Landscaping & Gardening Information
Wooden Garden Furniture
Wooden Garden Furniture can be the ideal solution to various seating problems in your garden. You can add new seating areas to your garden by perhaps turning a path into a destination for a sit down or consider adding a few pieces of wooden garden furniture to less frequented corners of the garden.
How to Buy a Porch Swing
The Porch Swing is enjoying a surge in popularity thanks to the latest Home & Garden trend towards building "Garden Rooms". Patio Furniture Retailers have responded by flooding the market with so many options that making a choice can be a daunting task.
Taming Your Outdoors
Slapping yourself silly trying to keep mosquitoes from biting you? Besides causing irritating itching bites, mosquitoes can also carry and transmit several diseases including the West Nile Virus. Although you cannot get rid of every mosquito, there are many ways to protect yourself and those around you.
How to Grow Sweet Corn
Purchased corn, whether on the cob or in a can can't compare for taste! Sweet corn is easy to grow in the flower and fruit gardening guides home garden with just a little know how and a few corn facts.Corn needs warm soil temperatures (50° - 65° Fahrenheit) to germinate.
Xeriscaping is Waterwise Gardening
What is xeriscaping? You may have heard of xeriscaping as a way of landscaping in the Southwestern United States. You may picture xeriscaping as a lot of gray gravel and cactus in a hot desert yard.
Homemade Hydroponics System Plan
Building your own water works system is quite simple and can be fun, if you know how to follow instructions. This particular type of system is best suited for water loving plants such as lettuce.
Skip The Pesticide And Use Natural Alternatives
For best health, it is important to keep your environment as chemical free as possible. With better weather coming up, consider this:Many people do not realize that using pesticides and weed killers on lawns can cause health problems for your children and animals, as they often are on the lawn daily in the summer.
Tips on How to Plant Roses
When spring comes and the ground is thawed, it is time to start planting your rose garden. Roses have been a cherished aphrodisiac since biblical times.
Create a Hummingbird Garden Habitat
It's not difficult to create a garden that will attract hummingbirds, but if you'd like to build a habitat in which they will happily nest and live throughout the northern summer, you need to provide them with more than a sugar-water feeder and a plant or two. An active hummingbird garden doesn't need to be large, but it will have all of the following key ingredients to attract and keep the attention of "nature's fairies".
Ecological Landscape Design and Organic Lawn Care
There is a growing recognition, that the expanding suburban landscape is having a negative environmental impact. Suburban development often includes vast energy dependant monocultures (perfect, grass lawns).
5 Things To Consider Before Purchasing a Push Reel Mower
Push Reel Mowers are making a "comeback" of sorts, though, in reality they've never really left; they've just gotten better. There are a number of reasons why purchasing a reel mower would make sense such as: better for the environment; more exercise; lighter; and, better for the grass, to name a few.
Using Push Reel Mowers
If you're not familiar with push reel mowers or if you haven't used one since "back in the day", there are a few points you should be aware of before using a push reel mower:Don't expect to cut tall weeds or dandelions. You notice how your gas-powered mowers get a little "overwhelmed" when cutting weeds or very tall grass? Those issues are a bit worse with reel mowers because they become harder to push and they are limited in the height of what they can cut.
Pressure Washing Decks
A beautiful wooden deck, properly maintained, can add greatly to the aesthetic and resale values of a home.Just look around, decks are almost everywhere.
5 Simple Steps to Care For Your Push Reel Mower
Though most Push Reel Mowers made today are durable, they do require some basic care and simple maintenance in order to keep them running smoothly. Taking the following steps will ensure you have years of use on your push reel mower.
Gardening Tips for Early - Mid July
Now we are fast approaching the hottest time of the year, there are still some things that can be done in the garden. Below are a few gardening tips for those that love the summer warmth.
The Indoor Garden: Plants that Clean the Air
There are many reasons for creating an indoor garden - significant among them is the need to clean the toxins from our homes and offices. As a consequence of the energy crisis in the 1970's, today's homes and offices are built to conserve energy and the outcome has been a lack of air exchange, with the resulting increase of indoor air pollution.
The Garden As Healer
The word for 'paradise' comes from the Persian word for a garden and has always meant the same thing in every culture. It is representative of 'paradise on earth' and is our opportunity to own a little bit of heaven - here and now.
Feng Shui in the Garden
"The Ancient Art of Placement" called Feng Shui (pronounced phung schway) literally means 'wind' and 'water.' The Chinese believe this cosmic energy, called Chi or 'the green dragon's cosmic breath,' is the life force energy that pervades human existence.
Colour in the Garden
Colour affects our emotions, moods, physical, and spiritual well-being. It has a significant effect on everything we eat, drink, and touch and influences our physical environment including our home, office, and garden.
Basil: The King of Herbs
One of the most popular herbs is Ocimum basilicum commonly called sweet basil. Often called the 'king of herbs,' basil can be grown indoors or out.
Chives - Allium Schoenoprasum
Known as common garden chives, Allium schoenoprasum, can be grown indoors and out. Chives are rich in vitamins A and C, potassium, and calcium.
Dill: Scandinavias Most Important Culinary Herb
The ancient herb, Anethum graveolens or Fernleaf dill as it is commonly known, was mentioned some 5,000 years ago in early Egyptian writings. It is the most important culinary herb in Scandinavia, as popular as parsley is in other parts of the world.
Marjoram: The Herb of Happiness
Called the "herb of happiness," Origanum majorana, commonly known as sweet marjoram or knotted marjoram, is an herbal symbol of peace and well-being. Marjoram is grown as an annual in the colder parts of the world but is perennial in warmer regions.
Mint: The Herb of Hospitality
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.
Oregano: Joy of the Mountain
Known as "joy of the mountain," Origanum vulgare is commonly called culinary oregano or Turkish oregano. Oregano is a close relative of marjoram and is also known as pot marjoram.
Parsley: A Cooks Best Friend
A cook's best friend, Petroselinum crispum, commonly known as curly parsley, is used in myriad ways in the kitchen. Often discarded by diners as 'just a garnish,' parsley has many valuable nutrients including bet-carotene, calcium, iron, and Vitamins A and C in easily assimilated form.
Rosemary: The Herb of Remembrance and Friendship
Rosmarinus officinalis, commonly called rosemary is an aromatic herb indigenous to the Mediterranean area. Rosemary is traditionally known as the herb of remembrance and friendship.
Tarragon: A Favourite of French Chefs
Long a favourite of French chefs, the herb Artemisia dracunculus, known as French tarragon or dragon herb is an essential ingredient in Béarnaise sauce, tarragon vinegar, and certain Dijon mustards. A perennial herb, tarragon grows 2 - 4 feet (60 - 120 cm) and has dark, shiny, narrow grey-green leaves about 3 inches (8 cm) long with smooth edges.
Thyme: The Herb of Courage
Garden thyme, fresh or dried, alone or combined with parsley and bay leaves to make a bouquet garni, adds a distinctive aromatic flavouring to meats, poultry, stews, sauces, and stuffing. Thymus vulgaris, commonly known as cooking thyme, English thyme, French thyme, or winter thyme is just one of the 350 species of the genus Thymus.
Porch Swing Places: Where to Put a Porch Swing
So you've purchased a Porch Swing (or are about to) and you plan to hang it on the Porch? Not so fast!Where you install your Porch Swing is as much a function of the need you are trying to satisfy as tradition and practicality. If nostalgia is your motivator, then the porch may well be the best place for your Patio Swing.