in your garden!

ALL NATURAL BUG SRAY: Here is a simple homemade recipe for an effective bug spray for your garden!" Place one peeled onion, two peeled garlic cloves and 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 3 cups of water and blend until smooth. Let the mixture sit overnight, then carefully strain the liquid into a spray bottle. I bet this would be effective in discouraging Fido or Fluffy from using your favorite rose bush or flower bed as a toliet! Refigerate unused solution and discard after thirty days.

Happy Gardening! Joyce Moore

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joyce Moore is an avid home gardener and a graduate of OSU Master Gardener program in 2000. Her love of gardening and plants led her to start her own home based seed company in 1998. Please visit her at http://www.virtualseeds.com for more online home gardening tutorials.

Sculpture Can Bring Life To Your Garden

Writen by Beau Smith

I should know: I've been a sculptor most of my life, and I have plenty of years behind me of experience. Most of my sculptures reside in the gardens and landscaped outdoors of residences. My work is also in public places such as parks and downtown areas. But in this article, I want to focus on residences.

I'm going to suggest what kind of sculpture to look for. Let me begin by saying that your garden and landscaped outdoors is a sacred place. But of course you know that, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this article. The outdoors of your residence, being a sacred place, deserves art that is exceptional. So you have to spend a little more for it. Listen, you get what you pay for. Further, you get the experience you pay for. The nice thing about original art is that, even though you pay more for it, you get more. The life of a work of sculpture should be indefinite. It should be able to remain outdoors without withering away. So, the initial investment is more. But you get more, a lot more. I would go so far as to say that original art for the garden is the best outdoor art investment, if, of course, you can find work that is truly art and not junk disguised as art.

Probably, you will want to include, in your outdoor sanctuary, human-crafted items that are not art: cement casts, gravel, building materials, and so on. Here, you want to integrate these items with the landscape. It is fine if the cement casting of Saint Francis has moss growing on it. Ivy trickling over a retaining wall is desirable. But when you put the art in this setting, you want to show it off. If you don't want to show it off, don't buy it. The sculpture should be the capstone, what brings everything together. The sculpture should enhance and amplify the life of your outdoor landscape. The sculpture should provide a doorway into the majesty of the garden and landscape. All you need do is look at the sculpture and you feel a connection to nature. You can be looking at the sculpture from a window inside your home, or you can be outside. Either way, the sculpture connects you to nature.

I don't, then, advise you buy works of craft to deposit here and there in your outdoor landscape. Don't do that unless the work of craft has sentimental value or is in some other way exceptional to you. Craft is cheaper than art: cheap in price and cheap in QUALITY. Instead, buy less and get more. If you can only afford one original work of sculpture, do that rather than buy many craft pieces. Your outdoor landscape is not going anywhere and neither is the art, especially if you secure it, which you should, and which it is possible to do without making such securing permanent.

Before you become worried that you will have to pay dearly for original art, let me reassure you: You can find original art at a moderate and affordable price. You can find it on the Net and you can probably find it locally as well, especially if you live near a city. Many garden shops sell sculptures on consignment. That's one good place to look. But there are many. I don't suggest galleries because the work will be too expensive. If expense is not so much a concern, then go to the galleries. Go to the galleries anyway because here there is a weeding out process and you are more likely to find exceptional art and thereby have more awareness of what's good.

For deals, you might find one at the gift shop of a botanical gardens. I have my work in the Atlanta Botanical Gardens gift shop. There, my work is moderately priced and exceptional. But what you can also do is look around a botanical garden and see if you can find original sculpture that appeals. You can then inquire at the gift shop or at the front counter or call the gardens. Because botanical gardens and similar places of beauty are set up primarily as non-profit, they are not going to want a large commission for referring an artist. As you know, galleries are infamous for insisting on taking a large portion of the sale for themselves, as much as 60 percent. I suggest going to the expensive places to get a feel for good art (though not all of it is good, I have to tell you). Then shop around. The only danger here is that you may find, in the galleries, a sculptor you like so much you just have to own his work. Well, that's the danger. If price is an issue, I don't think this will be too much of a problem.

How does one spot inexpensive-but-exceptional original sculpture? This is what you look for: Sculptures made with materials and techniques available to craftspeople and folk artists. The difference between craft and art should be evident. Art is of higher quality. You will also know when someone produces higher caliber work because that work sells for more than craft, but not so much more than you cannot afford it. A sculptor may have work that goes outside of your budget. Many who inquire about my large frog sculptures decide quickly that the price is too high for them. Even so, my frog sculptures are incredibly affordable considering that I am a highly skilled artisan as well as a professional sculptor with over 16 years of professional experience. Further, the large sculptures I produce are comparable to bronzes, at a fraction of the cost. But I also produce smaller work that is quite affordable. I do so because I want people to gain interest in possibly buying a larger work later.

Don't buy craft. A craftsperson makes the same thing over and over again. That's not art. It may seem that I produce the same thing over and over again. After all, I am making large human-size copper frogs. How different can each one be? Very. Each piece is incredibly unique. I learn something from each piece I build. An artist can focus on one theme and never repeat himself, even though his designs may seem or actually be similar.

