Here are some of my best tips: .

#1 - Use as many free materials in your landscape as you can. Every part of the world has at least one thing in abundance that you can use for free, be it gravel, rocks or stones; wood,pallets or pine needles; dumpsters, landfill sites or Craig's List and Freecycling networks as cheap sources for repurposed items. Find out what's in your own neighbourhood or town and use it! I've used my local freecycling network to find plants and shrubs for free. I got a whole lilac hedge that way, it really works!!

#2 - Beg for plant divisions or cuttings from family, friends and neighbours. Anyone who has perennials , bulbs or tubers will have to be dividing them up every so often and will be happy to let you have the extras.

#3 - Look for local gardening clubs, they usually have plant sales once or twice a year to raise money for the club and you can get beautiful plants for much less than gardening centers sell them. Plus you know they will survive in your climate because the local gardeners have grown them.

#4 - Watch for end-of-season sales. You can pick up loads of plants at a discount from department stores that have seasonal garden centers. That's where you can pick up your trees and shrubs for less and save big!

#5 - Grow your own plants from seed. Some plants are super simple to grow, you can even just toss the seeds out in your garden at the right time and they'll grow well. Hardy geraniums,sunflowers and pansies are easy to start from seed. Poppies and cosmos are good examples of seeds you can just sow directly in the garden. Opium poppies can even be sown while there is still snow on the garden

#6 - Grow plants that self-seed or spread easily. Examples are creeping thyme, culinary thyme, Johnny Jump-ups, Ladies' Mantle, campanula, euphorbia, lamium, bugleweed, poppies and bee balm. I don't quite understand the desire for growing borderline plants in the garden. I personally don't want to drag some plant kicking and screaming into my garden, I'd much rather have ones that are happily growing and flowering and self-seeding all over.

The best part about rampant growers and self-seeders is that every year, you can dig up the extras and sell them at a yard sale to make some extra cash for the landscaping items that you can't get for free.

Hope I've been able to give you at least one tip you can use. Happy gardening!

#landscaping #gardening #Maygarden

I still can't believe it, Epsom Salt! Here is the funny thing it's right here on the package, with directions. Too funny! Who would have thought? See More on this at http://www.onemoretimeevents.com/2012/07/use...

http://eclecticallyvintage.com/2012/03/part...

#SpringFever #Easter

i bought Ipe, Tiger Wood, and Ceder for this project and hand rubbed 3 coats of oil for the finish. I know the sun will destroy the look within a few months, so she is going to be high maintenance with a sand and oil every year.

A few tip's:

-S.A. hardwoods are very dense! This allows a thinner material to span a longer gap with less deflection. For this project, the top is made out of 1 x 4 material.

-One of the many nick names for Ipe is "iron wood" it will sink in water, and it has helped to make this top more than i can handle alone. This also requires pre-drilling for fasteners.

-The end cuts are sealed immediately after cutting with Ipe wax to prevent checking

-The miters all received 2 - 10mm x 50mm Festool Sipo Mahogany Tenons, wiped with alcohol, glued with titebond 3, and clamped for a few hours to dry. This is not a DIY machine, but may be substituted with the use of biscuits, splines, or dowels.

-Wear a mask when cutting and sanding!! Many carpenters catch an upper respiratory infection when building S.A. decks. This has been argued that it is due to the water and bacteria in that wood we are not used to, others say it's just because the dust is much finer. regardless of who is right, wear a mask or use dust extraction.

-Order extra! This is not stock lumber, infact i had to pay freight to get these pieces trucked to my house from the online merchant. I had a few pieces that were bowed just enough that i couldn't use them... better to have too much than not enough on a special order build...

-Learn your finishes! My first two coats were with Messmers UV Plus. his really brings out the grain and contrast within the woods... makes it come alive. I wouldn't do more than 2 coats of a toner, my final coat was the Festool SurFix exterior oil blend worked into the surface.

2. Re-cut the stems by a minimum of one inch before you put the flowers in the vase. Use a sharp knife so you don't crush the cells of the stem, impinging water uptake. Cut on a 45-degree angle to expose more stem surface. Remove any foliage below the water line. Re-cut the stems by half an inch every other day.

3. Display your flowers away from extremes of either light or heat. A cool spot of 65 to 72 degrees is ideal. Keep them away from the strong light of a window or a heat source like the top of a TV or a radiator. Avoid drafts as from a heating or cooling vent or a ceiling fan.

#ValentinesDay