Vegetables and Flowers Can Be Friends
Vegetables and Flowers Can Be Friends
I had a friend who grew up on a farm and even now, years later, she refuses to plant anything unless it has some sort of usefulness. To earn a place in her garden, plants require more than pretty petals; they have to deter pests or provide a source of food. Today, more and more people are planting similar useful gardens by combining edible plants with flowers in an effort to introduce more home grown foods in their diet.
This mix of food and flowers is also very practical for those with small yards or even balconies. Years ago, people lived off the food from their gardens, much like my friend with the farmer roots. Commercial food production took over and people transformed their gardens by planting lawns and blooming ornamental plants. Now, however, we’re seeing a merging of the two as home owners are going back to their grass roots. Often, fruit trees are chosen over ornamental varieties. Fences and trellises are now being adorned by grapes, and vegetables are being planted in amongst summer annuals. Even landscapers are noticing the difference, with requests for edible landscape designs becoming more common.
Here are some tips to get you thinking like an edible plant gardener:
Add color by planting red cabbage, yellow peppers, purple eggplants or rainbow chard. Combining these nourishing plants with flowers attracts more useful insects and increases flower production and vegetable yields. Certain plants such as garlic when planted next to roses, provides a natural insecticide by repelling aphids.
Instead of ornamental shrubs, try blueberries for their tasty fruit, fall color and low maintenance. Others include Saskatoon/Juneberry, Gooseberry, or Blue Elderberry. Hazelnuts when trimmed, make wonderful hedges, and strawberries make a tasty ground cover.
For filling in those large areas, try horseradish, or Jerusalem artichoke with its showy yellow flowers.
Shade tolerant veggies include beets, brussel sprouts, cabbage, garlic, leaf lettuce, spinach, turnips and radishes. Once you taste the flavor in your homegrown delicacies, you’ll be increasing your crop every year.
Edible flowers are both decorative and tasty when added to salads and soups. Some of my favorites include:
Nasturtiums – Adds a peppery flavor to salsa and gazpacho.
Anise Hyssop – Sweet anise or black licorice flavor.
Basil – Flowers have a similar, milder taste than the leaves.
Bee Balm – Use leaves and flowers to make tea with an Earl Grey flavor.
Borage – Large shrub with purple star-shaped flowers that taste like cucumber are wonderful in soups and salads.
Calendula – The bright orange flowers taste similar to saffron with a peppery taste that adds a golden color to foods.
Carnation – Has a peppery, spicy flavor.
Chamomile – Tastes similar to apple and makes a relaxing tea that’s easy on the stomach.
Chicory – The beautiful bright blue flowers tolerate the worst of growing conditions. The roots can be used to make a coffee substitute, the buds can be pickled similar to a caper, and the young leaves make a nice addition to a salad.
Chives – Flowers have a mild onion flavor and the chopped stems are a nice addition to soups, salads or just about any recipe you would add onions.
Pansy – Flowers have a mild sweet to tart flavor.
Violet – Sweet nectar-like flavor.…
Church Design Tidbits: Balconies and Landscaping
Church Design Tidbits: Balconies and Landscaping
In this article, we will be giving some design tidbits for two unrelated, but important, features of your church project: balcony seating and landscaping.
Balcony Seating
When properly designed, balcony seating has some benefits worth considering. Balconies can solve the problem of future expansion as the congregation grows and can enable a church with limited land to expand “up” rather than “out”. In fan-shaped sanctuaries a balcony can increase the seating by almost 50%. A future balcony should be master-planned from the start with the major structure completed during the sanctuary construction. A removable wall can temporarily hide this unfinished space.
Many people assume that a balcony is always an inexpensive and smart way to expand. However, the floor system, structural framing, riser framing, handrails and multiple stairways are an additional expense not incurred when seating on the main level. The primary problem with balcony seating, however, is often not related to construction costs. Many people complain of feeling like spectators when sitting in a balcony, and balconies often do not provide good visibility of, or easy access to, the altar area. Furthermore, it’s simply difficult to see someone’s face beyond about 65 feet. Since the sight-line is downward, balcony handrails and the person in the row ahead often block the view as well. Problems related to the seats under the balcony may include columns, low ceilings and poor sound or lighting.