A craftsperson who wants to make a living will often find he has to hire others to help him crank out his pieces. This is not art. This is moving in the direction of factory-made shlock. Even so, something made by hand does offer warmth and life that a factory-made item cannot. But wouldn't you rather have original art? Nature itself is so beautiful that it deserves only the best from us.

Very few materials can stand the test of time outside. Original art for outdoors will have to be made of metal, clay, cement, stone, glass, or a combination. Wood will not stand the test of time outdoors. Neither will synthetic resins. One sculptor friend of mine recycles old farm equipment and the like. He works primarily in stainless steel, and his work is exceptional. This is a method: Working with recycled metals. Not every artist is capable of achieving art through any given medium, this one included. I have seen plenty of sculpture that is unexceptional.

What makes a sculpture, or any other piece of art, for that matter, exceptional? Art has life. The sculpture lives, it breathes, it has substance and depth. You cannot help but to feel that it is a part of your landscape, a force just as much alive as the plants and the creatures that inhabit your outdoor landscape.

So plan for original art to live in your outdoor landscape. Look around. You can find a deal and get original art that's good. It is worth the effort. Once you have the art, you enjoy it for as long as you decide to keep it, which may be for the rest of your life. Such a purchase, then, is worth taking time over. Happy hunting.

Beau Smith is a professional sculptor with 16 years professional experience sculpting large, human-sized copper frogs. He also writes about art. He has written and published one book on his sculptures, and written, designed, and published his web site, beautifulfrog.com.

Tips On Growing Lettuce

Writen by Marilyn Pokorney

Lettuce is an easy to grow spring and autumn vegetable. It's two worst enemies are hot temperatures and slugs.

Here are some tips to grow lettuce all summer long, even when temperatures soar.

*Make sure soil contains a good supply of nitrogen for good leaf production.

*Make early plantings in full sun.

*Plant the seeds 1/8 inch deep in a wide row, 6 inches apart in all directions.

*Plant every two weeks for a continuous harvest all summer long.

*As the weather warms up, start planting in partial shade. Either on the side of the house that receives morning sun or in the shade of other taller plants such as corn broccoli etc.

*Keep weeds under control as lettuce has shallow roots and can't compete with deep rooted weeds.

*Keep soil moist but not wet. Water at the base of the plant and not the leaves wet leaves will encourage disease.

*Aphids, cabbage loopers, flea beetles, leafhoppers and leaf miners are some of the insects that attack lettuce, but slug are the most notorious for loving lettuce.

*Avoid pesticides as lettuce leaves are very tender and delicate, and can absorb many insecticides. An insecticidal soap or handpicking usually alleviates the majority of lettuce pests.

*One tip to avoid slugs is to avoid mulching lettuce.

For more tips on how to control slugs on lettuce and in the entire garden visit:

http://www.apluswriting.net/garden/slugs.htm

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Author: Marilyn Pokorney Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the environment. Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading. Website: http://www.apluswriting.net

Mint The Herb Of Hospitality

Writen by Gwen Stewart

The Mentha species or mints as they are commonly called include many varieties that flavour everything from appetizers to desserts. The best-known species in North American are peppermint (M. x piperita) and spearmint (M. spicata), which are highly valued for commercial use. Mint symbolises "hospitality" and can be grown in pots and containers indoors and out. In the garden, mint should be grown with a barrier around the roots, as it can be extremely invasive. Most mints do not come true from seed so it is best to purchase plants from a nursery or garden centre. Fresh mints are a source of Vitamin C and pro-vitamin A.

Peppermint and spearmint are perennials growing 12 – 36 inches (30 – 90 cm) tall although some mints are ground hugging. Produced at the end of square stems, terminal spikes of dainty lilac, purple, pink, or white flowers usually bloom in mid-to-late summer. Cultivation requirements for growing mint: grows best in moist, deep, loosely textured sandy soil; full sun but will do well in partial shade; keep well watered; pinch off flowers to promote bushy growth; and if growing indoors, fertilise with an organic fertiliser at half-strength every 3 or 4 weeks. Where winters are harsh, mulch with straw or leaves to protect your plants.

Mints have creeping roots that require sufficient room to develop. When establishing indoor plants, pot up in good houseplant soil and sufficiently large containers to accommodate their root system. To bring indoors for the winter, check for insects, and spray with soap and water if necessary. To harvest and prevent indoor plants from getting scraggly, keep the stems cut back to 5 inches (13 cm). This will also keep the plants from blooming and ensure tastier leaves.

Indoor mints require at least 5 hours of strong sunlight daily. Grow them on a southern or eastern exposure. If you are growing them on a windowsill, rotate regularly to ensure each side receives equal amounts of light. Better yet, grow them under fluorescent lights hung 6 inches (15 cm) above the plants and leave on for 14 hours a day.

