What a fantastic idea! My chia herb garden solved all the hassles when it came to growing herbs on the kitchen shelf. Even for a gardening expert, growing herbs can be quite time consuming and for amateurs, there is a lot to learn. Just like humans, every plant is different in some ways and if you want your efforts to bear fruit, there is some homework to be done. Moreover, how many times have you earned the disapproving look or incurred the wrath of your spouse, all because of those tracks of muddy hand and shoes! That is more than sufficient to discourage many gardening enthusiast! The great news is that you can do away with all the above concerns with a chia herb garden.
The name “chia herb” does not refer to a particular herb. “Chia” means small – and chia herbs mean exactly that -herbs that can be grown indoors or on a windowsill. A chia herb garden is a kit that is readily available in most stores and comprises all the necessary supplies that one requires to grow herbs indoors successfully: seeds, terracotta pots and saucers, a chia sponge and the instruction manual.
The most important condition for germinating the seeds is that you maintain the surroundings of the chia herb garden as warm and humid. This can be obtained by simply using a plastic bag to cover the upper part of the pot Evidence of condensation will be seen after a few hours of wrapping the pot with the plastic bag.
Once the seeds start sprouting and after two sets of leaves appear, you can move your chia herb garden to the windowsill where the herbs will get adequate sunlight. Ensure that the chia sponge does not dry out, however do not get it very wet or soggy, just make it damp or moist enough to ensure that the herbs start growing little shoots.
Apart from the above steps, growing herbs in a chia herb garden is relatively hassle-free since you don’t have to fertilize the plants every four to six weeks or ensure your potting mix is good. The chia sponge is composed of tree bark and peatmoss, it is a substitute for the traditional potting mix and does the magic for the growth of the herbs. Sometimes while germinating, one may notice some white growth however, do not be alarmed as this is a part of growing a chia herb garden, in fact it facilitates the development of the seeds. The white growth is a by-product of the bark, it is caused by the humidity in the air and is mostly observed in seeds that take long time to germinate.
If after some time one wants to shift the chia herb garden to the backyard, it is not as complicated as in traditional herb gardening. All is necessary is to put a hand at the base, the other hand on the soil top and turn the terracotta pot containing the herb upside down. The sponge does not crumble like normal soil and your herbs can be easily transplanted, just make sure that the hole in the ground is bigger than the chia sponge.
Thus the bottom line is that it is easy and fun growing a chia herb garden.
Lisa Summerfield is an herb garden lover and author of “Secrets To A Successful Home Herb Garden” – compulsory reading for anyone considering to grow a thriving herb garden. Her website contains valuable information on growing a chia herb garden… Even if you have never grown a garden before!
For a FREE 10 part mini-course on “The Secrets To Growing Delicious Herbs at Home!” go to http://herbgardensolutions.com
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Landscape architects are often under appreciated. The reason is that most people don’t even know there is such a thing as landscape architect. Landscape architects are responsible for making many places not only green and comfortable with natural vegetation but also aesthetically pleasing. Landscape architects design landscapes, but it is not just about trees, bushes, and flowers. Landscape architects also implement a variety of hardscape items such as fountains, tree grates, tree guards, trash receptacles, trash receptacles, trench grates, bollards, planters and other items commonly found in landscape projects. The synergy of all these things specified by landscape architects is what makes a landscape beautiful.
Often the landscape architect specifies tree grates, benches, bollards and other products for streetscapes as well. They are not limited to residential projects. In fact the bigger projects are commercial projects. These are places with a lot of open space where you often find tree grates, benches, trash receptacles and other items that makes everything convenient and enjoyable.
Landscape architects are really responsible for creating those beautiful places we all like to visit in the summer. When it comes to outdoor activities, if you like the place because of the various amenities such as the tree grates, the benches, and the trash receptacles, it is because of a landscape architect. They create these wonderful outdoor places where we all go enjoy outdoor life. Even if you prefer more of an indoor activity, if there is open space such as a mall. You will often see the tree grates around the indoor trees, the water fountains, the benches and the trash receptacles which are likewise designs which were created for your enjoyment after much time and hard work was invested by landscape architects.
When it comes to cleaning up the environment, especially our air, we often think of trees, so guess which profession is most important ? The landscape architect is very important. Landscape architects determine what if any trees to specify and what tree grates to place at the base to cover the tree well. The landscape architect has to look at the enormous selection of trees to determine which tree is best suited for that particular environment. Often the architect sets the standards for a particular city and if you drive by a street and look at the trees and think how wonderful it is that you have those trees, then chances are you should be thankful to the hard work that was put in by a landscape architect.
