Wood Care – Things to be learnt!

Furniture does contribute substantially to the overall home décor. When it comes to the wood furniture, a kind of ethnicity and tradition gets attached with it. Though molded plastic furniture, steel furniture and furniture made of other materials are quite popular, yet wooden furniture have retained its specialty and popularity still among furniture lovers and interior designers. Let’s learn some important wood care tricks that would help us in protecting our wooden furniture and other things that are made of wood.

Some Facts about Wood:

There are some amazing facts about wood. A freshly sawn wood contains 50% of water of its total weight. There is evidence that wood has been used for furniture and for other decorum purposes since the development of non-nomadic cultures. “Evidence of furniture from antiquity survives in the form of paintings, such as the wall Murals discovered at Pompeii; sculpture, and examples have been excavated in Egypt and found in tombs in Ghiordes, in modern day Turkey.” [Courtesy: Wikipedia.org] With the evolution of furniture, the usage has been widened and wood care has been advanced, too. There have been thousands of wood care tricks practiced all around the world, controversies still prevail how to restore and what procedures are essential under what conditions. A piece of wood is completely different from another piece of wood. Wood has several specialty as every species of wood a hardness or softness, a specific gravity, a porosity, a density, a color range, a unique grain, a thermal dynamic, a moisture content, tannins, lignin, resins, oils, sap, pitch, and characteristics that indicate its age, decomposition rate, shrinking rate, warping, cupping, cracking, weathering, and so on.

Such complexities make wood care a real difficult task. Your wood care strategy should be different according to the types of woods as well as the structures, furniture and tools. Your ignorance or carelessness can damage the wood. The longevity of your wooden materials depends on all the above factors. Either you repair, replace or apply protective paint on your wood materials; you should ask the following questions:

1. What type of wood is it?
2. How old is it?
3. Has it been treated with a preservative?
4. What is happening to the wood?
5. What is causing the current condition?
6. How does the current condition affect the wood's integrity?
7. How does the current condition affect the load handling capability?
8. At this point, is it reversible, treatable, salvageable?
9. Will it happen again if the same course of action is implemented?
10. If so, what will prevent this condition again?
11. What can be applied to offer protection?

[Courtesy: SeeDirtRun.com]

The wood that is supposed to be exposed to weather should be taken care of differently than the wooden furniture for interior purposes. Cabins are made of woods and they are supposed to be exposed to extreme weather conditions. Here you need to take special care of your cabin wood. Restoring cabin sidings is one of the most difficult to part of wood care. People tend to use wire brushes and pressure washer to clean the stains and fungus from the cabin sidings. But this can seriously damage the wood itself. You should be using detergent that is specially made for cleaning exterior wood. These wood cleaners can be obtained from home and garden centers in the paint sections. You can use sanders, but don’t rub so hardly that scars would come out. Gentle scrubbing can work to remove stains and fungus. To maintain the moisture of the wood, you can use linseed oil as primer. Then after four or five days, you can apply high quality acrylic finish; that’s the best option to improve the longevity of the wood. You can take the help of any certified wood care consultant. It ensures both your wood property and well as the value for money.

Protect Your Spring Lawn from Crabgrass

Crabgrass has been the bane of landscapers and lawn enthusiasts since the first yard appeared. The fancy, scientific name for the most common crabgrass found in North America is Digitaria sanguinalis. This weed is sometimes called finger-grass because the stems where the seeds develop shoot off from the main plant and look like, well, skinny fingers. So, the question becomes how to get rid of the weed before it can get a toe-hold, or, in this case finger-hold, in your yard.

A Bit More Science

Crabgrass grows best in direct sunlight in lawns that are watered very lightly. It also thrives in under fertilized, poorly drained lawns and areas where the grass is particularly thin. It's an annual plant that develops from seeds distributed the year before. The scary thing is one plant can throw off over 150,000 seeds before fall frost kills it off. The main plant can grow up to twelve inches in diameter and, when it dies, can leave huge holes in your lawn that are perfect for the next generation of the weed to develop.

Generally, the crabgrass seeds are dropped in the fall and sit in your yard as a seed through the winter. In the late spring or early summer, the seeds begin to germinate and grow very quickly. They can outgrow most types of grass and vegetable and can take over a yard or garden by pushing out the more desirable plants. As the seeds begin to germinate, they produce an enzyme that is crucial to the plant's development. The importance of this enzyme will become clear a little later.