In the garden, mint is a good companion to cabbage and tomatoes. Mint deters cabbageworms and spearmint may help keep aphids off nearby plants. Mints attract bees so planting them near fruit trees will improve pollination and increase yields. Add fresh mint leaves to water in the birdbath to keep the water attractive for birds. In the kitchen, use mint with roast lamb or fish, butter, salads, cheese, fruits, fruit salads, jellies, soups, sauces, plain meats, poultry, stews, sweet dishes, teas, bean and lentil dishes. Add fresh sprigs to cooking water of peas, carrots, fresh beets, new potatoes, and in vinegar. Mint flowers can be used in salads as well as garnishes for desserts. In Middle Eastern dishes, mint is used for cheese pastry fillings, yoghurt dressings, and stuffings for vegetables such as bell peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant. Mint tea is useful for soothing upset stomachs. To brew a cup, use 1 teaspoon (5 mL) dried leaves or 3 teaspoons (15 mL) crushed fresh leaves in 1 cup (250 mL) of boiling water. Steep to taste. Mint can be dried or freeze leaves in butter, oil, or ice cubes.

Gwen Nyhus Stewart, B.S.W., M.G., H.T., is an educator, freelance writer, garden consultant, and author of the book The Healing Garden: A Place Of Peace – Gardening For The Soil, Gardening For The Soul and the booklet Non-toxic Alternatives For Everyday Cleaning And Gardening Products. She owns the website Gwen's Healing Garden where you will find lots of free information about gardening for the soil and gardening for the soul. To find out more about the books and subscribe to her free Newsletter visit http://www.gwenshealinggarden.ca

Gwen Nyhus Stewart © 2004 – 2005. All rights reserved.

House Name Plates

Writen by Jason Gluckman

Name plates in general serve as an identification mark. They are also utilized in the marking of houses. House name plates are used to indicate names and numbers of the houses. They also serve as a pointer of addresses. They are made of a diversity of outward appearances, dimensions, letterings and dyes. Generally, the user has a preference that his house name and number be written in style.

House name plates are made of various materials, like aluminum, brass, ceramic, and slate. They are made to order. The long-established material for name plates is brass. It uses sophisticated structures and letters. The painted background and a range of patterns further personalize the end product. The letters on aluminum house name plates can be elevated or planar. There are also ceramic house name plates that can withstand most weather conditions, while at the same time embellished with a range of designs. Slate house name plates are also available. House signs of this material are generally made of long-lasting slate with high-tech reflective text numbers. These are colored with a heating process and are not engraved or raised.

House name plates are manufactured by conventional techniques, such as resin processes, as well as some more modern techniques. Modern plates are often reflective, giving a facelift to the house in the daytime, and convenient to see when it is dark outside. Many house name plates can also be customized according to your particular preferred material, size, and style (as well as, of course, the markings.)

Name Plates provides detailed information on Desk Name Plates, Door Name Plates, House Name Plates, Industrial Name Plates and more. Name Plates is affiliated with Printable Name Tags.

Everyone Needs A Spaghetti Garden

Writen by James Ellison

One of the delightful pleasures of life are herbs. Besides adding beauty to your garden they make foods taste better and provide a pleasant scent to the air we breathe. In George Washington days everyone had a herb garden that they used for culinary, teas and medicinal purposes. That practice is slowly coming back.

A spaghetti garden is one of the most popular kitchen gardens. Anyone that has a sunny patch of ground or a window-box can grow these herbs of parsley, garlic, basil, bay laurel and oregano. A small garden space can easily yield all the herbs that you'll need for delicious Italian meals. They are even easy to grow in a sunny window for your year-round use.

Let us take a closer look at the spaghetti garden herbs:

* Oregano is a perennial ground cover plant. Oregano is a prolific grower that can send out shoots that grow to six feet in a single season. If pruned and bunched, oregano can grow into a small border plant. It would rather have light, thin soil and lots of sun, so keep it on the south side of your garden. When the plants reach 4-5 inches harvesting can start. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above a leaf intersection. The young leaves are actually stronger dried than fresh and are the most flavorful part of the plant. To dry, lay the leaves on newspaper or a drying screen in the sun until the leaves crumble easily. It will retain its flavor for months.

*Bay leaves add a favorable hint of spice to stews, soups and spaghetti sauce. The bay laurel is a small tree that grows about a foot per year, this makes it suitable for growing in a container. If you live in a mild climate zone leave the container outside, but if temperatures go below 25 degrees keep the tree in a pot and bring it indoors during the winter.

*Basil seeds itself so easily that you may never have to buy another plant after the first year. There are many different kinds of basil, but all grow rapidly and require frequent pinching back to prevent them from growing tall and leggy. When the plants have reached about 6-8 inches tall, you can begin harvesting. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above a leaf intersection. Pinch off any flower buds before they go to seed. Six to eight plants will provide enough basil for the entire neighborhood.

*Garlic is probably the easiest plant to grow. Break apart a clove of garlic, and plant the cloves about four inches apart, two to four inches deep in a light soil. Lightly water and watch them grow. You may harvest when tips of the leaves turn brown but do not let them flower. Just dig up the bulbs, and use them. To keep a fresh supply take one or two cloves from each bulb and replant them.

*Parsley is probably the most used herb in the world. You will find both flat (Italian) and curly types. They complement the flavor of everything from sauces to hearty stews. It is used as a garnish on plates, or cut up and added to soups, dressings and salads. Parsley adds vitamins and color, and quietly brings out the flavor of other ingredients in the dish. Parsley is a biennial, flowering in its second season. It prefers a little shade on a hot sunny day, and should be kept watered to avoid wilting and drying. Pinch back older stems to the base, allowing new leaves and branches to grow.

