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If you are going to take your garden seriously, there are a couple items that you have to do. This first thing to do is work out a plan of how you want your garden to look like. This is easily done using graph paper or the more artistic might select to draw it. Then you need to landscape your garden according to your plan, although you can adjust your plan as you go. After all, you are the boss. Put in any electric cables and water pipes that you might need. Erect your shed and greenhouse, if required then you can begin planting and start to choose your garden furniture.

The point of this article is to help you select your garden furniture. There is so much diversity of garden furniture that it can be quite difficult to make up your mind. Do you go for hardwood, softwood, metal or plastic?

Which colour and which style? Some of your choice will be restricted, if you are on a budget, but in reality, over the long term of twenty or thirty years, hardwood is the cheapest alternative and plastic the most expensive. Over the short term, two to five years, the opposite is true.

Whether you want armchairs or recliners is really up to you and so outside the remit of this article, so is the style that you prefer, although I will say that the most successful choice of garden furniture should blend in with the garden rather than stick out like a sore thumb. Plastic tends to look OK on a patio or deck, but rarely goes well with a garden full of pretty plants and bushes, whereas hardwood garden furniture tends to fit in well anywhere. You have to be a bit careful with softwood and metal.

In a way, it is a good idea to tackle choosing your garden furniture in the your same way that you would select the furniture for inside your home. It has to blend in with your overall style.

Therefore, you might want to put off buying your garden furniture until you get your first crop of flowers up, unless you can imagine it in your mind. The only problem with waiting for Spring is that that is when garden furniture is at its most expensive.

Ask yourself what you intend doing in the area where you are planning having your furniture. Are you and the family just going to flop there after work and on weekends or are you going to hold more formal garden parties there? If you are going to have guests, it should be large enough for the number you expect and the furniture should be robust enough so that it will not collapse under some of the heavier guests. If it is just for the family at least you are dealing with known information: how big they are and how many of them there are.

Another aspect to keep in mind is maintenance. Plastic does not have to be taken care of, but it will perish - become brittle - after a few hot summers and cold winters. You can lengthen the life of your plastic garden furniture by storing it in a shed when not in use. Metal garden furniture might need anti-rust treatment from time to time and if the seat is made of fabric, you should also check for signs of rot, which could lead to someone falling through the chair.

Softwood has to be treated with preservative, paint, varnish or oil fairly often and you should check for signs of rot or splitting, which can still come about no matter how much you take care of it. Hardwood garden furniture has to be treated once a year too, but it is by far the most robust material used for constructing garden furniture.

Plastic and metal furniture are available in many colours; softwood can be painted or stained any colour you like and hardwood comes in all shades of brown from light oak to rich dark mahogany, but it should never be painted only oiled and stained, if you want to.

If you select hardwood, it can be a bit hard on the backside after a couple hours, so buy a couple of cushions that match the colour and style of your garden furniture too. These can be stored inside when not in use or they will become unbelievably grimy and if they get wet it can take days for them to dry, during which time they might start to rot and smell. Removable cushion covers are a good idea.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with large dining tables. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Solid Oak Dining Tables.

After you have finished buying in your garden patio furniture and you have set it out as you like, it is time to park yourself in one of your new patio chairs with one of your favourite drinks and maybe a pen and paper, and take stock of the state of affairs.

Is your garden patio a little congested or do you have loads of room? Are there other things you would like to have out there? How about plants? Do you have enough plants and bushes - eye candy? Will you be using it only in the daytime or in the evening or even at night too? Will you need lighting, for instance?

This is where your own personal stylishness can be added to your shop bought furniture to make the patio truly your patio. So, if you live in a house that only has a small garden, you might want to think about things that hang rather than things that must be sited on the ground, which will take up walking space.

If you do not have much room, but you want to grow plants with edible fruit such as strawberries or tomatoes, you could get some hanging baskets. You can hang them from bushes or standard lamps or fix them to a boring wall. Similarly, you could grow herbs or other small flowers in a window box which has been fixed to a wall or placed on top of it. Or put shelving up and put boxes and pots on that.