What Can I Do?

A full, lush lawn is the best way to keep crabgrass out and good grass in. As time passes, the soil in your lawn gets packed down tighter and tighter. A light aerating in the spring can help open up the soil to allow water and nutrients to reach the roots of whatever grass you grow. If the soil is already really hard and compact, you may want to think about hiring a professional to come out with a piston driven aerator to really loosen up the soil. You don't need to hire a professional every year, but it may not be a bad idea every five to seven years. Fertilizing your yard can also help provide the grass with much needed nutrients so it can grow and thrive. During particularly dry years, a good watering plan will help the grass stay healthy, too. Get some grass seed into areas that are really thin or bald, especially areas that see sun all day long.

Proper mowing also helps the lawn stay healthy. Most grasses grow best at about two and a half to three inches long. Not only does this let the blades of grass grab enough sunlight for photosynthesis to occur, it shades the soil underneath the grass. When crabgrass gets its start, it is low to the ground and, if the sun can't reach it through the grass, it won't be able to grow.

If you mow your grass before it gets too high, leaving the clippings in the yard is a good idea. As the clippings decompose, they return the nutrients back into the ground, where they do the grass the most good. Also, alternate your mowing patterns. If you can develop four or five regular patterns and alternate them throughout the spring, summer and fall, your grass will stand up straighter and you can avoid those unsightly ruts that happen when the tires of your mower pass over the same area again and again.

Herbicides

Every yard, no matter how well maintained, is still going to have areas where crabgrass can grow and thrive. Along sidewalks and in the cracks between the sections, next to landscaping features and near the foundations of the house are all places that crabgrass grows. It can also show up in the landscaping where whatever groundcover you use, pine needles, bark or stones, gets thin. In these areas the best way to combat crabgrass is a pre-emergence herbicide.

Do you remember the enzyme I mentioned above that is important to the seed's germination process? Most of these herbicides block the production of the enzyme, stopping the growth process. Timing is critical, though, in the application of the herbicide. If you put it on too early, the herbicide will sink too far into the soil before the seeds start to sprout and miss out. If you put it on too late, the enzyme will already have been used and the herbicide will do no good. Different parts of the country, with different weather patterns, are going to vary in the best time to apply an herbicide. Make sure to check with your local lawn and garden center to find out how to tell what the best time is going to be in your area. Also, make certain to follow the directions on the container, as well as any warnings. It is possible that these herbicides can be bad for other plants, as well as for humans and animals.

