Archive for the ‘gardening’ Category

In all likelihood you have heard of teak furniture and have wanted to know why it’s such a big deal. This article contains some simple info regarding the building material that seems a little mysterious, even has a weird sound to it, but dominates the market of outdoor furniture.

Teakwood furniture is especially suited to use outside the home because of its super high oil content and resistance to insects and warping. Teak is a hardwood tree indigenous to the east and south of Southern Asia and much of Southeast Asia. Teak is nowadays frequently planted in tropical environments and is exported around the world to furnish gardens and patios as well as for shipbuilding materials. Teakwood furniture ages in the weather and gains a silvery color without requiring any shelter or care at all. Just leave your teak furniture on the patio during all four seasons and you will end up with furniture that looks elegant in a natural environment and also affords comfort and durability. Look for teak furniture built with mortise and tenon joints for the utmost quality build.

Teak furniture typically has a distinctively simple style of design. Clean lines take advantage of the beautiful texture of the wood. When you start looking for outdoor furniture, you’ll discover a very large selection of teak chairs, tables, and accessories to choose from. Because teakwood furniture can be left outside without being sheltered or cared for 365 days a year, the majority of teak tables and chairs are heavy, causing them to be super durable. Teakwood furniture is commonly made to increase comfort and style since there is no need for storing it away!

The focal point of your collection will be your table. Teak tables typically come in a slat style, offering texture and interest to the eating surface. Pick from round, square, rectangular and expandable teak tables to fit your outdoor dining setup.

What could be more critical than a comfortable chair when you’re looking for furniture to purchase? Teak chairs come in a wide variety of styles, some folding, some armchairs, and lots of attractively simple side chairs to accommodate a crowd. Go all out and try a teak steamer or Adirondack chair. You will not want to get up!

If your style is a more upbeat outdoor party, bar-height teak table and chairs are the best selection. Add proportion to your teak furniture collection by owning these bar height teak tables and chairs and get your guests mingling. In the garden or by the pool, teak bar furniture is compact and practical no matter how many people you have invited over.

The simple truth is, teak furniture is the best choice for your garden, deck or patio. It will last a lifetime. You will be happy in your teak bar chair and dozing in your steamer chair with no fears about care.

Virginia Bryson writes for Belle Abode about home furnishings and design, and consults on interior design in the Atlanta, GA area. For more information about teak furniture and patio furniture, visit http://www.belleabode.com/

While no garden is maintenance free, it is possible to create a garden with relatively few demands. Careful planning, proper plant selection and thoughtful design are essential to creating a low maintenance landscape which retains a garden’s aesthetic qualities.

Analyze your site thoroughly. Observe the sun and shade conditions and test your soil for Ph level and composition. Through site analysis you’ll be more informed as to what plants are appropriate for your garden. Gardens planned with forethought will require less maintenance as your plants will thrive and experience less stress.

Group new shrubs into planting beds; they’re generally easier to maintain in the garden than several sporadic individual plants. Though flowers are higher upkeep than other types of plants, few would want to banish them from the garden completely. Perennials require some work, such as deadheading, though the season but they return and flower year after year. After the initial investment and planting, perennials are easy to maintain. Annuals on the other hand, require deadheading, frequent watering and need to be replanted every year. If you decide to plant flowers in your garden, use only a few and place them where they’ll have the highest impact.

When designing your garden, remember, planting beds which are slightly curved or straight will be easier to mow around than those which are more complex. Edging planting beds will help keep weeds out of the lawn and grass out of the bed, reducing the need for weeding. There are many materials which work well as an edging. Plastic and metal edging are found at most nurseries and can be curved to follow the shape of the bed. Be sure to mulch the shrub beds after planting, this will help reduce the growth of weeds as well as help the soil retain moisture.

Reintroduce nature into your garden to create landscapes which are self-sustaining. A woodland garden is a great low maintenance landscape which utilizes many native species of trees, shrubs and perennials. Plants native to particular area will generally require less maintenance than those plants which are introduced. Native plants have proven their ability to survive in your local climate and site conditions. They’ll also be less likely to succumb to disease and extreme conditions. Native species will create more diversity in the garden as well as a habitat for native wildlife.

Wildflower meadows are another type of landscape which requires very little maintenance. Meadows are noted for their stability and wide diversity of plants resulting in vibrant colors and textures. Like the woodland garden a meadow will require very little maintenance after some initial work. Once a year, preferably in the fall after the seeds have dropped from the plants, mow the field with the blades at a high setting. This will allow the plants to get an early start in the spring. It also removes any tree and shrub saplings from taking over the site.

