Shade Garden Tips - How to Design a Relaxing, Beautiful Shade Garden

Lots of gardeners are more in favor of sunny spots and will avoid placing their gardens in the shade. You see, they think it’s too difficult to grow anything there!
I find that to be very sad because they are missing out on a huge benefit of shade gardens: a unique beauty that gives you a refreshing rest from the hot sun.

I want you to have that luxury and that’s why I’m going to share some tips on how to design your shade garden.

The first, most important thing you can do is the same for any garden - shade or not - you need to plan it out!

Start by investigating that shady spot you’re thinking of: are there any weeds growing? If not then that’s a bad thing - if weeds aren’t growing, it’s likely nothing else will grow either!

Go ahead and get some graph paper - don’t worry, you don’t need to be an artist! - but you *do* need to sketch in whatever trees and buildings provide shade and (this part is important so make sure you’re paying attention!) make note of what times and how long the sun crosses over that spot!

Remember to consider what time of year it is, since shade could be seasonal! Also make sure you have a water supply that can reach that spot.

Another thing people often forget when designing a shade garden: they forget about light! I recommend placing a dim light around the shady patch

What Type Of Plants To Include In Your Shade Garden

Shade garden plants should have white or pastel flowers… they’ll stand out in the dark of the shady areas of your garden!

My favorites are: Foxglove, Daylilies, Primroses, Impatiens, Forget-Me-Nots and Pansy.

For anchor plants make sure to use evergreens or grasses and not just in one place - use them several times in your garden! I like plants with big, coarse leaves and shrubs like viburnum and hydrangea. Perennials like canna and iris work great too!

The bigger plants will cause some visual gaps so you’ll want to use smaller shrubs to fill them in. Go ahead and use boxwood and Compacta holly - they work great!

Use Colorful Flowers To Offset All That Green

I like the silver tones of wormwood and bulks like daffodils and grape hyacinth. These do really well in the shade!

I have lots of people ask me: “What if my flowers have difficulty growing in the shade?”

No problem! Just use pots or containers to plant your flowers and place them in your shade garden.

It’s Not Just About Plants And Flowers… Make Sure You Don’t Forget This Crucial Part

The success of your shady garden is not just about planting the right stuff… you also need to have good soil and proper drainage!

Preparing the soil is nothing fancy or different from “sunny gardens” - use a good organic compost and spread it with mulch.

Healthy Soil Tip: Make sure you test the pH of your soil! (Most woodland plants grow best in soil that’s slightly acidic… that’s a pH of 6 to 6.5. Others like blueberries or azaleas grow best with a soil pH of about 5.5

Amazing door ideas

They say, there is no better remedy for monotony than a drastic change of the surroundings. One’s home is one’s immediate surrounding, a microcosm, an own environment which one creates and modifies according to one’s taste and wish. Obviously, home improvement and renovation is a simple and pleasurable way to change the surroundings and to chase your boredom away. Why not start, say, with an Entry door? A sleek and versatile sliding door from Win-Dor can be a perfect replacement for older, hard to operate unit.

French doors add light and dimension to a room, a bi-fold door is a unique and dramatic way to configure an opening with many uses. Any of the countless configurations offered by Door replacement company can be customized to your particular situation. Well-chosen and professionally installed doors ensure security, energy efficiency and protection along with adding light, elegance, style and individuality to your home. With Win-Dor, the largest manufacturer-direct vinyl replacement window and door company in Southern California, you can pick a product that best suits you from the entire line displayed in showrooms and seek advice from qualified sales representatives. Alternatively, a free in-home consultation can be arranged at a time most convenient for you.

Creative Landscaping Ideas For Your Home Garden

If you would like to upgrade and improve the landscaping that encompasses your home and garden areas but are struggling to know how and where to get started with such a project, then there are many different places that you can look to for great ideas. You might get inspired just by driving through a favorite neighborhood and seeing a landscape design that really “speaks to you.” You could stop and take a picture or even see if the owner is home and ask about how they were able to create such beauty.