Gardening to Sell

Curb appeal, how important is it? Extremely important. A well landscaped yard will draw buyers to your property. Taking time and preparing the outside of a home is just as important as the time you spend to plan and arrange the inside of your home. Put your welcome mat out by keeping your landscape healthy and beautiful. Planning my gardens each spring is something I look forward to. Working in the yard on a beautiful day is therapy to me. Deciding what plants I will put in my garden each year, planning out my strategy according to size, height and color is like painting a picture. Establishing a color theme and sticking to it will bring order to your garden. Complimentary colors such as reds and violets, or yellows and oranges and a variety of different types of flowers while remaining true to the color choices will bring interest and a neatness to your garden. Early in the spring after the last frost I like to see what winter has left me with. I usually have some ferns,(because I try to cover them when it freezes) and my yellow columbine is always faithful and pops up along with my Lantana, Purple Heart, lots of Turks Cap, and lots and lots of ground cover. If we have experienced a mild winter I am out pulling up ground cover although it seems like even when we do not have a mild winter I have plenty of ground cover to pull out. It takes over my walking paths and trips me up and assaults my gardens. Many years ago a well meaning neighbor gave me the ground cover in my yard. My front yard gardens were bare and she felt sorry for me. They were empty because of the large deer population nearby that would feast in my yard. Not knowing what I was doing I planted the ground cover in my gardens and of course my gardens were no longer gardens. Two years ago I pulled out all of the ground cover that had taken over my front gardens and began the process of planting a real garden. Back to curb appeal! Soil improvement is the most important step to planting a garden. Adding a 2 to 5 inch layer of compost is recommended, this will help add nutrients to the soil as well as increase the soils ability to retain water. Another recommendation is to till the soil to a depth of 10 to 12 inches. This gives plant roots a good loose foundation to spread out in. When digging your plant holes make the holes slightly wider than the pots the plants came in. Arrange the pots in the garden to make sure they are placed where you want them. When you remove the plants from the pots gently loosen the roots so that they are set to reach out once they are planted in the ground. Make sure the plants are placed in the ground at the same depth as they were in the pot. Surround the plant with mulch this will help to keep weeds away from plants and will help to hold water in the soil. After planting, water the plants well by wetting the soil thoroughly. Make sure you know the zone that you live in not only for temperature but also for precipitation so that your can select the right plants for your area. Some plants that do well in the hot zone include Mexican Heather, Sage, Lantana and Butterfly Weed. Select annuals versus perennials. Annuals are plants that normally bloom for only one season and are usually very colorful. Hardy annuals such as Geraniums may sustain more then one season especially in a warmer climate such as ours. Some annuals are summer plants like Petunias and Impatiens. Pansies and Snapdragons are winter annuals in our warmer zone 8 climate. Perennials such as Coreopsis, Columbine, Black-eyed Susan and Cast Iron Plant to name a few will continue to bring interest and color to your garden year after year. Planning your garden is more important with perennials. Plan for a variety of blooms throughout the season and pay attention to the variety of shapes whether the plants are cascading down a trellis, sprawling along a fence or creating a straight mound that peaks in the middle of the garden. It all adds interest that will remain from season to season. Maintain your garden landscape by fertilizing and pruning the plants. Generally it is only necessary to fertilize once a year in the early spring before new plant growth. A complete fertilizer contains the three main nutrients a plant needs which are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. It is a good idea to have your soil tested to see if your soil is lacking in any nutrients and this can easily be done by contacting your county extension agent. Pruning your plants will also help with their growth and shape. Trimming away dead, damaged or diseased branches will keep your plants looking healthy and attractive. Some plants that multiply easily such as Turks Cap need severe pruning every few years to keep them blooming. Planting a garden to attract butterflies and hummingbirds can also be fun. Showy bright flowers will attract butterflies. Hummingbirds are attracted to plants with tube shape-flowers such as Acacias where they can gather their nectar. A birdbath in a garden will also help to draw the wildlife you want. We must also talk about cultivating a wildflower garden because Texas more then any other state is probably best known for its wildflowers. A garden of wildflowers is very different from a planned garden because as the name says we are trying to duplicate the conditions of the wild. It is important that the soil condition enables each wildflower selection to thrive. Selecting the species for your yard should receive a good amount of homework on your part. What flowers do best in the shady areas as well as those that thrive in the sun? Purchasing the wildflower seeds from a native plant nursery in the area will assure you that the seeds are adapted to the climate they will be planted in. Wildflowers naturally reseed themselves after blooming so make sure you wait until the flowers have faded and the plants have died before removing the old plant. Generally your seeds are planted between August and November. Perennials may have a few blooming seasons and annuals perhaps one but wildflowers can produce a beautiful garden year after year if they are allowed to reseed themselves. Your yard is the entrance to your home and makes it inviting and interesting. If your house is on the market it is particularly important to keep the welcome mat out by taking care of the outside of your home as well as the inside. Pay attention to detail and keep it neat, clean and vibrant.

Article Source: http://articles.intpedia.com

Trying to Find the Home Fix It Show?

There's one place online that is ideal to find the Home Fix It Show, and that is at HGTV, online at hgtv.com. At this website for the Homes and Gardens TV show, it has an online resource for viewing the episodes that are broadcast on TV of the Homes and Gardens' cable television channel. Known around the country for its variety of woodcrafts, furniture, and home improvements advice, the online site is very handy when you would like to view the Home Fix It Show for practically anything that needs to be done in the way of home or garden improvement.

The shows feature professional woodwork crafts, which include famous woodwork experts from around the world. If you would like to completely remodel your whole interior, then this show can tell you how to redesign any room that you would like to renovate. From children's bedrooms, to innovative headboards for the beds in the house, to buying, painting, and fixing up older homes — you name it — HGTV has an episode that can be viewed online for practically any item in the house or garden that you choose to spruce up.