If your patio is too bright, you could grow sunflowers or put up a trellis or an arbour and grow vines or clematis up it. Bamboo grows quickly too. If it is too shaded, plant plenty of bright yellow and white flowers and maybe paint the walls white or pink, if you are not keen on glare.

If your garden patio is a much bigger, you could add garden accessories in order to further your enjoyment. For instance, you could build a barbecue area out of stone slabs or bricks. You could add a fountain too. A fountain makes the very soothing sound of running and splashing water and fish are a delight to look at.

For the colder months, you could construct a fireplace, if local bylaws permit or get a patio heater. They are very efficient and can keep a fair radius warm, depending on the ambient temperature.

You will probably need some type of lighting as well, if you reckon on spending some evenings on your patio. I suggest a few spotlights to highlight your favourite flowers and the fountain and a broader beam light that you can read by. Do not put these lights near where you mean to sit because they will attract flying insects. However, they make a good distraction from you and will keep all but the blood sucking insects away.

For parasites such as mosquitoes, you should get some form of mosquito trap. Some are very good and promise to keep a quarter or even half an acre clear of mosquitoes and other such nuisances.

For all these extra accessories you will need power points. Therefore, if you plan your garden with pen and paper like I mentioned at the beginning of this article, then you will be able to show the electrician where you want the points and what-not in your new garden patio layout.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with commercial patio heaters. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

You have no idea what to do with that large expanse of lawn, because you've just bought your first house. You could also be someone who's owned your home for awhile now, and over time the lawn isn't looking quite as healthy. What can you do to rectify the situation?

A healthy lawn isn't necessarily difficult to achieve, but it will take time. Caring properly for your lawn can enhance its appearance. There are some environmental benefits as an added bonus, as well. Your goals do have to be realistic, though. A professional lawn care company's services may have you seeing more immediate results than if you decide to go it on your own.

First, if you're still in the stages of laying sod or seeding your lawn, now is the perfect opportunity to develop healthy soil. Lawns grow best with soil that is halfway between being heavy with clay and the lighter, sandier variety. Whatever your soil type, there are ways to improve it. You can add compost, manure or grass clippings. These substances not only help lighten heavier soil but allows lighter, sandier soil to retain water and other essential nutrients. Be additionally certain to choose a grass type that thrives in the climate in which you live.

Second, while mowing, make sure your lawn mower's blades are sharp and that you don't cut your grass too short. This ensures production of stronger and healthier grass. It also reduces the possibility of pest problems. Longer grass with more surface area takes in more sunlight. It also grows more deeply into the soil at the roots which helps it survive. The ideal length of your grass varies with its type, but most grass is healthiest between two and a half and three and a half inches. Additionally, mowing grass with sharp blades is ideal. If your lawn mower's blades are dull, it risks tearing or injuring the grass. This, in turn, affects its growth and overall health.

Third, proper and regular watering also helps grass grow deeper, stronger roots. Most people tend to water their lawns too often, but without enough water to create the positive effect you want. Instead, watering less often but more deeply is ultimately the way to go.

Three simple tips and before you know it, your lawn will be looking gorgeous and healthy. You must also remember that cultivating a lawn's health does not happen overnight. You will be unlikely to be disappointed with the end result if you set realistic goals for yourself.

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Getting your garden to look just the way you want it to is not only not easy, but it is an on-going fight against weeds, pests and disease, so once you have lovely garden, the next stage is how to show it off it in all lighting and weather conditions. This article is about just that: how to use landscape lighting to great effect.

One facet of landscape lighting is called accent lighting. This kind of lighting is used to subtly light up bushes or flowers amongst other things. You can also light up a snow storm or rain, it gives a striking effect, but this takes more powerful lighting such as flood lights.