You can also get many ideas from the numerous books and magazines that are published on the topic of landscapes and design. And, these days there are many resources available online for designing and embellishing the landscape around your home. Many of these websites even offer sample landscape design plans, pictures of various ideas, tips from the experts for do-it-yourselfers, and contact information for professional landscape designers in your area.

Two of the most common elements that are utilized as centerpieces for landscaping design plans are patios and decks. These outdoor structures are popular because they provide a structure and they add considerable function to the home, while increasing the outdoor living area.

Patios and decks give you a wonderful place to host family gatherings and other types of entertainment. At the same time, a small patio can be added to a special garden area to create a place to get away to relax and be refreshed by the beauty of the natural surroundings. Adding decks and patios, or making improvements to existing ones, is also a great way to add value to your home and increase your equity.

More and more often, fountains are becoming features of home and garden landscaping. There are the traditional, multi-tiered fountains that are reminiscent of country estates and European villas and which can bring old world charm to your surroundings.

There are also the more modern fountains that utilize unique rocks and stones or huge ceramic pots which are becoming very popular in some types of landscape architecture. Of course there are many other beautiful and creative styles available to meet any taste and style.

Rock gardens are becoming quite popular as well. These have the benefit of being very attractive, but they generally incorporate very few, if any, plants. This makes them very low maintenance as they require either no watering, or very little, virtually no weeding, and in general need almost no attention, except to sit back and admire how your rock garden adds to your overall landscape design.

Emulating an English cottage garden is another popular inspiration for many home and garden settings. Such gardens are particularly noted for their overall lack of a formal plan.

There is very little rigidity in design with English cottage gardens because the whole concept behind them is to let the plants “just grow” and develop in a more natural, or organic, way. These gardens have a certain special charm to them and often make people feel more relaxed and embraced by nature.

Lush green lawns are probably the most common and largest element of the majority of landscaping design plans. A beautiful lawn is popular because it gives the homeowners a place where the family can enjoy many different activities. Lawns are also one of the easiest of landscape elements to take care of and they stay beautiful for many years with simple maintenance routines.

What Size Service Should I Install in my Home?

The answer to this question is a minimum of 100 amps. This is the minimum service in homes. However, most of the new homes built today are going with 200 amps.

The answer to this question is a minimum of 100 amps. This is the minimum service in homes. However, most of the new homes built today are going with 200 amps. With all the new electronics and electrical devices, homes can easily use a 200-amp service. By putting in the 200-amp service, you have potential for future additions to the service panel. To put the electrical service in your home, you need to have a professional electrician or electrical contractor since the service loop has to be replaced. This needs to be done by someone licensed and insured as well as experienced.

Whether you will be upgrading your existing service or rewiring and upgrading your service, you can spend upwards of fifteen hundred dollars for upgrading and four thousand for rewiring and upgrading. This rough estimate will give you some idea of what it might cost. Get an estimate from two or three electrical contractors before deciding on the electrical company to do the work. If you have a larger home with mostly electrical item or at least a large amount of electrical items to run, consider the 200-amp service in your home. Talk it over with a professional electrician who can assess your needs and point you in the right direction.

You will find that starting out with a 200-amp service is going to give you more freedom to add even more electrical items to you home. It seems that everything today runs on electricity. Computers, appliances, picture frames, aquariums, printers and all your bathroom appliances use electricity. Even the new odor eliminators now plug into outlets. You would be wise to install a 200-amp service. The way technology is heading, every home may need to upgrade to 200-amp services in the future. It is better to it now than later and save future costs of upgrading.

Using Rain Barrels to Survive Droughts

If you’re a gardener that has an unlimited supply of water, consider yourself lucky. There are many of us who live in drought zones where the garden and lawn watering rules are very constrictive to the healthy growth of gardens and plants. Many people just give up when they find out how few gallons of water they are permitted to use, but some of us have just found ways to cope with less water. There are many ways to optimize ones garden to conserve water while still keeping it lush.

Some of the ways include drip irrigation (the use of a pipe or hose with small holes to gradually seep into the roots of the plant), the placement of plants in groups of equal watering needs (to prevent wasting water on plants that don’t need it), and using compost or mulch to insulate the water and prevent drainage.