Grow your own tomatoes and you are well on your way to becoming a Italian chef.

James makes it easy for you to understand herbs needed and knowing where to put them. If you need to know more about organic gardening or herbs visit: basic Info for Organic Gardening

Outdoor Entertaining

Writen by Robin De Groot

Shared moments in our garden with our family and friends become memories we will cherish throughout our lifetime. So why not transform you're mundane garden, deck or patio setting from the ordinary into the extraordinary? Generally, our gardens are at their premium use during the lush, sultry last days of summer. Keep this in mind when you are planning your Labour Day entertaining "stage", those end of summer barbeques and al fresco entertaining.

An essential ingredient in creating your "Entertaining Stage" is the creation of a casually elegant and comfortable sitting/lounge area that can accommodate everything from "dinner al fresco" to lounging with a good book and your favourite cocktail.

Always make sure to include a tilt-able sunscreen umbrella, an expandable outdoor-table, a variety of adjustable chairs, several loungers, and numerous folding side tables. Teak furniture works especially well in our Canadian climate due to its naturally inherent resilience to pests, rot and its incredible durability.

Your entertaining area should also include a variety of personal accessories such as lanterns, seat cushions and rusticated garden ornaments and should always provide a stimulating and beautiful view of your "piece of heaven".

When situating your late summer "showstopper" perennials, make sure to site them where they will be seen to their best advantage. This means that plants with brilliant red or vivid orange blossoms should be situated in full sun, prominent locations for their best display, while paler more pastel toned plants should be in a shadier location. Pale blossoms will glow in a shady location, whereas they become "bleached" out in full sun. Vivid blossoms are intense in full sun, yet become muddy or lost in the shade.

Try planting a bold clump of Rudbeckia (Coneflowers) in a prominent full sun location. Their spectacular display of brilliant yellow and gold blossoms will flower throughout the summer and fall, and will attract a variety of birds to your garden as well. Other late summer garden musts include:

1. Campanula (Bellflower) – a hardy and prolific spreading perennial that comes in a variety of blue, white and pink tones.

2. Linum perenne (Perennial Flax) – A stunningly beautiful perennial that should be grown in a large clump. It comes in a variety of colours and thrives in full sun, dry locations.

3. Lavandula angustifolia (Lavender) – An incredibly fragrant and beautiful plant that thrives in full sun, dry soil locations and rock garden settings. Situate near your outdoor sitting area to enjoy its rich fragrance.

Always strive to work "with" nature by growing a variety of plants suited to your geography, while being aware of where your entertaining, playing, gardening and wildlife areas are to be located on your property.

ROBIN'S Tips for Entertaining Outdoors

A candlelit Garden for evening entertaining will leave a lasting impression with your guests. An inexpensive method for creating the "look" of dozens of hurricanes in your garden is to purchase a 2 dozen box of mason Jars and place tea lights within them. To give them a more "Designer" look, buy bags of black sand and lay a 1"layer on the bottom of each jar. Then inset the tea light into the sand. In the evening glow they will look incredible.

ALWAYS remember to disconnect any motion detector lights in your garden for evening entertaining. Nothing ruins a party quicker than harsh lighting.

Remember to dress up your front door as well as the access to your garden. Try placing 2 patinated urns on either side of your door with planted with Sago Palms. Always remember to cover the top of your urns with a layer of Sphagnum moss to give it a more chic look.

Always use linen napkins and tablecloths when entertaining outdoors. However, don't go to the expense of buying them, make them yourself. Go to your local Fabric outlet and buy a few yards of a cheerful ticking or gingham and simply serge the edges. Make sure to make them oversized (I always make mine 22") to make your guests feel pampered.

Place a series of Citronella candles around the periphery of your garden prior to the party. Make sure to light them at least 20 minutes prior to your soiree to ensure that you will be "pest free".

Remember the key to a successful outdoor gathering is planning

Great Design in essence is about the creation of an exquisite stage for the beauty and quality of life we all desire. From ultra urban to ornate opulence, Robin and his team have passionately and successfully designed it all. Robin's interiors have graced the pages of magazines Worldwide. Robin has designed interiors for feature films, major retailers such as Home Depot (Style Ideas Magazine) and the Designer Showhouse. From smaller scale interior projects to full scale restorations and developments, Robin's passionate and creative eye overseas all aspects. While fluent in all design trends and philosophies, Robin is most passionate about historic preservation and the creation of elegant, functional and memorable spaces that convey the best attributes of each owner while respecting and celebrating the architecture that encompasses them. Visit http://www.robindegroot.ca

Decorating Your Garden With Wrought Iron

Writen by Amanda Taylor

Home decorating outdoors has never been easier with the help of wrought iron. If you are looking for the perfect garden décor, consider wrought iron. An entire garden can be accessorized solely with wrought iron items including, garden gates and fences, arbors, plant stands and benches.

