Mortar is used not only to ’stick’ bricks together, but also to keep bricks apart. There is a slight variation in size between bricks, which would make laying very difficult if there was no way to adjust for the different sizes.
Also, bricks are one of the few building materials that ‘grow’ slightly with age, and if there was no separating medium, the brickwork would fail. Read the rest of this entry »
There is nothing that screams, “HOME” as quickly and elegantly as a plant. If you are living on your own your plants soon become the confidantes that you’ve been wishing for your whole life. They need minimal care, as long as it’s the right kind, and are always willing to listen. If they seem down, it’s quite possible that something is amiss in your own life. They are, simply said, wonderful. Whether you have a struggling little townhouse garden in need of a little TLC or want to decorate your home with a few container plants, we will furnish you with the basic information. If you wish to know more, there is a plethora of books out there, with not only the information, but also enough pictures to inspire even The Green Goblin to become an avid gardener. Read the rest of this entry »
Squirrels and chipmunks are fun to watch, but they are the hardest to keep away from your corn and sunflowers. A fence won’t keep them out, not even an electric one. They jump so well and scurry into the garden so fast that an electric shock doesn’t stop them. They’re in the garden while they’re still feeling the zap.
In the sweet corn or popcorn rows, squirrels climb right up the stalks and eat the ears. They’re smart. Often they only work the inside rows so you won’t notice them. A few times I have seen squirrels trying to haul away whole ears of corn. In a row of sunflowers they can jump from one stalk to the next as if they were in a tree.
In a small garden you may be able to use old stockings or heesecloth on the sunflower heads and corn ears to foil the squirrels at harvest time. In a big garden, an active cat or an eager dog may be your only hope. Read the rest of this entry »
Raising your own plants is much cheaper than buying from a nursery or garden centre. Although a greenhouse is helpful if you want to raise tender plants, a cold frame also has plenty of possibilities for propagating plants.
Apart from a greenhouse and cold frame, there are various other tools and materials which you will find useful for the successful propagation of plants.
High summer, when everything in the garden is blooming and burgeoning in competition, is the time when window boxes should be planted very boldly. Colours in the summer must be bright to compete with the sun or perhaps make up for the lack of it.
Red geraniums and dark blue trailing lobelia are something of a horticultural cliché but for effect against stone or stucco they can hardly be bettered. As a change from the red geranium—like ‘Sprinter’, which is massed outside Buckingham Palace every year—you can have ‘Cherie’, which has soft salmon pink flowers and deeply zoned leaves, or ‘Ringo Salmon’, which is almost orange, or ‘Rose Marie’, a really intense pink. If your house is built of brick avoid all the colours and choose white, either ‘White Orbit’ or ‘Iceberg’, which will look asking if they would like them. Few would be so stunning. In fact when choosing geraniums thechurlish as to refuse, and most would be delighted to golden rule is to shop around because newer, moreexciting colours are introduced every season. When you have found a geranium in a shade you like, mass it for maximum effect. Read the rest of this entry »