But one of the best ways to keep your garden alive during a drought is to take preventative measures. Occasionally a drought will be predicted far in advanced, or those already experiencing a drought will be given a few weeks of heavy rain. When this occurs, you should take the opportunity to set up several rain barrels. Many people think this would be a time consuming, silly thing to do. But it can save you many gallons of water, and hardly requires any work.

Finding the barrels will probably be the hardest part. You can use your own garbage cans, or head to your home improvement store to get a few 55 gallon plastic drums. These can be expensive and difficult to transport, so keep that in mind before you go to the store. You will probably want to cover the top of the barrel with a screen of some sort to filter out any unwanted leaves or debris that might fall off the roof of your house.

Once you have your barrels ready, you’re faced with the decision of where to place them. Usually during rainfall, there is one corner or segment of the house that rain tends to pour off of. If you are taking the simple approach to barrel placement, just place the barrel under all the places where you see large amounts of drips. However, while this might be the easiest way to place them, you won’t see very high volumes of rain in the barrels.

If you want to take a more complicated approach to placing the barrels, you should consider tweaking your gutter system a bit. If you remove each individual segment and place it at a very slight slant so that all the water is diverted to the nearest corner of the house, you can place a rain barrel at each corner. So essentially your entire house acts as a catcher for the rain, instead of just a few feet worth of shingles. This is how to maximize the amount of water your rain barrel will catch.

After a heavy rainfall, each individual barrel probably won’t see very much rain. If it looks like it won’t be raining more any time soon, it’s a good idea to empty each barrel into one main central barrel. Seal it and save it out of the way, for whenever you may need it. Then the next time it starts to rain, you’ll be able to quickly put all your catching barrels into place without having to lug around all the water you’ve accumulated so far.

The use of water barrels might sound like an antiquated idea. However, when you’re in the midst of a drought and you’re able to spare that extra couple of gallons for your garden in addition the city allotment, you’ll be grateful for every bit of time and money you spent on collecting all that rain. All it takes is a few trips out in the backyard every time it starts to sprinkle, and you’ll be a very happy gardener when water isn’t so abundant.

First Steps When Formulating a Home Renovation Plan

To ensure your home renovation plan goes off without a hitch, there are several things you must do. This is true whether yours is a DIY remodeling project, or a more complicated project requiring the expertise of a home renovation contractor or other renovation expert.

First Things First; Decide “Why” You Want to Renovate Your Home

Your first step in planning for your home renovation is to decide exactly “why” you want to make alterations to your home. For instance, is your bathroom renovation project to increase floor space or update fixtures? Is your basement remodel for the purposes of finishing off the walls and adding new flooring, or to provide a work area or increase storage space?

Some homeowners decide to renovate their home to increase its real estate market value in preparation of putting it up for sale. If this is your reason for planning a home renovation, it would be prudent to consider what type old home renovation would benefit you most.

In regards to Canadian home improvement remodeling, research shows that a kitchen remodeling renovation can significantly increase the real estate value of a home, and ranks a higher investment return for homeowners than many other types of home remodeling. Replacing worn shingles ranks second.

Other types of home remodeling improvements with high investment returns include bathroom home remodeling, new windows, and new flooring. Of course remodel cost, quality, and design plays a key role. This is one reason why homeowners opt for the services of a remodeling contractor or other home remodeling specialist for best possible results.

HandyCanadian.com remains your best resource for finding the right house remodeling contractor in your area. Home renovation Calgary homeowners, for instance can post their project needs online; service provider members in your area with the expertise required to do the job right will bid competitively on your project. Whether you live in Manitoba, Quebec, Toronto, or Nova Scotia; posting your project online at HandyCanadian.com doesn’t cost a cent and is totally obligation free!

Check Your Local Building Code

Before formulating your home renovation plan, familiarize yourself with the Canada building code. In addition to building codes on a national level, providences may have unique codes of their own.

The Alberta building code, for instance, may or may not differ from the Vancouver or Ontario building code. So, regardless of where you live in Canada, check your local building code. If your home remodeling design will be handicap friendly, also check the universal building code.

Home Renovation Cost

Another important consideration before formulating your home renovation plan is remodel cost. Your budget will greatly determine how extensive the project can be, and whether or not your plan is a feasible renovation option.

