Which kind of beech floor you choose depends on a few factors. These factors for choosing between the many different kinds of beech flooring options include costs, durability, ease of care, ease of installation and versatility. With these factors in mind and knowing what you want from your beech floor, it will then be pretty easy to choose the kind of beech flooring type to use.

Solid Beech Flooring

Made out of solid wood planks from European or American beech trees, solid beech flooring is the first option for this wood type. Solid beech flooring is installed using the usual nail-down technique that most wooden floors use or with the glue-down technique that some people find easier to execute. Since these are made of solid wood that is not compressed or engineered for added durability, solid beech flooring may buckle and warp with the seasons and the climates.

Humidity will have a huge effect on how this wood behaves and one of the problems that you may encounter with a solid wood beech floor is the shrinking or expanding that it may undergo. Care for solid beech floors may be a bit more tedious than caring for the engineered and laminated kinds of this floor type but if given proper care, this kind of a floor can last longer than a person’s lifetime.

Laminated and Engineered Beech Flooring

When you say engineered, it essentially means that something is created with the help of technology. This is what engineered beech flooring is, built with the help of technology. This kind of a floor is created with the use of numerous plies of wood that have been glued together to form the slabs and the panels that are placed on floors. The installation of these engineered floors is often found to be easier than the installation of solid wood floors. This is because an engineered beech floor can be laid out on the floor and installed with the use of wood glue.

Most engineered wood floors, including beech, are crafted out of similar core wood plies with the top wood ply being the wood the engineered slab is supposed to represent. This means that an engineered beech floor can be made out of many different wood plies with the topmost ply being the beech wood ply. These kinds of floors are considered to be more durable in some ways than their solid wood counterparts.

Since these are made with multiple wood plies, these wood plies are placed in a criss-cross pattern that gives the wood more durability. This criss-cross pattern is also used to help give engineered wood the kind of quality that solid wood does not have, the ability to withstand shrinking and stretching with the seasons.

Installation Techniques for Beech Flooring

Installation of your beech flooring, whether it is solid or engineered, should be done by a professional to ensure that your floor is evenly laid out and beautifully done. If you are adept at doing things your own way, you can actually try and install your floor on your own. There are three ways to install your wood floor; nail-down, glue-down and floating.

The first two installation techniques can be used for solid wood and engineered wood floors while the last one is specifically for engineered or laminated floors. Before installing your floors, you should be aware that wood floors of any kind should not be installed in places near moisture. This includes areas that are below ground level where moisture rises and may permeate your beech wood floors.

You should also take note to avoid placing your wood flooring near areas that are also prone to moisture despite their being high above ground. Included in the list of places where you should not install your beech floors are bathroom areas or near bathroom areas, indoor pool areas and your kitchen. These are some of the places that wood floors may suffer damage from moisture. Placing wooden floors in these parts of the house is not advisable and is a waste of money due to the possibility of damage.

Jason Ashby has over 25 years experiance in the flooring trade for click for more information on Beech Hardwood flooring

Soil Requirements

Preparing the soil for flower beds or borders requires greater care than planting a lawn. For one thing, digging must be deeper. It is not too much to dig the bed 2 feet deep, although 1 1/2 feet is suitable. It is, of course, possible to grow flowers in a shallower bed than this, but the deeper you dig, the better your production will be.

Good loam should be used for the topsoil, e.g., well-rotted manure, humus, peat moss, well-sifted leaf mold or heavy sand. Wood ashes are fine for spring, and lime may be used for loosening the soil. You might think about the character of your soil and consider the particular fertilizer which contains the elements your soil needs most. Should you use manure, be careful not to let it touch the roots of plants.

Annuals

An annual, from the point of view of the amateur gardener, is any plant which must be replaced each year and which flowers only once in its life. Annuals generally are grown from seed. The chief advantage of annuals over perennials is their low cost. Thousands of plants can be grown from a single packet of seeds.

Annuals are also very decorative, and provide the best source of flowers for cutting. Their season of bloom is relatively long, as well. Their chief disadvantage is the late date at which they bloom. If annuals are used alone in a bed or border, a good part of the season will pass with little to show in the way of color.

Biennials

Biennials are generally very beautiful plants, with most attractive flowers. They are somewhat more trouble for the gardener, since they keep growing during their first year and do not bloom until the second. Their great advantage is that their seeding stage produces new plants which will bloom again two years later, making it unnecessary to plant additional seeds.

