Month: July 2015

Tips for Choosing Patio Furniture

Written by Wicker Paradise

Choosing outdoor furniture seems like such an easy decision. Until you actually have to make the decision. Not all patio furniture is made equal and there are a lot of factors that determine what you should buy. Great patio furniture is more than just filling up space with a table and some wicker chairs. Here are what I consider the three most important tips when buying outdoor furniture.

 wickerparadise1Your primary consideration should be the functional nature of the space. Do you want to have an outdoor breakfast area? Do you want to be able to entertain people? How many people? Decide on what functions you want for your outdoor space. You can now use that list as a basis for your purchasing decision.

Once the list of furniture you need has been worked out, you need to go out and buy this furniture. The second most important tip is to try all the furniture you are planning on buying. Sit on all the chairs and use them with the tables. Always try the combination of tables and chairs together. Do not buy chairs from one place and a table from another and expect them to match, even if they do so in your head.

The third tip is buying furniture that is easy to maintain. Wicker patio furniture is a perfect example. Although most outdoor furniture is durable and is meant for exposure to the elements, they all require care and maintenance. The trick is to find the ones that require the least amount of care and maintenance for your weather.

Wicker Paradise is a business that specialized in rattan and wicker furniture of several brands.

What You Need to Know About Compost

Compost is one of the best natural fertilizers and soil builders available for free. Not only can you make it yourself but solve environmental issues at the same time.

Good gardeners have been making their own compost until recently where it has been found to be one of the problems to shrinking space in landfills.

In fact, certain communities charge a premium for taking yard waste or even forbid it. Yet you can produce compost and not have to deal with this problem either.

 egardening today

So, how does one make compost?

It’s easy and can be compared to cooking lasagna. You can have to add several layers of items and let it ‘cook’.

All you require is equipment such as a homemade container from concrete blocks or welded wire mesh to get started. Just about anything that should help you spread material to about three to five feet across and five feet high.

A purchased compost bin is another option and which will help you speed up the decomposition process of the compost.

In order to prepare compost, you need layers of air, moisture and waste materials which could include grass clippings, leaves, kitchen scraps as well as weeds taken from the garden itself.

While leaving these layers there will enable you to prepare compost over a longer period of time, heating the compost bin to about 140 degrees should speed that process up to about two or three weeks.

In most cases, the classic gardener’s recipe includes a layer of vegetable matter which is about six inches thick, a layer of manure which is about two inches thick and a thin layer of soil with lime groundstone added. This is repeated until the height of compost heap is about three to five feet high. Also, a little depression is made at the top and which is watered.