If limited funds are a problem, check online for information concerning Canadian government home renovation grants; you may discover you qualify for one.

Also, check the possibilities of qualifying for a renovation rebate. For instance, British Columbia’s BC Hydro power provider has a Windows Rebate Program. This program rewards homeowners who upgrade their windows and new home construction contractors who select Energy Star® labeled windows.

In Canada, grant rebates are available for installing natural gas Energy Star® heating systems. Everything from high-efficiency heating systems and water heater to a natural gas laundry dryer or natural gas fireplace. Check for other renovation rebate opportunities online.

Other Ways to Cut Home Renovation Cost

Another way to cut on renovation cost is to do some of the less difficult aspects of the home renovation project yourself.

Acquire free home remodeling plans and ideas from a variety of resources, including home remodeling supply centers and open houses. Free home renovation software can help to design your new home floor plan. And a free home remodeling resource such as HandyCanadian.com offers helpful articles with a wealth of tips and ideas for planning project success.

Once your plans are detailed, check back with the department of building and safety and have an assessor check everything over to make sure your plans are up to code. Then post your project online at HandyCanadian.com, and you are well on your way to watching your home renovation plan take shape, and become a reality!

How To Powerwash Your Home

Powerwashing your home may seem odd, but you really need to do it if you plan to paint your home or if you need to remove dirt and any other unwanted debris. Many people don’t see a need to powerwash a home before they paint it, mainly because they think that the paint will just cover up the dirt or that it’s useless to wash a home because it will be dirty again in a matter of days. The unfortunate truth is that you need a clean surface in order for the paint to form a good hard bond. You would never see an artist paint a picture on a dirty canvas so why would you paint a dirty house? Fortunately, powerwashing your home is not that hard and it can add years to your paint job.

1. Acquire a powerwasher. First off, you need to get yourself a powerwasher. Fortunately, almost all hardware stores have powerwashers you can rent. Of course, you can also buy a powerwasher, but this will be impractical for most since you will only be using it once. You may want to ask around your neighborhood and see if anyone already has a powerwasher that you may be able to borrow.
2. Get a ladder that will reach the top of the highest point of your home. If you don’t have a ladder that will reach the top part of your home, you will need to either purchase one or borrow one from a neighbor.
3. Set up your powerwasher. Be sure to connect the powerwasher to your hose and turn on the water. Press the spray button and test to make sure water is flowing through the powerwasher.
4. Place your ladder. It doesn’t matter which side you start with, but always work left to right, top to bottom. This is because this is the way you read and your brain is accustomed to seeing in this direction. You will be less likely to miss a spot and less prone to make mistakes. Also, make sure your ladder is steady and has at least 3 places of contact at all times.
5. Begin spraying at the top of your house and work your way down. Always keep the sprayer at least 12 inches from your house. Powerwashers can literally blast the paint right off your house. Never point the sprayer at yourself or anyone else, as a sprayer can cause serious injury.
6. Repeat on each side. Now that you’ve done your first side, move on to the next and repeat.

I hope this quick how-to has given you a good idea of what is involved in powerwashing your home. It’s not that hard to powerwash your home and can be very beneficial in the long run.

Water Gardens Made Easy

(ARA) - The love of the trickling sound of water dates back to early civilization when settling near naturally-occurring water sources was needed to sustain life. Once cities began forming away from oceans, rivers and other water supplies, the appreciation for its innate beauty, calming effects and salubrious properties were longed for. Today, the long-standing art of water gardening thrives among homeowners eager to maintain these aesthetic benefits.

With spring in full bloom, now is the perfect time to augment the natural beauty of a well-manicured lawn or one in need of attention. Ranging from a simple tabletop fountain to an elaborate pond, water features become focal design elements for any yard or garden needing an added touch of movement, life, and tranquility. Most high-impact, visually-stimulating water features are budget-friendly and easy to do yourself whether a novice gardener, seasoned green thumb or any skill-level between.