The biennials are usually planted in early summer and transplanted to good soil when they are large enough to handle. It is a good idea to pot them at this time, particularly in areas where plants cannot be left outdoors all winter. In some cases, they can be transplanted to a coldframe, and then placed in the flower bed the following spring.

Perennials

Perennials are the basic flowers of any garden. Each year they die and renew themselves for the next growing season. They are long-lived and last for many seasons.

Perennials are also, historically, among our oldest plants. They have been cultivated for centuries and often, as a result of breeding and crossbreeding, bear no resemblance to their wild forebears. In some of the perennials, the blossoms have become so specialized through centuries of cultivation that they no longer grow seeds.

Other perennials are continually being developed by amateur botanists and gardeners. As a result of this cultivation and inbreeding, perennials as a rule are not as hardy as other varieties. Another disadvantage is the tendency of certain perennials to die down after flowering, thereby leaving gaps in the garden.

There are a number of ways to solve the problems of short-flowering periods and the resultant unsightly spaces. One way is to intersperse perennials with annuals and other bulbs and flowering plants whose bloom occurs either later or earlier than that of the perennials.

Some perennials are easy to transplant: chrysanthemums, for example, can be moved from one place to another with no noticeable effect on their vigor. This is another way to keep color and bloom throughout the growing season.

With the above tips, you can have a truly beautiful garden all year round. Happy gardening!

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The economy of using an electric chainsaw is one of reasons many homeowners will opt for a machine attached to the end of a chord. If you have been deciding which saw best fits your needs you simply need to weigh up the economics.

If you intend to do a lot of work, in particular, heavy duty work then gas will be your best option. On the other hand, if pruning and trimming small branches and trees is all you need to take care of then the powered option is the best and safest way to go.

One of the problems facing homeowners is reading about the many benefits associated with gas-powered machines but not relating their use in accordance with the demands they’re likely to place on it. Spending several hundred dollars on a saw which is going to spend 90% of it’s time tucked away in a tool shed somewhere seems like an awful waste of money.

Consider purchasing an electric chainsaw if you are a part time or casual “logger.” The benefits for casual users include:

- spending less money in purchasing a machine
- electric chainsaws are much lighter and easier to handle
- cost less to maintain and operate
- are ideal for the small jobs around the home such as pruning small trees and bushes
- quieter to operate than gas which is ideal in a suburban environment
- less pollution because of the clean nature of electricity while gas tends to produce unavoidable exhaust fumes

Disadvantages

Some of the drawbacks include the power chord. If conditions have been wet the last thing you need to be doing is dragging an electrical chord around no matter how well insulated it is. Gas machines will give you a lot more freedom to move around without the danger of being electrocuted.

Another disadvantage with an electric chainsaw is you will be generating less power which will mean spending extra time on a job. Also, the less power generated means the saw won’t be as strong on a job as it’s gas cousin.

You will be restricted to lighter jobs. These saws are not suitable for large trees or logs and you should never attempt to use one on jobs it’s not cut out to do. Having said this, they will cut through most wood including oak but only in small portions. If you attempt to use it on a fully grown tree then you’re asking for trouble and compromising your safety.

All in all, electric chainsaws are great value. You can pick up a new machine for as low as $50 and it will serve you admirably. Brands such as Remington and Craftsman produce some excellent models.

Want more chainsaw tips and advice including chainsaw reviews from the experts? Plus get tips on the best chainsaw brands to buy.

If you do not have a tool house or room where you can keep all your tools, and the insecticides, fertilizers, stakes, wire, paint and other equipment a well-prepared gardener should have, arrange to make space in your garage, or build a locker in a corner of your carport or breezeway. A tool shed that is like a giant kitchen cabinet can be added lean-to fashion to your garage.

There are basic tools everybody needs. These include a metal shank spade or, better, the easier-to-handle and extremely useful spading fork, and the small and handy planting shovel. Then, to carry in a handbox or basket, so you will have them when you need them, your steel shank hand trowel, hand fork and hand cultivator.

An iron or bow rake is fundamental, of course, and so is the bamboo or broom rake. A weed spud for hand removal of weeds is a favorite instrument, and a good pair of shears or hand pruner is indispensable. The other musts are your hose, hand mower, roller, watering can and wheelbarrow.

