3 Great Landscape Design Ideas

By James Burton

Is your home garden in disarray? When was the last time that you had a guest and he or she insisted to just stay inside your house and not spend a minute longer in your garden? If you are no longer getting excited each time you walk through it, maybe it is time to have some great new landscape design ideas to freshen things up a bit.

Sometimes we associate cleaning and maintaining our garden as a kind of work when it should not be like that. More so, it should be a passion of love because if you are not passionate about it, then why have a garden in the first place? You know from the start that it will require much of your time for its up keeping, or at least some money to pay for someone else to work on it.

To help re-ignite your passion and excite in having a garden, here are some landscape management or landscape design ideas that you can try for your own place.

Swimming Pools

Do you have the money to spend? If yes, then why not have a swimming pool installed in your garden? Nothing is more relaxing than floating on your back while looking at all the beautiful flowers and trees in your garden. Of course this will only be possible if your garden is large enough to accommodate a pool. Otherwise you may have to look at other water features for your options.

Fountains

If you do not have the space for a swimming pool, your next water feature option would be a great garden fountain. Depending on your personality, or again on the size of your garden, you can have water fountains of various sizes and designs. You can have especially built for you or just buy one that is readily available. A good garden landscaper or designer would be very helpful in picking the best fountain for your garden. There are many inexpensive fountains that you can choose from, that your wallet need not suffer just because you want one for your garden.

Home Vegetable Garden

Why not turn a part of your garden into a vegetable garden? Perhaps nothing could be more practical than that particularly in these times when the economy is far from being at its healthiest. Just think about it. You will get some great savings out of your grocery bills if most of the vegetables that your family loves to eat are readily available in your garden? Particularly during these times when the economy has yet to make a full turn around. With many people without jobs or earning very little, something like a vegetable garden at home is definitely a great savings idea. Just think about the White House and its own vegetable garden. The White House chef makes good use of the vegetables from that garden, feeding the President, his family, the staff, and the guests as well.

There are many other landscape design ideas that you can use on your home garden. Just keep an open mind to the possibilities that you can think do for it, or what a Melbourne landscaper can suggest to you. After all your garden will be there for as long as you want it to be. Why not do the best that you can for it?

About the Author:

Are You Looking For A Garden Landscaper? Visit: http://www.melbournelandscaper.com.au

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Understanding Your Wood

By Julyah Mendel

Early in the development of several civilizations, log structures were part of the human shelter system where forests provided the primary source of building material. As these civilizations evolved and grew, log preservation and maintenance became more of an issue and the need for permanent structures brought new consideration.

Ancient log construction, known to have started around 700 BCE in Eastern Europe, used certain techniques to make the logs last as long as possible. For example, special corner notches were made to shed water, organic coatings were made to block water and protect against fungal growth and other innovations such as large roof overhangs and stone foundations were used to protect the logs from insects and fungal decay.

From this short summary of ancient techniques to preserve wood, we can see how important it still is to us today with our modern methods of preservation. It is important to remember, before planning and building a log home, that there are special consideration with wood as opposed to brick or concrete. You should understand your wood on a microscopic and organic level in order to get the best out of its beauty and exquisite look.

If you own a log home or are planning to in the future, you should know about a few of the basic facts about wood in order to keep your log home fully protected and maintained, as well as avoid costly repairs. There are two factors that affect your wood's performance. First, your geographical location determines how your wood reacts to the climate. Dry weather preserves wood longer than humid weather. Second, you should understand biological agents harmful to wood specific in your region. Other details to consider are the local building codes and regulations and other successful local practices or unique situations.

Now we will focus on wood, the material that our dream homes are made of. Wood is a cellular substance that makes up the bulk portion of a tree. Its cell cavity is made up of alkaloids, oils, starches, gums, waxes and water. Wood is like a honeycomb composed of hollow, tubular cells that give it its amazing strength and allows it to hold onto water, oxygen and other nutrients. This honeycomb structure is also an insulation material.

Wood decay form bugs is unavoidable once a tree has been cut from its nurturing roots. Of the many bugs that may cause its decay, termites are number one. Wood is their primary source of food and shelter. Termites as well as several other species of beetles, eat at the cell wall of the wood structure so that they can lay their eggs inside. They colonize the wood and emerge after the eggs hatch. To avoid bug infestation of your wood, you should make sure your wood has been fully treated by the lumber company you purchased it from. You can also treat the wood yourself by using a wood preservative, a chemical soil treatment or the placement of physical barriers such as metal or plastic shields in areas where termites are a problem.