“Backyard ponds create a sanctuary for the senses, from the soothing sounds of running water to the eye-pleasing sight of a beautifully crafted project,” says Larissa Gleason, marketing manager of Beckett Corporation. “The whole family can enjoy the process of building a pond together and, with the wide array of pond kits available at national retailers, even first-time water gardeners can successfully complete a project.”

Beckett, a leading manufacturer of water gardening products, offers the following tips for creating a pond. Before heading out to the yard with shovel in tow, take some time to design and plan the project. Look through past vacation pictures and peruse magazines for inspiration. With a vision in mind, begin scoping out a place to incorporate the pond. Avoid choosing a spot directly under a tree. While picturesque, falling leaves and bark would require that the pond be cleaned frequently. Also, be sure to check for underground wiring and other utility lines when looking for the pond’s location. After finding the perfect area, prepare to embark on your pond adventure!

Based on the shape of the pond, begin the project by choosing an appropriate liner. While flexible liners afford greater versatility in regards to shape and size, preformed liners take much of the guesswork out of digging a hole. Installing a Beckett 35-gallon Preformed Pond Liner can be achieved in just a few easy steps. First, dig a hole to accommodate the liner that is slightly deeper so it sits level with the ground. With the liner in place, be certain that it fits tightly into the hole, and use loose dirt to backfill any gaps. Place a level across the top of the liner, checking that it’s even in all directions.

With the base of the pond complete, additional embellishments such as waterfalls and streams will further enhance its visual appeal. Beckett offers a Waterfall Kit that is complete with all parts and step-by-step instructions needed for constructing a flowing cascade and stream. For a natural flow of water and an eye-catching drop, the waterfall should be elevated at least 10 inches above the surface of the pond.

Lastly, complete the project by adding the final touches. Use artistic creativity to fulfill the vision by securing slate, rocks and pebbles using high-quality waterfall foam from Beckett. Bring the pond to life by adding plants, such as water lilies, floating moss or water ferns, and fish such as goldfish or Koi. With the last component in place, sit back and enjoy the soothing sounds of this flowing oasis.

Hate Yard-Work? Get a Robot To Do It!

Some people love messing around in the yard, doing all the hands-on dirty work to ensure the drains and gutters are clean, well-maintained, and the envy of the entire neighborhood. And then there’s the rest of us…

For those who would rather have root canal that risk the inevitable dirty fingernails of toiling in drains or gutters, there’s now the IRobot Corporation’s “Looj.” The Looj is a remote-controlled robot, designed to perfectly navigate drains and gutters, while dislodging dirt and dead leaves better than any human.

The Looj propels itself forwards and backwards on a track-like apparatus, similar to that used by bulldozers or military tanks. As well as being waterproof at levels up to 1 foot deep, the Looj can clean the nastiest of gutters quicker than any human. IRobot claims that the Looj can clean a 60 foot length of standard home gutter in less than 10 minutes! Compare that to the time it takes to clean gutters by hand, constantly repositioning ladders, and more than likely, winding up covered with dead leaves, dirt and water.

Robotic tools are becoming more and more widespread these days. It hasn’t been very many years ago that the first “real life” household assistant robot was introduced. Of course, I’m talking about iRobot’s other breakthrough product, the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner. Although consumers were skeptical at first, the Roomba caught on with time, spurring a host of imitators. The success of the Roomba has researchers at work in laboratories around the world, searching for new and innovative “bots” to do the dirty work we humans would rather avoid.

The Looj is just the latest of these robotic servants, and you can expect to see many more appearing in the near future. IRobot is currently expanding their product line to include wall cleaners, industrial vacuums, and other time-saving robotic “engineers.” The company has been on the forefront of the home robotic movement, but now new companies are getting in on the act, and it seems inevitable that there will soon be “a robot in every home.”

While the Looj is not likely to eliminate yard-work as we know it, many business analysts see it as a first step toward the “robotization” of the family home. Up until the last decade, robots had been primarily used by governments and military organizations around the world. For example, the South Korean government is currently planning to deploy robots to secure its border with neighboring North Korea.

But in just a few years time, you will probably be more likely to find robots at work in and around your home, than on the front lines. Love them or hate them, it appears that robots are slowly but surely becoming a necessary part of our culture.