No garden has a better feel to it than one that is enclosed by a wrought iron fence. This type of fencing gives your garden a simple yet elegant look. What better way to enter your garden than with a complimentary wrought iron gate that has the beautiful curves and designs that are exclusive to wrought iron material. Or, give your garden an inviting look by leaving it without a gate and using a wrought iron arbor instead, providing a beautiful entrance with flowering vine plants.

Smaller accessories for a garden that compliment your wrought iron enclosure and entrance are a must. A wrought iron garden bench located in the midst of your garden provides a comfortable place for relaxing and watching nature around you. Wrought iron plant stands positioned at just the right places in your garden make it possible to raise the height of smaller potted plants to add visual interest.

So if you are looking for garden décor that is simple yet elegant, consider wrought iron. Using wrought iron throughout your garden is an easy way to unify the area and make it more visually interesting.

Get started home decorating with Wrought Iron today. Wrought Iron Depot can help you find the perfect wrought iron for your indoor or outdoor living area including information about wrought iron furniture, wrought iron railing, wrought iron chandelier, wrought iron home decor. Get the facts and info at http://www.wrought-iron-depot.com.

Planning An Herb Garden With Culinary Herbs Medicinal Herbs And Aromatic Herbs

Writen by Mary Hanna

Planning an herb garden can be fun and rewarding. Herbs have been in use for centuries for culinary, medicinal and aromatic reasons. For generations tribal leaders and healers passed down the herbal secrets. Many modern medicines have an herb base. Modern herbalist mix medicinal herb for their clients. Many herbalists also mix aromatic herbs for beauty purposes. But, of course, the culinary herb is still the most widely used. You can become a kitchen gardener by growing an herb garden right in your kitchen on a sunny windowsill.

For the discussion of herbal gardening today we will plant the herbs found in the Elizabethan Era and so often mentioned in William Shakespeare's works. The plants selected will be culinary herbs, medicinal herbs and aromatic herbs, all to experience the aromas and flavors of that time.

Herbal gardening is wonderful since the herbs can be grown in a variety of ways. Plant a container garden for you deck or patio for great colors, different textures and super aromas. Planning an herb garden in the ground will allow you to cultivate a traditional kitchen herb garden outside. Or if you have limited space, become an inside kitchen gardener and plant your herbs on a windowsill or in a window box.

When planning your herb garden remember that the herbs need well drained soil, they hate wet feet. Test your soil for the herb garden and make sure it is alkaline. All Herbs need at least six hours of sunlight.

When Elizabethans planted aromatic herbs, culinary herbs and medicinal herbs they used either a symmetrical rectangular or square patterns. The Elizabethans were very formal and felt their herb gardens should be too. Their herbal gardens had walkways, as strolling through the garden was a popular pastime. They had no TV'S! If you are planting your herbal garden near a patio, think about adding a strolling path for yourself. The paths will add character to you herbal garden.

In planning an herb garden be sure to take in to consideration the growing habits of each herb. Plant the taller busier herbs in the back of the garden, the small, compact ones in the front. Most herbs are perennials meaning they will grow back each year. Any of the herbs that need to be planted annually should go in a spot in the herb garden that is easy to get to. Give each herb plenty of room to grow. The herbs need air circulation to prevent mold. This stage of planning an herb garden is essential since once the plants become mature they do not like to be moved.

When you plant an herb garden, you can either start from seeds or get small plants from your garden center. The garden center plants will give a better chance of achieving success in the herb garden. When using seeds, plan ahead because the seeds may need to grow for several months before they are ready to plant into the herb garden. Especially if you are a beginner, I would recommend using the small plants from the garden center.

Go to a reputable garden center to purchase you herbs. Inspect your herbs closely to make sure they are healthy. One infected plant can ruin your whole herbal garden. When using the small herbs from the garden center you will be able to harvest your herbs much sooner. When you take the herbs out to be planted in the herbal garden, gently remove the plant from the pot and loosen the soil around the roots. Place the herb in the spot you have chosen or the container that you have prepared. Cover all of the roots with soil and gently tamp down. Give your new herbs plenty of water checking the moisture each day. Never let the soil dry out but don't make your herbs roots too wet. If you are planting a container garden remember that the dirt in a container will dry out more quickly then the ground. You might find that the herbs will droop for a couple of days. Don't fret that is shock but they will recover.

Once you have learned the herbs growth patterns you can start pinching off to get a bushier herb. When you first start out, keep a journal for your herb garden to keep track of each herbs strengths and weaknesses. After you get to know your herb garden you will be able to tell when the plants need attention.

Over the centuries herbs have evolved into very hardy plants. Once you herbal garden is established it will need very little care. To hold moisture for the herb longer, mulch around the plants. This is a good garden tip whether you plant the herbs in container gardens or in the ground.

Herbs are natural insect repellents but if you have to treat for pests be sure you use a non toxic treatment since you will be eating your harvest. Marigolds are a natural repellent so you may want to plant of few of these flowers. Planting companion plants is how most Shakespearian gardens were done.

Harvest can begin as soon as you have several leaves on the herb. It is best to cut your herbs before they begin to flower for the best flavor. This is when the most oils are stored in the leaves. Wait until any morning dew has dissipated before cutting but harvest before the full sun is out. You can cut your herbs right before you wish to use them. If the stems are tender these too can be used in your recipes.