The point is that you do not need to have the splendour of your garden on display for only the day light hours, you can also get plenty of enjoyment out of it in the evenings and even at night; in the summer and in the winter.

There is a vast choice of landscape lighting. For example, there are lamps, lanterns, floodlights and spotlights and they can be powered by grid electricity or by the sun. Clearly, if you want to use grid electricity, you will need to have an electrician lay armoured cable in your garden, which can be costly and is pretty permanent.

The alternative is solar powered lighting, which is impermanent. If you put it somewhere and then change your mind, you can move it yourself and there are no electricity running costs. Solar powered light fittings are more expensive than standard ones, but all in all, taking into account the electrician's fees and the on-going electricity bill, solar powered devices work out cheaper. Plus, you will be doing something for the environment that every gardener is doing his or her best to protect.

This article is not about security lighting, but landscape lighting does have a spin-off by adding extra security to your property. Before purchasing any landscape lighting, you should have a good idea of what you are looking for.

There are various ways of going about this. You could first of all draw a plan of your garden and photocopy it a couple of times in order that you can consign your ideas to paper.

You could take a walk around your local neighborhood and pick up ideas by observing neighbours' gardens. You could go look at how the municipality lights its parks and public buildings and you could obtain a few landscaping magazines to see the latest items on the market.

It is also worth visiting a few gardening centres, because they will also be showing off their wares to their full advantage. As you get thoughts, pencil them in on one of your photocopies. If you want to test a few ideas very roughly, you could put a suitable flashlight under a bush that you think would benefit from landscape lighting and observe it. If you do not like it remove it from your plan and try something else.

Once you are happy with your sketch, go out and get the necessary lighting. If they are grid supplied you will have to have an electrician, if they are solar powered you do not. If you try some of these suggestions you will soon learn how to use landscape lighting to great effect.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is at present involved with outdoor accent lighting. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Outdoor Wall Lamps.

Farmhouse garden furniture is otherwise known as rustic garden furniture and goes back to the olden days of farms and country living. It has a style all of its own and is quite distinctive. Generally, farmhouse garden furniture is coarse, massive and heavy. Occasionally it is roughly hewn, but that is not always the case although it is seldom carved in great detail. Farmhouse garden furniture is made to last.

Farmhouse garden furniture encompasses the whole assortment of garden furniture such as tables, chairs, benches, gazebos and arbours. Farmhouse garden furniture is customarily made of local timber, but can also be made of iron.

To compliment the garden furniture, there is also indoor furniture in the farmhouse style although this might be a bit finer, a bit less heavy so that it can be moved around for cleaning purposes.

Farmhouse garden furniture is usually manufactured from local hardwood such as oak, cherry, maple, mahogany, teak or beech, but in fact anything that is to hand. Softwood, such as pine, is cheaper, but it does not usually last as long as hardwood even if it is maintained regularly and as it should be.

Hardwood furniture can be stained, oiled or varnished, although it is usually best to just rub linseed oil into the natural wood. A little staining may help bring out the beautiful natural graining in the timber.

Softwood garden furniture is usually full of knots which many people find unsightly. If this is how you feel, then you can give the furniture three coats of paint in order to protect it.

If however, the knots do not bother you, you can stain and varnish it instead. In either state of affairs, all farmhouse garden furniture should be maintained every year in the autumn; that is whilst the sun is no longer at its hottest and before the rain and cold weather set in. The trouble with anything made of any timber is rot.

Hardwood contains more natural oils than softwood so it is better able to protect itself, but all wood stops producing these oils when you kill it by chopping it down. The oil on the surface is dried out by the sun and these dry patches then draw some oil up from deeper inside itself, but the further inside it has to suck the oil from the less it can draw, which means that eventually the outside becomes dry and then it will take in water.

When that occurs, rot has set in. Hardwood can last a couple of years before it gets to this sorry state, but softwood will perhaps last less than a year. This is why you have to seal the oil in and the water out with paint or varnish in the instance of softwood or replenish the oil by rubbing in linseed oil in the instance of hardwood.