Some elements of good design include stairs or stadium seating on the sides with easy access to the main floor, two steps per row for added visibility, high-back pews to alleviate the fear of falling forward, glass or narrow rails in the upper half of balcony walls, and large-screen video monitors or projection screens.
Landscaping
While landscaping can add immensely to the value, beauty and comfort of a church site, most architectural firms do not provide detailed landscaping design in their scope of services unless specifically requested by the owner. Many jurisdictions will require a rudimentary landscaping plan consisting of a site plan indicating the location, type and size of new and existing trees and shrubs, areas of sod and mulch, as well as an erosion control plan. It is now common for permit authorities to require landscaping islands in the parking areas based upon the amount of pavement. These islands are usually located at the ends of parking rows. Landscaping islands, however, can become an impediment to snow removal. In transition yards (a green area separating the church parking lot or buildings from adjoining residential or commercial property) a screen of trees and shrubs is also often required by permit authorities.
Deciduous trees on the south and west of the building will shade and cool the church in summer yet let warming sunlight through the bare branches in winter. The church should select hardy plant types that require little maintenance. Keep in mind that the little shrubs being planted may quickly grow too large for their placement near parking spaces, sidewalks, and buildings.
The church should consider the benefits of good landscaping design. A knowledgeable landscape architect can be hired to develop a master plan for landscaping that can be developed over time as funds become available.…
Sprinkler Systems – Landscaping and Fences Can Provide Challenges Irrigation Installers Can Overcome
Sprinkler Systems – Landscaping and Fences Can Provide Challenges Irrigation Installers Can Overcome
Proper planning is a good start to saving time and money. Preparation and planning a lawn irrigation system and landscape design in the right order can save a lot of headaches. Without a good plan, continuous revising and reworking a layout can increase the costs substantially.
For the home owner considering installing a sprinkler system, installation of all the landscaping elements, plants, and fencing first is strongly recommended. There are several reasons for landscaping being the first step. Often landscapes can alter the drainage, reduce the area requiring irrigation, and actually block certain areas.
One of the first landscaping components to be installed, or at least marked out, is the fencing. While a chain link or wire fence will probably not interfere with any sprinkler spray pattern, the same can not be said of a six foot privacy fence or even a picket fence. Many times a home owner will install a fence after the sprinkler system without being aware that the fence is preventing the lawn from receiving the much needed water.
While one or two sprinkler heads can be relocated with some effort in order to accommodate the above scenario, many times the water coverage will still be insufficient. Depending upon the type of water source, adding several sprinkler heads to an already established layout can reduce the efficiency and water pressure thereby reducing the effectiveness of the entire sprinkler system.
The next order of importance is installing the larger shrubs and bushes. These elements can also block a sprinkler spray pattern, if not at the time of installation then after the plant has matured. A good irrigation designer will take into account the future growth pattern and size of the landscaping. Blocking a sprinkler head with bushes not only prevents the lawn from the necessary water, it can also cause injury to the bush by blasting a stream of water into it.
Some residential and commercial irrigation systems already installed are supplied by municipal water sources. A qualified irrigation installer can usually switch this to a well source almost always allowing the home owner to save money on monthly utilities. The cost of the well can range from $1300 to several thousand depending on the region and the type of ground material. Sandy soils are much easier to drill down into than a granite subsurface and therefore less expensive.
Even though there are various models of pumps with different horsepower ratings available, should the property size be on the larger square footage, more than one pump and well may be necessary. Multiple pumps may be able to run off of a single well, but should drought conditions occur and the water table dip near or below the depth of the well bottom, the well will be useless. Damage may befall the pumps as well.