If you have ever consider being an architect, you have to consider that there are many types of architects and one particular area of expertise is landscape architecture. For individuals that love the outdoors and outdoor living, landscape architecture is a career to consider. Architecture in general is a cyclical industry with ups and downs. Sometimes you have so much work you can’t charge outrageous fees and sometimes business is so bad that you don’t know what to do with your time or have not job at all, but it is not much different from many other jobs. There are cyclical and there are staple industries, but what is certain is that landscape architects specify fountains, tree grates, benches and other site amenities that make the environment so much more enjoyable for the public.
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Measuring Your Floor Area:
Measure the length and width of the room to be fitted with the new floor.
Multiply one measurement by the other to give you the square footage e.g 18ft x 10ft = 180sq ft divide your answer by 9, this will give you the floor area in sq yards(in this case 20sq yds). It is then advisable to purchase extra to allow for waste and off cuts, 10% is sufficient.
Checking How Square is Your Floor Area:
Measure the room diagonally, from left hand side to far right hand side, and from right hand side to far left hand side. Compare both measurements, the difference between one diagonal and the other is how much off square the room is, a few inches in a room wont make any significant difference to the visuals of your floor, as much of it will be cloaked behind the skirting boards.
Preparing Your Floor:
Remove all carpet etc, completely empty room of furniture and obstructions, if possible leave hardwood floors flat packed in the room for a few days before fitting, this will allow your floor to acclimatise to its new surroundings and will minimise expansion problems later.
If your concrete floor is damp it is not a good idea to lay a timber floor until you have addressed the damp problem. Check areas around radiators etc for obvious signs of leaks etc, have these addressed by a plumber before you lay your floor as it will expand and contract more than it should, and will leave unsightly black gaps between the timbers and collect unnecessary dirt.
If the floor is overly damp, hire a de-humidifier and place in centre of room for a few days or until the water collector on the machine stops filling up.
Sweep the entire area to ensure it is completely dirt and dust free.
Remove all existing skirting boards.
Getting Started:
Always start your floor at the main entrance point and work into the furthest corner, this will allow you to have cuts etc hidden, also work boards the full length of the room as it is visually intrusive to run boards the short side of the room, as even in a small room it will look like there are far too many boards.
Lay down your underlay (1mt wide roll is perfect) the full length of the room.
Take a full length board and place it down at the boundary of the room preferably finishing flush with the outside of the door saddle, make sure that the tongue is facing into the room, push board in under the drylining, but not tight to the concrete wall, to allow expansion (if your floor goes wall to wall, it will raise in the middle as it expands) glue the bottom tongue and place another board down, continue to end of room.
Pull a string on the tongue side of the boards top corner to bottom corner, if it is not straight tap lightly into position.
Next cut a plank in two, lightly glue the top of the tongue on the already laid straightened plank and place at the entrance to the room, slip board into position wiping any glue off with a damp cloth, ensure at all times the tongue faces into the room, take a full plank and repeat, working the entire length of the room, when you have the underlay roll nearly covered, making sure that you alternate full boards and half boards, visually inspect the first section of the floor, do not allow straight joints to appear as these will undermine the strength of your finished floor and it looks very unprofessional, place new roll of underlay and repeat making sure all joints are tight and glued.
Check any doors that open onto the surface as you arrive at them as they may need to be taken down and cut to allow free movement.
Don’t leave cuts to be finished later, finish each line of flooring as you go.
Each time you add a new roll of underlay visually inspect the floor, if you think you are off line check with a string and tap back into place.
Continue until the entire surface is covered inc cuts, double check that the floor does not proceed tight to the walls (allow 1″ expansion)
Fitting skirting boards:
If you are purchasing a new floor it is advisable to purchase matching skirting boards, this gives a fantastic visual effect.
Cut skirting to suit and place tightly down onto the floor, do not fix skirting to floor, the floor must move freely underneath when expansion occurs, fix skirting directly into the walls, preferably into the batons on the wall.
Tips for Installing a Solid Wood Timber Floor:
• Measure twice cut once.
• Wipe off excess glue at laying stage.
• Allow floor to completely dry before cleaning.
• Do not soak the floor, a damp mop or cloth will remove stains.
• A handsaw has a 45degree and a 90degree angle on its handle, the blunt side of the saw is the straight edge.