You could paint hardwood as well if you want to, but most people purchase hardwood farmhouse garden furniture because it has a beautiful grain and paint would only cover up that grain. Decent farmhouse garden furniture is not cheap, but it is beautiful, a problem to steal and will last a lifetime if well looked after by a few hours maintenance once a year.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with farmhouse dining tables. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Solid Oak Dining Tables.

People who have garden furniture prefer to spend as much of the summer sitting in their garden as they can. For these people, the summer months are too short and so they spend every spare minute of fine weather enjoying the flowers in their garden and the good weather.

Some people eat in the garden too and it is also widespread practice to read the paper in the morning over a cup of coffee and a book or magazine in the evening with a drink on the patio as well. Depending on the type of furniture that you have, this can be pretty tiring for the backside, so it is a good idea to get a couple cushions to make your life easier.

If you do not have any garden furniture yet, you have the choice of plastic, metal or wood. Plastic garden furniture is cheap to buy, but it does not last a long time. Plastic will often only last for two or three years after which time it becomes brittle and breaks due to extremes of hot and cold.

Metal furniture looks better than plastic and can be more comfortable to sit on because it frequently has a fabric seat, but it can be a bit rickety and it looks so austere. I think that metal garden furniture should be avoided. Once it starts rusting, it looks awful as well.

There are two kinds of timber garden furniture: softwood and hardwood. Some softwood chairs, such as the deck chair or beach chair have a fairly comfortable fabric seat, but most softwood and hardwood garden chairs are hard on the backside after a short while. It is for these chairs in particular that you will need cushions.

If you are buying a new garden table and chair set, you might find that it comes with matching cushions otherwise you will have to buy or make your own. This is not difficult, but there are a couple of items to bear in mind.

The cushions are likely to get caught in the rain sometimes, so it is best to have them manufactured from materials that will not rot and will not hold water. The stuffing can be that non-absorbent fibre that you frequently find in cheap cushions. It is ideal for use in the garden. The covers should be removable and washable. Cotton or man-made fibre is all right here, because you can put them through the washing machine.

Waterproof material is not recommended because if water does get inside, you want it to be able to get out, not get stuck inside where it will turn stale. If you want to dry them in a tumble dryer, be careful about using some man-made fabrics that may melt. You also do not want to use a fabric that may shrink as you will be washing them often. The colours must be fast for this reason too.

While we are talking about colours, the colour or patterns of the cushion covers should be fitting for the colours around them. Please, give this a little consideration: it makes all the difference between great, average and awful cushion covers, but it is where you can express your personal taste.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a range of topics, but is now involved with large dining tables. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Solid Oak Dining Tables.

If you are going to acquire garden furniture, it is a good idea to buy the best quality that you can afford and if you have the money then hardwood garden furniture is the best. There are many kinds of hardwood, naturally, but one of the most popular kinds of hardwood, especially in the UK and northern Europe, is oak. It will withstand any kind of weather and if it is taken care of, it will last for several decades.

Oaken hardwood garden furniture is not cheap to buy, that is true, but if you consider the joy that oak furniture will give and the fact that it will last for thirty years if you oil it or varnish it once or twice a year, it is pretty cheap certainly.

In comparison, cheap plastic garden furniture may last two or three years, but then it will need to be replaced. So you can sit on plastic chairs and have to replace them every few years or you can buy expensive oak and enjoy it for the remainder of your life.

Hardwood is heavily sought after, which leads unscrupulous traders to log it illegally. So, if you want to placate your conscience, try to make certain that you buy your hardwood garden furniture from a renewable source.

What is more, if you buy from a reputable dealer, you will be given directions on how to maintain it, which will enable you to double or even treble its lifespan.

If your oaken hardwood garden furniture is delivered stained or oiled, you should asked the merchant how you should treat the timber. I think that it is better to buy oak furniture oiled or merely stained so that you can make up your own mind how to treat it. Varnished wood has to be varnished again or rubbed down.