If you have an abundant harvest you can freeze or dry the herbs. Dry them by hanging them upside down, in a bunch tied together, in a warm and dark place. You can microwave them by placing them between two paper towels and microwaving for 2 minutes. Put them in an air tight container, they will last up to 1 year.

Freezing the bounty of your herb garden will let them last a little longer, a year to year and a half. Chop up the herbs and place on a sheet of wax paper. Freeze for at least 2 hours. Another method is to put the herbs in ice cube trays with water. Freeze until firm, pop them out and put them in to zip lock bags. When ever you need the herbs for soups, stews or sauces, just throw in an herb ice cube.

Now, here is the list of Shakespearian Herbs to plant in your Elizabethan herb garden including culinary herbs, aromatic herbs and medicinal herbs. It will truly make you a kitchen gardener.

Bay, box, Broom, Calendula, Chamomile, Chives, Heartsease, Hyssop, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Parsley, Peppermint, Rosemary, Rue, Salad Burnet, Summer Savory, Bachelors Buttons and Thyme. For more information on each herb, email me or search on the internet.

Happy Gardening!

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at http://www.GardeningHerb.com http://www.CruiseTravelDirectory.com and http://www.ContainerGardeningSecrets.com

Description And Applications Of Aluminum Residential Fence

Writen by Allan Wilson

Aluminum residential fence is a galvanized steel ornamental fence system with a hard wearing powder coat finish. Aluminum residential fence is designed to hand over an exceptional ornamental value to residential homeowners. A selection of styles and colors complements whichever home in the midst of the classic look of ornamental fencing. Engineered for residential applications, this fence method provides the level of quality and resilience a homeowner requires. Several companies offer aluminum residential fencing in several popular colors. Each powder coat finish has been specially formulated for durability, with ultra-violet inhibitors to endure the elements. It is possible to specially formulate a powder to coat your ornamental fence.

Features and Benefits of aluminum residential fence

Duplex coating system of polyester resin above hot dipped galvanized steel prevents early rusting. Only one of its kinds Classic Premier Rail provides strength and allows for 8' sections to trim down installation time and labor. Out of the ordinary retaining rod in the rail is protected from harsh environments and firmly holds pickets in place; no exterior fasteners are considered necessary. Panels can be inclined up to 24" in an 8' section to consent to for grade changes and to with no trouble adjust and go after the contour of slopes. Panels secured to posts by brackets require no welding, which can find the middle ground the coating leading to rust. A lot of choices of styles and colors are available to go together and add to your architecture. Twelve year Limited Warranty provides self confidence and the assurance you have chosen the right residential ornamental fence system. A twelve year Limited Warranty with the intention of states Residential Classic Premier is warranted to be free from defects in material and workmanship from date of acquire.

Specification of aluminum residential fence

Heights Available for aluminum residential fence are 4', 5', 6'. The colors available for the product are Black, White, Bronze and Desert Sand. The specification of Picket Material: 5/8" - 18 Ga. square pickets. Other specifications and features include; 1 1/4" rail, 2" - 16 Ga. square posts, Picket Tops: Universal Spear Picket, Styles: Universal 3-Rail, Spear 3-Rail, Staggered Spear 3-Rail, Picket 3-Rail.

For more interesting aluminium fencing tidbits goto: http://www.allaluminiumfencing.com

Gardening Is This Your Favorite Past Time

Writen by NamSing Then

Gardening is a pastime activity and also the art and craft of growing plants, with a goal of creating a beautiful environment. Gardening most often takes place inside one's residence.

Choosing the place: Choose a place closer to your home. For flower gardens, choose a place close to the door or with a good view from a favorite window where you'll see and enjoy it often. This will also motivate you to garden more.

Testing The Soil: Check the pH of soil. This will tell you how acidic or alkaline your soil is. Plants cannot absorb nutrients unless the soil's pH is within an acceptable range. Most plants can be grown on a neutral pH of 6.2 - 6.8. Then test the soil texture i.e. whether it is sandy, heavy clay, rocky or sandy loam. Whatever the texture, it can be improved by adding organic matter such as compost. Also test for the nutrients and minerals in it.

Preparing the Bed: Your chosen site will have grass on it or at least weeds, which must be cleared before planting anything. Use a flat-edged sharp spade to slice out the sod or just plainly pull out with hands; even tilling without removing the grass or weeds can suffice and let them decompose.

What to Grow: You have to restrict yourself to a handful of plants. If you are growing vegetables start with what you like to consume, not available locally and also give a longer harvest, like tomatoes, lettuce and beans unlike corn which takes a lot of space and requires a long time. For flower gardens start with what colors you like. Learn a tip or two from your neighbors who are growing successfully. Make sure all the plants have the same growing requirements- light, water and pH. Keep the variety of plants limited as it makes a better composition to have more plants of fewer varieties.

Planting: Water the plants in their pots a day ahead of planting them. Don't remove all of them from their pots and expose the roots to dry out in the sun. If the roots are closely packed or growing in a circle, tease them apart and stretch it out. Bury the plant to the depth it was in the pot. Too deep and the stem will rot; too high and the roots will dry out. Don't press down hard on the plants as you cover them. Watering will settle them into the ground. Immediately water your newly planted garden as soon as it is planted and make sure it gets at least one inch of water per week.