Fungi and mold is the secondary cause of wood deterioration. These living organisms eat off the cellular nutrients of the wood, causing it to become variously discolored as a black, gray, white or blueish-green. The wood ends up becoming more porous attracting and holding water that promotes even more decay. Some wood has its own natural preservatives in the form of oils present in the wood (e.g., cypress, cedars, redwood). Before building your home or ordering wood from any lumber company, you should find out what preservatives have been used on the wood. EPA-registered wood preservatives are designed to make the wood unsuitable as a food source for molds and insects. These preservatives will kill any insects already present in the wood.

Now you have an idea of how some tiny organism can destroy a huge log! With an understanding of wood's biological make up and the necessary preservatives, you can stop this process and prevent new infestations. Don't forget to get some advise from a local construction company or consult your representative on the wood treatment practices in your local area. Remember, if you live in an area of dry weather, it's a form of a preservative. Just keep in mind the cellular structure of your wood, its strengths and weaknesses, and you will be successful in maintaining and protecting your wood.

About the Author:

Information on a Kitchen Remodeling Contractor in Los Angeles, CA

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Finding Rock Landscaping Ideas

By Patrick Patel

Landscaping is an easy method to make you yard look stunning. Why not look at landscaping a smaller garden area, work on the front yard or the entire back yard. Integrating a lot of local natural plant life and things like rocks can be really nice. Put color and design with rocks to a ordinary lawn. There are numerous ways to incorporate designing with rocks into your backyard when you use a few of these rock landscaping ideas.

Decide What You Desire to do

There are a lot of places you can get rock landscaping ideas. To begin with, consider what you wish. You might edge a driveway, small pond or walkway with smaller rocks and stones. Larger rocks can be incorporated into the center of flowers or even herbs. Rock landscaping projects are very easy to complete when you use rocks as the points of interest. Take plenty of time to browse around to check out various rock landscaping pictures prior to deciding what you want.

Do Some Research

Try and use local rocks and stones in your style anytime possible. Check out local home building places for ideas of what type of rocks are available in your area. River rocks for landscaping are wonderful if you live near water. Once you understand what you want to use you can draw up your rock landscaping designs and begin.

Lots of Options for You

Your backyard might be a thing of beauty when you use rocks to decorate. One innovative fun method to add a variety of rocks is to make a landscaping rock wall. It could be a platform for your mailbox or a back drop to something bigger. Your rocks are embedded in the wall of the object. Stepping stones, backyard garden markers and bird baths are only some other fun ideas you might use. Rock landscaping ideas are really unlimited.

Not a DIY Person?

If you're one of those folks who enjoy carrying out the planning but not the job which is ok also. But bear in mind, you can always employ another person to do the work for you. Dependant upon what you wish done and where you reside rock landscaping prices will vary greatly. The plus side is they may have accessibility to materials you dont. But obviously, contracting work is never inexpensive.

What are you Waiting For?

Turn your yard into a thing of splendor with these rock landscaping ideas. Create a rock landscaping garden or a wall, line a few paths get innovative! Your lawn could be a lot more than an empty lawn. Before long everybody will wish to know your rock landscaping secrets.

About the Author:

You can go to residential landscaping to discover more about developing a great garden landscape. The website is http://www.newlandscapingideas.info.

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Practical Reasons Why It Is Important To Keep Your Gutters Clean And Free Of Debris

By Bradley James

For those of you who have rented their whole lives and then buy a home to live in, all of a sudden you find yourself a handy man. With that comes doing things like looking at the roof and checking the downspouts and working your way down the building. We are going to learn how and why it is important to keep your gutters clean.

As the gutters become clogged due to leaves or small branches and the like, the water will be trapped inside. As it fills with water it will become heavy and may fall off of your home. To put that into perspective, one gallon of water weighs just over eight pounds.Think about how many gallons of water it would hold before falling off the structure.

Anytime that you have water that is not flowing you are inviting mosquitoes to come and lay eggs. These eggs hatch and you have now created problems with these pests. The gutters are usually installed on top of a facia board, if you have blockage the wood becomes very wet and will become rotted wood that will need replacing.

Now that the decision has been made to finally clean up that gutter, you will need a pair of gloves, a small garbage bag, and small shovel and the ladder. Find a friend to hold the ladder secure while you work. Using your hand or shovel dig out all the sticks and yard trash, do this in each gutter. Then rinse with the garden hose while checking for good strong water flow.

Every so often you need to look at the screws that hold the gutters onto the home, make sure they are tight and secure. Doing this helps prevent it from coming lose and pulling out of the wall. This is a small thing you can do to ensure that your property is safe to walk around on. Check the other things around your home for safety sake.

At this point, you can see how not to overlook gutter maintenance. Make it a habit to clean them twice each year, and to check them in between. As long as there is no rotten wood and debris in them you are fine. The cleaning itself is not a hard thing to do, just be safety conscience about it and you will be fine.

About the Author:

Locating a gutter cleaning service in London will be quick when you know where to look. Gutter repairs and cleaning by courteous and experienced staff will keep your home looking great!

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