Not as vital but very useful are an edging sickle which utilizes old razor blades; lawn edger and grass-edging shears; long-handled or pole-pruning shears, hedge shears and lopping shears. Also, a good sprinkler; a deep cultivator such as the potato hoe; a dibble for seedlings; a stapling gun; a pruning saw and soil sieves.

Other equipment to have on hand that will keep you from running to the store just when you want to be out working on the grounds, includes: plant ties, stakes, labels; burlap or canvas, chicken wire, garden line; a yardstick and a measuring cup and spoons; creosote and other needed paints and a paintbrush ; sand, peat moss, lime, plant foods and insecticides and also a wand for soaking the soil without getting water on the leaves are valuable attachments.

Storage Tips

Storage of garden tools in a precise fashion helps keep them in good working order, and saves you time in locating them. A tool house 3×6 feet can take care of a great deal of equipment. Because tools are usually kept in unlighted places, and often not wiped off after use, rust is the major enemy.

The garden hose is often badly taken care of. Besides using a reel, you can preserve the life of your hose by not letting it kink while water is running through it. Don’t leave it in the hot summer sun (especially if it is a plastic hose). Coil it loosely on your reel or rack made on the exposed studding of your garage. An improvised reel can be fashioned from wooden TV cable or wire reels.

With these tools and the right storage technique, your garden will become a joy to work in, and not a chore. Happy gardening!

Tools should be cleaned immediately after use, while the soil is still moist. Use emery cloth, a wire brush or steel wool. Rub in crankcase oil. Keep your wooden handles sanded down and preserve the wood with linseed oil. Sharpen hoes with an 8-inch mill file, stroking toward the cutting edge, but don’t sharpen digging tools too keenly for when they are thin they nick easily. Apply your file to only one side of your sickle, with the bottom edge kept flat. Power sprayers should be washed with clean water and washing soda after each using, and the nozzle should be examined to get out the grit particles. Clean the sprayer’s rubber hose with vinegar and the shower, and the nozzle .with kerosene. Oil the leather plunger washer after using to prevent the leather from drying out.
Gather fall leaves and use them for mulching. You run it over the lawn in the usual way. The leaves are cut chemicals and, finally, pots and flats.

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1 Depth is important

Depth of your pond is crucial. The minimum recommended depth is 4 feet, however it is much better to give your fish six or even 8 feet deep pond. This will ensure that your koi are protected from raccoons, cats and other animals who love a fish dinner. Deeper fish pond also helps to keep water cool in hot summer days

2 Make your pond as large as you can

Small ponds are not suitable for koi. Remember, with time koi can grow quite large and they will need a lot of room. Also there are so many color variations of koi, that with time you will probably want to add more fish to your pond. So it is better to create a large pond from the start than rebuild it later. About ten thousand gallons is a good size for a koi pond, bigger would be even better.

3 Use fish pond heater in colder months

Unlike tropical fish, koi don’t suffer much from cold; however you should never let your pond freeze completely. Installing a proper pond heater will always keep an opening in the ice. Also keep in mind, that koi only grow when the water is warm, so with a heater your fish will grow faster

4 Plan some shade for your koi

When selecting a spot for your pond, make sure it is out of direct sunlight. Also keeping water plants like water lilies in your pond are a good idea – not only they add beauty to the overall design, but they also provide shade for the fish. However, you should avoid building your koi pond under trees. Cleaning a fish pond of fallen leaves is no fun.

5 Plan to install a bird net

There are many birds of prey that would love to steal your koi. Don’t give them the opportunity; plan your pond location so it is possible to cover it with a net.

6 Keep insecticides away from your pond

When landscaping your pond keep in mind that you should not use any insecticides or herbicides near the water. Even a small amount of common garden poison can kill your beautiful fish.

7 Get proper equipment for your pond

Several accessories are absolutely essential for a healthy koi pond. Ideally you will have to invest into a water pump, filtration system, water aerator and an ultraviolet sterilizer. If the water in your pond is still, your fish might get sick and eventually die. Koi pond filtration systems are expensive, so as an alternative you can make your own homemade filters.

There is much more to building a koi fish pond . Visit Koi Fish Ponds for more information about installing and maintaining koi ponds.

Every one cherishes his trees to some degree, but no one really thinks money grows on them. Between the most affluent, experienced owner and the most modest and inexperienced, prudence is a common denominator. What the former well knows, the latter fears: tree care can be overdone as well as underdone. Each seeks a happy medium where overhead will not outrun psychic income and real value in the property.