NamSing Then is a regular article contributor on many topics. Be sure to visit his other websites Organic Gardening, Home Improvement and Gardening Resources

Landscape Gardening

Writen by Robbie Darmona

Few people know how to improve their gardens. Many of us have grown so accustomed to the vertical rectangular beds of flowers and the quadrangle greenery zones, that we don't even get to think how to change that. Landscape gardening is the way to increase the natural look of your garden and turn it into something more beautiful and attractive. Many people would give a lot of money to achieve a better look of their gardens. But why spend a sum of fortune, when you can actually do it yourselves? Yes, yourselves. Landscape gardening can be done by almost everyone with basic carpentry skills. It is an easy procedure that virtually transfers your garden into architectural beauty.

What you need is some time off, and some cedar boards and screws. The idea came to me from a garden project magazine, where architecture of simple raised strawberry and herb gardens was presented. By that time I already had my rectangular flowerbeds in the backyard, and I was getting really tired of them. Suddenly, to my mind cropped up that raised gardens could be used not only for strawberry or herb growing. It could be used to enhance the landscape of my own commonplace garden! That was my first step in landscape gardening. My second one was that I ran to the garage and picked up my carpentry tools, which I was going to use for the construction.

How did the construction work take place? I used similar plans like those in the magazine for creating raised strawberry garden tiers. The difference was that I made three large squares out of the cedar boards size 1'' to 6''. The design was simple and the price of all was close to minimal. Remember that doing landscape gardening and creating a new design for you garden doesn't always include expensive operations and sophisticated skills. You just need to keep the enthusiasm, and that will certainly happen if carpentry is your passion. It happened to become mine and doing my design gave me great satisfaction.

My idea was to build some kind of a pyramid, by putting the largest square, 48 '' on a side, at the basis. The second square was 32'' on a side, and was put over the soil of the first one, at a 90 angle to the one beneath it. The top square, size 21'' on a side, was put over the second one, turned at 90 angles to the one beneath it. It worked perfect and the result was overwhelming!

Afterwards I built two more sets with one and two levels, and my garden really became futuristic. The vertical levels gave a broader perspective of the garden, and wholly changed the landscape. The squares looked like diamonds, when they were turned at an angle. I composted the soil and replanted the potted perennials, which I had uprooted during construction work. The pyramid was located at the center of the garden, and that turned out to be the perfect place. With each tier having been turned at a different angle, different diamond shapes and multi-dimensional structure occurred. I created a number of triangular shapes as well. In winter, all the different shapes would make my garden more interesting. The cedar boards added to the woody atmosphere. After some time, they would acquire silver-gray color that would give some authenticity of the landscape. I put strategically orientated fieldstones, bricks and stepping-stones, so that a more naturalistic look was acquired. This way of landscape gardening not only changed the flatness of my garden by adding vertical dimensions, but it also created beautiful series of interesting patterns.

Of course, that was just an example. If you get involved with landscape gardening, you can find your own ways to make your garden more attractive. The important thing is to use your imagination. Landscape gardening doesn't require anything more than this. The expenses are negligibly small, and you don't need to be a professional carpenter to understand what it is all about

For more information click Landscape Gardening Article by Robbie Darmona - an article writer who writes on a wide variety of subjects.

Patio Furniture Sets Teak Adirondack And More

Writen by Jennifer Akre

For a comfortable, homey feel to your outdoor spaces, take a look at adding something casual to your outdoor rooms. Teak patio furniture sets that look warm and inviting encourage your guests to sit for a while and relax. There are many styles of patio furniture sets that have a comfortable, casual feel to them. One of them may be just right for your patio area.

One great choice in casual patio furniture sets is the Adirondack style. This low slung, wide board style of furniture reminds us of weekends on the shore. And, not only does Adirondack style furniture look great, it's incredibly comfortable too. Choose an Adirondack patio furniture set in teak and let it weather to a lovely gray, lending even more casual warmth to your furniture as the years go on. Regardless of your style choice, patio furniture sets in teak are a great investment. Teak is the most durable wood available, and can be exposed to the elements for a lifetime without cracking, warping or rotting.

Another great style for casual patio furniture sets is wicker and rattan. While many wicker and rattan sets have a very elegant feel to them, you can also find very casual wicker furniture. High armed wicker chairs seem to envelop your body, while wicker sofas with overstuffed cushions are just right for an afternoon nap on the porch. Check out the many casual styles available in wicker and rattan. Pair them with bright, cheery cushions, and you're all set.

Finally, consider patio furniture sets made from aluminum. These lightweight sets come in many shapes and styles, and can suit any décor. They won't rust, and many of them have seats or cushions made from Dacron, which is great for poolside gatherings. Water flows through Dacron, rather than getting caught in it, so your poolside cushions will dry out quickly.

No matter what material you choose, you can be certain that your patio furniture set with a casual feel will give your home just the right touch of warmth that makes your guests feel right at home.