• Do not use an electric chop saw unless you are experienced a handsaw and patience will provide the perfect finish.
Peter Ennis is the Director of TimberFlooring.ie, which is Ireland’s largest online wood flooring website which offers the best value on solid Oak flooring, Walnut flooring and Ash flooring.
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We spend months under our duvets over the years and they require surprisingly little care. If you observe the following hints your duvet will provide many years of enjoyment:
1. Shaking
Shaking daily is sufficient to loosen the filling and to remove any residual moisture from the night before. shaking also helps to keep the down airated and keeps the loft high. This helps to keep your duvet as warm as the day you brought it home.
2. Airing
Duvets should be aired out regularly by hanging it on a line outdoors when it is dry. Direct and intense sunshine, fog and rain should be avoided. a few hours should do. When you bring it in, the smell is incredible.
3. Brushing
The cover is so dense and smoothly woven that dust cannot stick to the fabric. Therefore it is sufficient to brush the duvet lightly from time to time. Use a slightly damp cloth or lint roller.
4. Do not beat or vacuum
Please do not use a beater or vacuum cleaner. This can damage the finely pored cover to such an extent that down could penetrate outwards. This will shorten the life of your duvet.
5. Wash your duvet
Most duvets are machine-washable and can be washed occasionally with a standard commercially available wool washing powder ( small drop of dish soap works as well) in a warm water washing machine and then dried using the coolest dryer setting. Make sure that your duvet fits in both the washer and dryer before laundering. It is sometimes better to use a professional service, or a commercial laundromat.
It is recommended to get thorough, professional care by a specialist company every five years or so, where the duvet can be cleaned and refilled as necessary.
For more information on duvets check out our guide to duvet bedding.
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The mighty live oak has captured the hearts and minds of many cultures throughout the ages, with several, like the pagans, actually worshiping trees. It’s not that great a surprise when you realize that oak trees are useful in building, homeopathy, and even as a food source!
That last use has been common in Europe, where it provides a simple food source during times of famine. While it’s said bread made from it is less than delicious, a full belly when there is food shortages would make it a major comfort despite it’s taste. However, you can expect to spend a lot of time prepping the acorns before you can grind them to make edible flour.
This is because of the tannin within the acorn. It’s both poisonous and bitter, so you definitely want to leech it out before even thinking about using it! However, you’ll need to prepare the acorns before you can start leeching out the tannin. If you think it might be fun to make your own flour from a live oak tree, you’ll likely want to choose the American Oak over the English Oak—it contains significantly less tannin, so the acorns require less leeching time. I would not try it unless you know what you are doing!
The first thing you’ll want to do is pop them in the oven. Just place the acorns on a tray and use a very low heat to both dry them out, and to kill any bugs that might be present. So appetizing… this will get you ready for the first of the time consuming tasks you’ll need to accomplish for your acorn flour.
Take your dried acorns, and crack the shells off. Only once the shells have been removed is leeching going to do you any good. Now you can finally begin the leeching process, which is time consuming but extremely simple. It’s a matter of soaking the shelled acorns in water for as much as two weeks. Changing the water at least twice a day is also required to maximize tannin removal. After a few days, you can test them by simply biting into one to see if it’s still bitter. If it is, soak them longer.
After that, it’s a simple matter of grinding it into flour or meal, depending on how you prefer to make it. The best part is you don’t have to wait on more drying time—you simply grind them up while wet, then set them in the sun or in the oven on a very low setting to dry them out again.
Obviously it’s best to store this flour in jars with lids. To use it in your favorite recipes, just use it in place of traditional white flour and enjoy! The taste may take a bit to get used to, but you have to love getting something for free.
There are many old traditions related to Live Oak trees. One of those traditions concentrates on the fall, when the oak leaves begin to drop in the cooler climates. It is said that going out and catching a falling oak leaf will provide you with tremendous luck and prosperity during the coming year. Another belief is that you will not catch a cold that winter if you do so.
It is not hard to see what many cultures through the ages have seen in live oak trees. They are not only simply a beautiful tree, they can also supply us with much of what we need, including shade or acorns, and just maybe a little bit of good fortune. One thing is clear—with so much majesty and many uses, the precious live oak tree will be around for many generations to come.
Southern Pride Tree Farm grows Highrise Live Oaks, Cathedral Live Oaks, and Standard Live Oaks at wholesale prices. If you need a mature landscaping tree you can buy your live oak direct through owner Jimmy Gray, and his wife Terry Gray.