If you live in an region where the weather can be severe in the winter or the summer, you could consider getting covers for your furniture, particularly if you know that you are not going to use it for a couple days.

Sunlight is practically as damaging to dead wood as the cold, which is why we stain, varnish, oil and preserve it. Fortunately, this is not an onerous chore and a treatment once or twice a year will keep your oaken hardwood garden furniture in tip-top condition for numerous years.

There are numerous different types of wood treatment, so ultimately, you should abide by the directions on the tin, but I always like to apply a coat of stain without varnish first and perhaps even a second one to bring out the patterns in the wood's grain, then I apply oil, say, linseed oil until the timber is completely protected.

However, take note, this approach can go wrong. The wood can only soak up so much oil so do not put on more than it can soak up otherwise you will not be able to sit on your oaken hardwood garden furniture for a long while.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a range of topics, but is now involved with large dining tables. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Solid Oak Dining Tables.

Every professional chef and every household cook recognizes the importance of fresh herbs to their culinary creations. No diner would dispute this either. However, whether you buy your herbs fresh or dried, there are problems. When you buy fresh, you usually have to buy more than you require and they are comparatively expensive, whereas, if you buy them dried, they could be old and dried herbs lose their strength over time.

Why then is it that most home cooks use fresh or dried herbs from the supermarket? Ease, probably. We lead busy lives and it is easier to get a few boxes of dried herbs at the supermarket along with your groceries than it is to grow your own.

Not that it is difficult to raise your own herbs and even spices, but you have to purchase the seeds, plant them and remember to water them. You can minimize the problem of trying to remember to water them quite easily, by growing your herbs in a window box or in trays on your patio or deck, so that you see them every time you take a break on your patio. You will also remember to bring them in if frost looks likely.

If you have children, growing herbs and spices in window boxes or trays can be a good induction to gardening for them. Herbs take very little looking after really, just needing watering every day. They are pretty tough and fertilizer is not necessary as most herbs have a fairly short life. Maybe only a month or two in some cases. Others last a lot longer.

First decide how many varieties you want to grow. How much room do you have for instance? The best way to start is look in your cupboard and see which herbs you use most frequently. Are any of them seeds? You could have a go at sowing these. Look them up in a book or on the Internet.

Sometimes it is better to soak the seeds first before sowing them, others do not require this handling. Second, which herbs have you read about that you would like to use but never seem to have in the house? Try sowing those too.

If all that does not sound like fun, then you can buy small herb plants in the garden nurseries. Most of them stock the most common herbs in Spring. Whichever way you go, read up on how to grow the herbs you have selected. I promise you, it will not be a long read, as they really do take care of themselves except for the watering. if you buy seeds rather than seedlings, all the details you need will be on the seed packet and these packets are very cheap to buy.

The benefits of having your own herb garden are manifold, but you will be teaching gardening to your kids or grandkids, you will have fresh herbs for cooking and you will have gorgeous aromas floating around your patio or deck.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with outdoor heat lamp. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

There are several varieties of gas lantern. They are chiefly used to produce light when you do not have a battery light or access to an electrical socket. In fact, they are most frequently used for emergency situations, when the power goes out at home, when you are camping or sitting in the garden later in the evening. They offer much more light than most flashlights and they are handy because you can place them on a table, carry them, or hang them up.

There are several models of gas lantern. However, they differ not only in design, but also in the type of fuel they burn. Some people like the old fashioned style kerosene or paraffin lanterns. They like the design, the historical aspect and maybe even the smell.

Their advantages are that the fuel is low-priced and easy to find. However, their disadvantages are that they smell and are very dangerous if tipped over. The storage of surplus paraffin or kerosene is also a grave risk, should a fire break out.