Jennifer Akre, owner of numerous niche home decor and patio furniture websites, makes it easy to find quality Teak Patio Furniture and Teak Benches. A symbol of luxury and affluence. Rich quality and classic aesthetic. These are a few reasons teak furniture is the ideal choice for outdoor furniture and remains a sound investment. You deserve it - Click to enjoy: http://www.morethanteak.com

How To Build A Koi Pond

Writen by Rob Buenaventura

If you want to build a Koi pond, then you've come to the right place to find out how to do it and what you'll need. There are many things you need to consider not only for the building of a Koi pond but also for proper maintenance. First of all, a water garden and a Koi pond are not the same thing. A true water garden generally houses both goldfish and a wide variety of marine plants. This particular type of pond is typically two feet deep. A Koi pond is different because it limits the amount of plant life you can have in the water and its immediate surroundings.

A Koi pond is also much larger than a water garden because Koi can grow to be very large in size, some growing to be the size of large trout or catfish. It is recommended that a Koi pond be large enough to hold at least a thousand gallons of water in order to keep the fish healthy. Half of the total area needs to be three feet deep with the other half at least five feet deep, it is also important to keep in mind that aquatic life, such as lily pads, that take up surface space must be accounted for when considering that as they are robbed of important oxygen by the space these plants and other floating object occupy. In other words, if you are thinking Koi pond, you had better be thinking big!

Another consideration is that fact that you will really want to keep your Koi pond close to your home in order to protect it from predatory animals and children that may inadvertently bring harm to your pond, equipment, or fish. This is after all a rather sizeable investment you will want to protect it. You will also want it near an outlet in case you need to run the pump.

These are not typically the most attractive lawn features you can come up with because of the lack of plant life in or around the pond and it is not a good idea to have a Koi pond in an environment that has violent extremes in weather such as a severe winter. These fish are highly susceptible to weather based conditions and simply can't survive a long winter.

There is no universal guidebook to use when building a Koi pond, be sure to keep in mind however the major differences between a Koi pond and a water garden and know which one you are truly wanting before you make the sizable investment of time, money, and energy. Be sure to consult a professional landscaper with extensive experience specifically with Koi ponds, as he will be aware of dangers that you may not be aware of as well as knowing where the best place to place the pond on your property would be. It is better to make the investment of a professional from the start than suffer the cost of doing it wrong and starting over.

Rob Buenaventura invites you to ArtificialGardens. Here we provide tips and benefits on Koi Ponds. For more information on building a water garden check out http://www.artificialgardens.com

When To Fly Old Glory

Writen by John T Jones, Ph.D.

You want to know what days to fly your American flag, don't you?

Well, maybe not if you fly it every day. Every morning my wife takes our flag out to the front yard, attaches it to our telescoping flagpole and runs it up.

I usually watch her do it through the window. If it is really cold, I feel sorry for her and sometimes go out and give her a hand. Once in a while I don't want her to go out there and I sneak out and get the flag up before she does.

I sell flagpoles at my web sites. I recently set up a new site called http://www.aaaflagpoles.com. The triple AAA is to get it in front of other flagpole sellers. I'm so clever. Well, I'm not sure it works since most people don't know my new site exists.

Be that bold pitch as it is, you need to know the special days for flying the flag in case someone asks you. You will be a font of knowledge. Here are the days according to one of my flagpole catalogs:

New Years Day: to start the year right.

Third Monday in January: to honor Martin Luther King

January 20: because it is Inauguration Day.

February 12: To honor Abraham Lincoln.

Third Monday in February: to honor George Washington.

Easter Sunday: to honor the Easter Bunny.

Second Sunday in May: to honor your dear mother.

May 15: fly your flag at half-staff to honor police officers killed in the line of duty.

Third Saturday in May: to honor the armed forces. It's Armed Forces Day.

Last Monday in May: fly your flag at half-staff until noon to honor our war dead, and then run it all the way up. It's Memorial Day.

June 14: this is Flag Day.

Third Sunday in June: to honor your father.

July 4: to honor our country on Independence Day.

July 27: to honor me and other Korean war vets.

First Monday in September: because it's Labor Day.

September 11: fly your flag at half-mast because it is Patriot Day. (Anyone know what this means?)

September 17: to honor the Constitution.

Last Sunday in September: to honor Gold Star mothers who have lost their sons or daughters in war.

Second Monday in October: because it is Columbus Day.

October 27: it's Navy Day.

First Tuesday in November: because it's Election Day.

November 11: because it is Veteran's Day.

Fourth Thursday in November: it's Thanksgiving Day.

December 7: to honor Pearl Harbor Day.

December 25: to honor Santa Clause.

You may have special days in your state to add to this list. In Utah for example, the pioneer company leading the Mormon migration landed at Pioneer Park on July 24, 1847. Some of my family dragged in a few months later.

Now you know why we fly Old Glory everyday. It's a lot easier than trying to remember all of these dates.

You can leave your flag up all night too if you shine a light on it at night. Then you never have to take it down unless it is not a storm flag and you want to keep it dry.

Fly Old Glory!

The End

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He is Executive Representative of IWS sellers of Tyler Hicks wealth-success books and kits. He also sells TopFlight flagpoles. He calls himself "Taylor Jones, the hack writer."

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.aaaflagpoles.com