It is always advisable to obtain multiple estimates from a few different irrigation specialists. Asking a lot of questions to each installer will be able to give the home owner a fair idea of the competency and allow the customer to compare one companies services with another. Just because one company undercuts another by a wide margin on price does not mean better quality. Trust in the idiom “you get what you pay for”.…
Tips to Get a Great Looking Space Using Experts in the Field
Tips to Get a Great Looking Space Using Experts in the Field
Many people these days just love to have a garden that is really an extension of the home environment. Having this outside space will allow them to entertain, sit back and enjoy, or have a great place for the kids to run around in a safe environment. Chelsea landscaping will have all the right ideas to make this space into exactly what is needed and by consulting a Chelsea landscaper, the perfect outdoor space is there for the asking.
Of course, it could just be that the yard has become a boring and uninspired place to sit and the homeowner will be hard pressed to know what to do about this predicament. Having something as simple as a brick patio or wooden deck installed may be all that is needed to make the place useful again.
The experts will certainly listen to the needs and aspirations of the homeowner and work out a way to fit as much of these criteria as possible without it being over the top in price or design. Having the expert look at the place will in fact probably save on costs in the long run since the amateur will not take into account things like lighting, irrigation or suitability of plants and seating.
The first thing to be considered in most cases of course is the budget. No matter how tight this is, the expert will be able to say what is available within this guideline and may also suggest a better way of doing something to save on costs. Getting more ‘bang for the buck’ is probable if the right expert is chosen so finding someone with testimonials to look at is very important indeed.
Once the budget has been worked out, it is now time to get down to the business of design and this is where the expert will show himself. Making the most of existing planting, or moving plants and trees to a better suited place is possible but it does take some very careful planning to do this.
Things like water features and seating also have to be taken into consideration and these may take up a lot of the budget but these may well be worth it in the end. Irrigation systems can also be put in at the same time which will save inordinate amounts of time and trouble if the homeowner does not want to be running around with a garden hose at all hours of the day or night.
If the project looks like it may be a big one, it may be a good idea to phase the different aspects of the project in over some time. It is very important in this case to work closely with an expert in gardens to make sure that he fully understands what is needed. The need for continuity and the need to be able to use the garden throughout the transformation are of utmost importance since there may be some unavoidable but necessary hold ups along the way.…
DIY Aluminum Fence is Fine, But What About the Landscaping?
DIY Aluminum Fence is Fine, But What About the Landscaping?
Home owners everywhere are trying to figure out the best ways to bring up their property values without spending too much money doing it. These are uncertain times and they are going to remain uncertain (particularly in the housing market) for quite some time; smart choices are necessary and a DIY aluminum fence is a very smart choice. For those of you who are not too familiar with Aluminum fence, I’ll explain below.
DIY aluminum fence is inexpensive to ship, easy to install, and incredibly durable. Because of aluminums light weight it is easy to shape and manipulate during the manufacturing process and even easier to load, ship, and deliver. Being a sturdy metal, despite its light weight, aluminum is a naturally long term investment that will not warp, crack, chip, or rust over time. It is an investment for home owners who wish to add security and elegance to their home while adding something valuable to the property as well.
Once you’ve decided on your fence you’re going to want to modify the existing landscaping to suit. This doesn’t really require much, depending on your fence and property type. If you have a lot of cement/gravel around the perimeter, consider terra cotta pots, decorative urns, or pot hangers. These can often be used effectively to add some green to otherwise desolate looking areas. Grassless lawns are also becoming quite the fad and compliment an aluminum fence of almost any color or style very well. Darker fence colors can be taken advantage of by planting particularly bright coloured plants and flowers; this will draw the garden out and the fence will work as a background enhancement to its beauty. Plants with white flowers, bright foliage, and night bloomers are all ideal; and when you go into your lawn in the moonlight, you’ll get a great glowing surprise!…
Landscaping Bark
Landscaping Bark
Fall is the time when it is the most important to prepare your garden and yard for the upcoming spring. The work you do now will have a huge impact on the overall look and function of your garden when the weather finally turns back around. There are many different things that you can do to help give yourself a head start. One of the things that may be a good idea is to lay bark mulch so the soil will be in good condition when you are ready to plant.