As with any other performance, some familiarity with the cast of characters is essential to directing and enjoying tree care. Happiest are those people who can recognize and understand all the trees they own.

Having acquired or planned a home with trees, an owner should, before he goes in for any planting, make the most of what he finds growing wild on his site. Later chapters will discuss grounds long since built on and planted, and naked acres where a start must be made from scratch. Considered in this chapter will be virgin land more or less wooded and not yet trammeled by the bulldozer; or, if building and grading have begun, not yet treescaped. Trees never before touched by man give their first possessor a sense of receiving gifts straight from nature, entirely his own.

Tree guide in hand, walk your property – purchased or prospective – when the country is in full leaf. If you can inspect it during spring bloom, so much the prettier; but later on, when all the leaves are out, even in summer’s heat when some trees are suffering, your view of shading, crowding, and moisture conditions will be much clearer.

What you want to know first is what species you have got. Then: Where stand the finest specimens? Are there many more of some species than of others? How do your trees compare in kind and condition with the trees on neighboring land? How is their water table? Their drainage? The answers to these questions may have strong bearing on whether or not you buy. If you have already bought, the bearing will be on how you handle your investment.

After you have identified and sized up your trees in a general way, start thinking about the position of your new house in relation to feature trees, the finest specimens. These are not necessarily the largest ones. Kind and shape are what count, and promise for the future. Close proximity to the house is not an important criterion either. Looking from a little distance at trees is often more satisfying than seeing how they flatter the architecture. Fine outpost trees will enhance your grounds as a whole, and your sense of space.

Where conflicts threaten between valued trees and the building, driveways, or pipelines, make early decisions and avoid compromise. If a tree must go to make way for a wall or footing, take it out promptly and forget it. Later this would cost you much more, with the finished work in the way. If you really do want a tree that “interferes,” change the blueprints.

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Spring isn’t the only nor always the best time to do prep work. If you need to re-seed patches where the lawn looks bare, just before the snow comes is a good time of the year to start. The seeds will get worked into the soil as the snow falls and lay dormant during the winter months.

Once spring and the first melt arrive then the seeds will be in good mud and the early stages of germination will begin. Once they start getting the sun then good, fresh grass should follown in a couple of weeks.

Crabgrass and its relatives don’t thrive in the Fall or Winter and this means that you have a head start on that kind of weed control. As the new lawn grass starts to spread, it has a good chance of stopping the crabgrass, and with any luck it won’t develop at all.

Start applying the Spring fertilizer at the earliest possible time. This will help give the young shoots a good start and, if you use fertilizer that also controls weeds, you may solve two problems in one go.

As that snow continues to melt off there will be areas where the grass has become thatched – this is a condition in which the blades get lain over one another, then compressed from the snow pack on top. Some of these may die over the winter and this can leave you with a kind of straw-like covering, hence the name ‘thatch’.

Doing something about this is easy. Just cut the grass a little later in Fall than you need to so that the length is controlled. This restricts the height and helps keep thatching to a minimum.

In Spring give the grass a good raking. Of course, if you raked in the Fall, there won’t be any leaves to get rid of but the extra raking helps pull up thatched areas and allows air to get to the soil.

If the ground has become hard, or the soil is easily compacted, you can follow that up with an aeration. This can be done either by using a special attachment on a riding lawnmower and running it over the grass, or using special large-drum rollers with spikes poking out.

An inexpensive way is to use special shoes which are like golf shoes with spikes on the bottom. You just put them on then walk around the area you want to aerate. The tiny holes made by the shoes allow air to penetrate the soil more easily. At the same time, it makes channels for solid fertilizer pellets to fall into.

After de-thatching and aerating, your lawn will be ready for you to carry out any weed control and to start seeding, fertilizer application and regular mowing.

Lawn care may not be easy but it is worthwhile.

Lee Dobbins writes for Backyard Garden and Patio where you can learn more about gardening and lawn care.

Now, spring is unfolding and you want to make sure that you get to see the flowers you worked so hard to cultivate. You should take to properly care for your tulips, before, during, and after the growing season. Read this article to know how to take care of tulips in your garden.

Tulip flowers are a hardy species, but if you don’t know how to deal with the main challenges, your garden will suffer. Here are the top concerns and issues with tulips before flowering.