Aside from recreating native landscapes in your garden, proper plant selection is important when planning a low maintenance garden. For example, consider replacing some lawn areas with groundcover. Groundcover can greatly reduce the upkeep in the garden while adding a variety of textures and colors. Though groundcovers vary in the amount of required maintenance all groundcovers should be considered low maintenance. Only occasional pruning is necessary to keep groundcovers from creeping into the lawn or garden beds.

Pruning shrubs is one of gardening’s most important and laborious tasks. Some shrubs are fast growers which need pruning at least few times each season. Selecting slow growing shrubs will greatly reduce or eliminate the need for pruning. During the plant selection process, be sure to choose shrubs which will not outgrow their allotted space so there’ll be no need for transplanting in the future.

Evaluate your needs before you begin planning your garden. Consider the amount of time you’ll be able to devote to the garden. With proper planning and some initial investment of time and labor you’ll be able to enjoy and carefree garden for years.

T Hallinan is a landscape designer and builder in Massachusetts. Visit his garden resource website http://www.gardenlistings.com for all kind of helpful information. For more garden guides visit http://www.gardenlistings.com/resources.htm

Have you ever thought of the cost you are putting into your yards in comparison with what you are getting out of them? Spring is the time we get out and start our landscaping projects. Are you making your dollar work the for you when it comes to landscaping.

Advise is mixed as to whether or not curb appeal affects the price of a home much. The prevalent feeling is that low-maintenance, yet clean, landscaping is always a good choice. Chances are that if you have invested a lot into your landscaping, the new owners won’t be interested in it, so it won’t pay you back.

My husband likes to tease me that we’ll just get rid of the grass in our front yard and save the gas money. This is actually a consideration in many parts of the country. For example, in Las Vegas, most city yards aren’t covered with grass. It simply isn’t water efficient. When looking at your yard, consider how much you will have to water it and how often you will have to mow it.

If you are starting from scratch, look for slow growing grasses that are designed for your area. These grasses can cut your mowing time and may not need extra watering during the summer months.

When it comes to the details, there are efficient ways to add color and design to your yard. Unless you love to work in the garden, annuals aren’t for you. If you have to have that punch of color, don’t go overboard. Just plant a few annuals (it’s cheaper if you do it from seed) in a high traffic area, such as by your front door.

Perennials are the popular, low maintenance choice for most people. Look for plants that are native to your area. There are some plants out there that need little water and are very disease resistant. If you choose well, you should be able to plant and forget. Simply follow the directions for spacing, and you should have to do anything to your perennials for several years.

You can even cut out weeding by using a landscaping carpet in your beds. Or for the frugal gardener, use those newspapers. Simply layer the newspapers around your plants and cover with mulch. No weeds and the newspaper breaks down into the dirt.

Shrubs are a great way to add beauty to your garden without costing you a lot of time or money. Flowering shrubs can bring beauty to your garden without the yearly cost of annuals. Again, be sure you select plants well-suited to your area and the growing conditions around your home. Yes, occasionally you will need to prune your shrubs. But with shrubs and perennials, you watering, weeding and maintenance is reduced.

Don’t forget to consider your family in your landscaping decisions. I’m not planting flowers in our new homes yard, because I have a feeling that they will be too tempting to our young daughter. Some well placed, and pretty, herbs and vegetables near the front door will add some blooms and are perfectly safe for my children. Plus, we’ll be able to eat them. Double-duty is always frugal.

Martin Lukac, represents http://www.RateEmpire.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies! Visit http://www.RateEmpire.com today

Some people believe that when the weather starts getting colder and the leaves start to fall, it is time to put away the gardening tools and wait until next spring to work on their garden again. Wrong. Winter is an important time to maintain your garden’s health and assure yourself a good crop for next year. You may think that might take to long to prepare your garden, but the truth is that it takes less than one day to prepare your garden for the upcoming winter.

When the nighttime temperatures drop to less than forty-five degrees Fahrenheit for more than four days in a row, or frost is forecasted for your area (usually around late October or November) you know its time to begin preparing your garden. You should begin by evaluating your garden design, check which plants grew well in the past season, and which plants did not do well. Fall is a good time to decide which plants will remain in you garden next year, and which ones should go.