There are many different types of bark that should be used for different applications. The first step in determining which type of bark will be best for you is to determine what the space will be used for. Will you be planting flowers or vegetables in the space? Are you just putting down the bark mulch to give a nice finished appearance to an empty planting box? These are a few of the questions that you will have to answer so you don’t find yourself waiting in the nursery waiting for a customer service person to help you with your bark questions.
If you are applying mulch to an area without plants you may want to go with some cheap shredded hardwood mulch. This type of bark is typically used on street plantings and is very cost effective. If you want to go with something that looks a little bit better you can spend a little more money and go with pine mini nuggets or colored bark mulch.
You can also use shredded hardwood bark mulch in an area where you are going to plant vegetation. This type of bark mulch is used widely by landscapers because it is one of the cheapest options and gives very good coverage. It provides a variety of benefits including minimizing weeds, preventing soil erosion and even provides nutrients to the soil.…
What to Expect When Hiring a Landscaper
What to Expect When Hiring a Landscaper
Your landscape is an important part of your home. It is the first thing people see, and it greatly affects the overall value of your property. Therefore, it is important to hire a reliable garden landscaper to ensure effective results and quality service.
When choosing a garden landscaper you should be clear about whether you are looking for an update to your existing landscape or you want to remove everything and start from scratch. Like any typical designer, the contractor must be artistic and original with a good eye for design. If you already have a specific design in mind, a good designer will be able to follow your instructions but at the same time suggest other possible alterations that will make your lawn look better. A garden designer is trained for the job and can prevent stressful experiences while using their extensive knowledge about the plants, including what will fit the climate and soil, what will be low maintenance and what will have a long lasting positive effect on your garden, ultimately saving you the costs of having to plant and re-plant every year. A designer can look at your garden and immediately determine how to use the type of soil, light and other integrated elements to create a meaningful design.
It is very important to be comfortable with the contractor you hire. Most should be able to produce references from previous customers, or show you portfolios of previous work.
Be sure to ask questions. Do they have insurance and are they bonded? If something goes wrong, it will be very important that your landscaper is adequately covered to take on the liability of any loss. Is this landscaping contractor a member of any trade associations? This will ensure that they keep to a high level of quality and professionalism. Will the same people be doing the work each time? How much experience do they have? Can you change the type of service at any time without a penalty? Can you cancel the service without penalty if you are not satisfied? Are materials like fertilizer and sod included or do they charge extra?
Always get quotes from several landscaping companies so you can compare services and costs. A quote should include all fees as well as a description of exactly what work will be performed and at what times or intervals. This will give you the best impression of what you can expect to pay, and value for your money.
Make sure to get a written contract. Without a contract you are not protected. Do not have any work done until you are happy with what you can expect and both parties have signed their agreement to the expectations.…
The Christmas Tree Tradition
The Christmas Tree Tradition
When setting up your tree this holiday season give thought to how we ever started the tradition. By understanding the history of the Christmas tree, we may then fully appreciate why this staple of Christmas decorum has become so universal.
Egyptian cultures may have been the first to worship evergreens, bringing palm leaves into their homes during the winter solstice as a symbol of life. The Romans, the Druids and the Germans through the Middle Ages celebrated the winter solstice in much the same manner. In fact, German settles are responsible for the introduction of the tradition in the United States in the early 1800s. The traditional size was tabletop and decorated with apples, but those trees were quickly replaced with floor-to-ceiling trees.
The Christmas tradition in the United States experienced steady growth at first. Many Puritans banned Christmas, as it was a pagan holiday. Over time, Christmas became more widely celebrated and tree decorating rose in popularity. In 1851, a farmer named Mark Carr hauled a shipment of evergreens to New York City and sold all of them. Two years later Franklin Pierce brought the Christmas tree to the White House. By the new century the tradition had spread to one in five American homes. Two decades later the tradition was nearly universal and continued to thrive.