Fertilize your tulip plants twice a year. The best time to feed tulips is in the early spring (before they bloom again). The best way to feed them is to add a tablespoon of a granular fertilizer on the soil around each bulb. This should be done before flowering because feeding your tulips after flowering could cause a disease.

Tulips need lots of water. If your garden gets plenty of rainfall nature will take care of the watering. If you live in a very warm area all-year-round, make sure to water your tulip garden at least once a week.

Watch out for animal pests. Rabbits eat more than lettuce, they love to gnaw on tulip plants. Since tulip shoots break through the soil before grass and other vegetation grow, rabbits can be trouble. You can prevent rabbits from eating your tulip plants by using a physical fence, chicken wire, cayenne pepper, or non-toxic commercial products like Liquid Fence.

Like rabbits, squirrels can harm the tulip plant. However, squirrels dig out and eat the tulip bulb. One of the best ways to protect the bulbs is to install netting over the bulbs when planting them. That practice will deter squirrels from reaching the bulbs. Once the bulbs have been planted, you can sprinkle blood meal on top of the soil that seems to repel squirrels.

Voles are another problem. Voles are small rodents that burrow and dig tunnels underground. Voles see tulip bulbs as food and will eat the bulbs, destroying your tulip garden. Unfortunately, there are not very many effective ways to remove voles.

Grubs are insects that are the biggest killer of tulip. If the dirt in your garden has grubs, use some time released insect/or grub killer on the ground around them once or twice a year. Nurseries and home garden centers offer various grub insecticides in granular form that control these pesky insects.

Here’s an additional tip:
The blooming season for tulips is between two to three weeks long. You can plant other flowers in the same garden as the tulips so that the new flowers will fill in when the tulips die.

When days become longer and warmer, you will have more time to enjoy your garden. By making time for tulip care in the spring as your priority, your tulips will grow tall, strong and beautiful — perfect for bouquets in your house.

Dave Pipitone loves seeing the tulips sprout and bloom from his Hope Patch. For more information on growing successful tulip flowers>, visit http://www.tulipreview.com.

If you plan to start landscape gardening, then there are a few basics that you should be aware of first. Location is all important and swampy land should be avoided if possible. The best ground for landscaping is rising land that has good drainage which sloughs off the surface water. Landscaped gardens do better where there is a breeze circulating the site, there should also be exposure to plenty of sunlight.

If you do plan on getting involved with landscaping and rocks, then once you`ve established what type of land you have, you need to assess its size and shape. It`s no good coming up with some great landscaping ideas and then finding they`re too ambitious for the size of the land you are working on. Use rocks wherever the land is not good for plants and shrubs. There are plants that survive in rock gardens but they must be in a sunny space.

If the rocky part of your garden is on a slope and shady then there are numbers of woodland perennials and ferns that would be great. You can be quite clever in using landscaping and rocks because if you put your rocks on a slope then you won`t have to mow it.

Landscaping and rocks is a lot more successful when you take care over choosing your rocks and stones, as well as your plants. The stone that is native to your area may look the best because that is its natural habitat it will also be inexpensive and easy to obtain. Look for rocks and stones in different shapes and sizes, use a combination of shiny, matte, and pitted surfaces.

Start with the larger rocks in a variety of shapes, look for some that have natural dips or depressions in them, as you will be able to fill them with soil and plant moss or sedum (a ground cover plant with pink or yellow flowers). Whenever you go to get new stone and rocks, take a photograph of what`s already been done, that way you will know the type of rock or stone that will fit in your landscape and what won`t.

When you landscape a garden, you must let the natural conditions of the land guide you. It is no use putting sun loving plants in a shady spot and your rocks and fern in the sunshine. Take care when arranging your stones. If you have stones that are covered in moss then make sure that they are all facing the same way. Whatever characteristics your stones may have make sure that they are all together and facing the same direction. This gives your garden the look of the surrounding landscape it looks as though it belongs there, rather than it looking like a piece of ground where someone has dumped a load of rocks and stones.

If your garden is on a slope, fill in behind each rock as you work your way up the slope. Make sure that the pockets of soil are deeper round the larger stones. Then you can put small shrubs in between. After all the rocks are in place, then let them settle for a few days. Then stand back and take a look around just to make sure that you are happy with the layout before adding any plants. Above all, have fun with landscaping and rocks.

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