It is also a good time to decide which new plants you want to grow. To make your garden more colorful and healthy, be sure only to plant the more hardy plants during the fall

Read more here—>

Technorati Tags: gardening, winter in the garden, garden, winter

Do you have a space in your backyard you would like to fill with a water feature? Most home-owners would like a large pond, but don’t want it so big that a child or dog could fall into. You also probably don’t want to dig a 3-foot hole either- recently, you may have discovered that your “backyard dirt” can actually substitute as modelling clay, and it has a similar composition as concrete. Maintenance is also another issue- do you have the time to nurture your pond, to keep the water clean, keep debris from falling into it, and to periodically clean the filters and pumps? Or would a 800 gallon pond quickly turn into a cesspool and attract nasty glares from your neighbours?

If you’re like most home-owners, you would prefer a small maintenance-free and easy-to-install pond. A small pre-formed pond is probably the ideal solution for you. Unlike liner ponds, preformed ponds already come in a pre-defined shape. Mini preformed ponds are typically 2-3 feet wide/long, and 1 foot deep. They are especially low-maintenance since the volume of water is only in the 30 gallon range, it is quite easy to periodically empty the water and to refill your pond.

Mini-preformed pond kits, such as Algreen’s 30 gallon kit, sometimes include a small watercourse to add the trickling sound of water to your backyard. They typically also the pump and pre-filter that is required to circulate the water, and to pump the water to your watercourse. The pump is an essential part of any water garden, because, without proper water circulation, your pond will rapidly transform into a breeding ground for mosquito larvae.

In addition to the pond, the watercourse, the pump, and the equipment included in a mini-pond kit, all you will need is:

1. A carpenter’s level.
2. Sand, to backfill your pond. In addition to backfill, the sand will also provide adjustable flooring for your pond shell, which will come in handy when you are trying to level your pond.
3. A shovel, to dig your hole.
4. A garden hose, to fill your pond with water.
5. A space in your backyard that is relatively close to your house, to maximize its impact. Be sure to consider the slope of the land and to ensure that the pond avoids rainwater runoff.

Optional backyard water gardening supplies include landscaping rocks, aquatic plants, fish, and a fountain and/or spitter.

As you can see, water gardening can be made relatively straightforward with a mini-pond kit! For further information and tips about water gardening, please go to GardenSM.com.

More information about the 30 gallon mini-pond kit can be obtained at http://www.gardensupermart.com/buypond/c229211p16771003.2.html

With a great many decking materials, one common factor when thinking about investing in a deck is the amount of maintenance required. With composite decking, made from recycled materials, the beauty of this low-maintenance deck is rivaled only by its even, smooth surface. Composite decking has been designed to withstand all of the stresses that are placed upon decks by natural elements such as rain and UV rays as most commercial decking materials are. But Composite decking is also easy to install, requires no staining or sealing, and is easy to keep clean as well. A composite deck means less time working, and more time enjoying the deck. For the sheer enjoyment of the outdoors, it is worth considering a composite deck for this reason alone.

Composite decks: easy to install.

Composite decking is made with easy installation in mind; a composite deck is manufactured for those who value convenience along with quality. Composite decking material is lightweight – easily lifted and easily sawn like real wood. This type of decking usually comes with a hidden clip system which further ensures a straightforward deck installation while maintaining a tailored, smooth deck surface.

Composite decking: easy to maintain

Another feature of composite decking is the fact that they don’t need to be stained or sealed. For many wood decks, annual staining is a minimum in order to keep it free of pests and wood-rot. Composite decking is made with these stresses in mind. There is no need to spend additional hours staining or sealing a composite deck, and so more time can be set aside for meeting with friends and family, and enjoying the outdoors together.

The easily cleaned composite deck

It takes very little effort to clean a composite deck – that’s the way it was made. Just a hosing off and a sweep when required is about the extent of things when looking to keep a composite deck clean. For a residential deck, composite decking is a great solution for families with children. It’s in these households that the idea of saving time is most important! Since there are no involved methods or equipment required in cleaning composite decking, you are free to turn it into a part of family time, where even the kids can be involved in the maintenance of your outdoor property.

Composite decking was designed for convenience, as well as being a quality alternative to a great many varieties of decking materials. The ease of owning such a low-maintenance deck will result in more time enjoying your property.

Rob Jones is Communications Coordinator with BuildDirect, a leading online wholesaler of building products. Rob writes articles for commercial contractors and DIYers on features, installation, and maintenance of building materials used in commercial and residential projects. These articles focus on materials such as flooring, decking, roofing, and siding, and other related topics.