The Great Depression of the 1930s launched the Christmas tree market to new heights. Nurserymen who were struggling to sell their harvested trees for landscaping decided to sell their evergreens at Christmas time. Franklin D. Roosevelt was skeptical of the Christmas tree tradition for fear of deforestation, but agreed to develop the evergreen harvest into Christmas tree farms. These cultivated trees were desired over wild ones because of their symmetrical shape.
By the 21st century approximately 25-30 million Christmas Trees are sold each year in the United States alone. The majority of these trees come from tree farms across the country. Scotch pines take the crown for most popular tree with about 40 percent of the tree trade; Douglas Firs are close behind with 35 percent of the market. Other common trees are the noble fir, white pine, balsam fir and white spruce.…
The Benefits of a Home Sprinkler System
The Benefits of a Home Sprinkler System
Beautifying and protecting your home is a worthwhile endeavor that involves careful planning and a lot of hard work. It is highly recommended that one personally supervise and direct the home sprinkler installations being done by skilled workers or repairmen. This will ensure that proper installations are being performed in your home garden keeping and it is well protected from sun and water damage. In order to have an idea on how these home sprinkler systems really work, one should consult the services of a professional landscaper. Knowing how sprinklers work is helpful in deciding what type of system you need for your home. The benefits derived from a proper home sprinkler system outweighs the costs of its installation.
Having a home sprinkler system will save you time from everyday garden maintenance. You will not be bothered with watering all those plants and flowers decorating the landscape of your garden. You can do a lot more household chores by choosing a reliable system. You will also have more time to relax and do some leisurely things. It will also ensure that everything in your garden will be watered equally and sufficiently.
With a home sprinkler system, a well-manicured green healthy lawn is possible. The grass, plants, and trees will receive sufficient and complete irrigation allowing them to grow healthier and more beautiful. The look of your garden will be more lush and verdant. You will be able to save on the services of professional gardeners if you can manage the operation of a home sprinkler system.
Most systems installed by a professional landscaper come fully-equipped with controlled timers. These controlled timers are very convenient to use. They make sure that your garden is watered at exact and regular times of the day. You can regulate the amount of water and time spent with this controlled timer feature. This will save you time and money too since you can control the frequency and intervals depending on the current weather and the gardening needs of your home.
The installation of a sprinkler system not only adds to the beauty, upkeep, and maintenance of the garden but it also greatly increases the value of your home. In case you decide to sell or lease your house, you can command a better price for it since most people who are looking for houses prefer to have gardens with existing reliable systems. Therefore, the benefits derived from a proper home sprinkler system outweighs the costs of its installation.…
Hiring a Good Roofing Company
Hiring a Good Roofing Company
The roof is an integral part of any home and should be taken care of whether in terms of repair for an existing roof or when building a new house. This is the one area that defines a house as it not only completes the appearance of the house but also serves as protection for other parts of the house and household items as well.
Some people have fallen victim to “roofing experts” who are not experienced roofers and wound up with shoddy roof work. Some of the roofers will even leave the roofs looking worse than they did before the work began, which is why it is so important to take your time in choosing the right roofing company to work on your home.
The search: When looking for a good roofing company, it is always advisable to conduct research to find the best contractors in the area. It is better to choose a local company that has experience and a good reputation within your area to be sure that you will get what you are looking for in terms of your roofing needs.
References and referrals: The company you choose should be in a position to give you references, which is a list of past customers for whom they have worked. Referrals also means that you need to ask family and friends who have had their roofs worked on recently who did the work or simply ask neighbors whose roofs look stunningly well done which company did the work. You will be headed in the right direction in your endeavor to get a good company to do your work if you follow through with the referrals.
Licensing: It is very important to check to see that the roofing company you hire has its papers in order. It should be licensed and registered to offer the kind of services you require. It is reassuring to know that the people handling your property are well trained and knowledgeable. You can even take the time to research the background of the company to ensure that you have all the information you need.
Communication: Getting the job done does not mean only having your roof fixed. You also need to establish a working relationship with your roofing contractor. You should be able to get along with the professionals handling the work. For instance, they should listen to your needs and have the right answers for your questions and concerns.…