If you want one of these old style kerosene lanterns, they are widely available at camping, army surplus and hardware suppliers. If you are going to use them for emergency lighting, it is best to have four or five on hand, clean and ready to fill.

The wicks should be trimmed and the glass clean. Keep them in plastic bags to stop dust building up on them. Keep one already filled with kerosene so that you can fill the others by its light. It is safer and less wasteful this way.

However, the modern equivalent of the kerosene lantern is the propane gas lantern. Propane gas lanterns burn with a very clean flame, which is also quite hot, so it does warm up its immediate surroundings, possibly to a distance of a foot or two. Therefore, it can keep faces warm on a cool evening in the garden.

Propane gas lanterns are fueled by gas canisters. They come in various sizes from quite small to large, but the gas does burn for a long time. The small canisters are best for emergency use and the larger ones for use on camping trips or in the garden. They are relatively inexpensive, are clean to burn, provide some heat, are light weight and are very safe.

On the safety side of things, it is obviously very important that you follow the manufacturer's directions when using any kind of gas lantern, because they are all a potential fire hazard, especially when camping in a wood.

Make yourself acquainted with the operation of the lantern you make your mind up to use before you need to use it. The gas lantern may get hot so be careful with it and get used to lighting it in the daylight so that you know what you are doing, when you need the gas lantern for real. One last tip, if you are taking a propane gas lantern on a camping holiday, take enough canisters with you. The merchant should be able to tell you how many hours they will last for the use you are going to put them to.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the propane outdoor heater. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

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A lot of people over the age of twenty have a sort of love-hate relationship with birthdays. They love to have a party and be the centre of attention and a lot of fun, but they hate getting older. But I believe that people should celebrate their birthdays. After all, you like going to someone else's birthday party and so you are morally obliged to put one on for others too.

And birthday parties ought to be a lot of fun. It does not have to be a children's type party, of course, but you could still dress up and play games.

You could have a barbecue for all your friends and family and do it cowboy style. Have a barn dance that would make 'JR' proud. The food for this is straightforward enough. Begin by providing plenty of Texas sized spare ribs, half-pounder hamburgers, T-bone steaks, and jumbo size hot dogs with loads of bread and salad.

For music, it has to be country and everybody has to put on cowboy gear, although it would probably be better to leave the sidearms at home. Annie Oakley style costume for the ladies and Buffalo Bill style for the gents. If it is going to be a big party, ask everyone to bring their own favourite dish, in true Southern style. That would be a great way to commemorate an adult's birthday for the family.

If you do not go much on the macho cowboy scheme, you could try a Caribbean style barbecue. Wear flash short sleeved shirts and bright colours or swimming costumes. The music could be reggae and calypso and the food would be grilled fish and chicken with salad and plenty of fresh fruit. Offer hot and not so hot chilli dips and barbecue sauces. You could have a go at limbo dancing too, that is always good for a laugh.

Or perhaps you would prefer a humorous barbecue party and all dress up like the hillbilly family 'The Clamperts'! That would be fun. The men could wear old velvet hats and old trousers tied up with string like Jed and Jethro and the women could come as Ellie May or Granny. I think that the original food like possum and bullfrog might be difficult to get hold of in some areas, but you could just provide what you want for this one. Steaks, hamburgers and fried fish; bread and salad with cake to finish.

Another favourite type of barbecue for a birthday do is the Luau. An Hawaiian barbecue is really something else. You will need bright colours and plenty of tropical Hawaiian decorations. You could supply half coconut shells for drinking out of and lots of coconut and pineapple based drinks. You should ask your guests to wear loud Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts, provide plenty of leis and hula music and a 'loudest Hawaiian shirt' contest is compulsory.

If none of those takes your fancy, how about a 'Vicars and Tarts' barbecue? You can use your own imagination on that one though. More tea and crumpet, vicar?

If your barbecue party is to continue into the evening and it might get nippy, you could hire or borrow some patio heaters, just so as to give you a few extra hours in the garden.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the electric outdoor heater. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.