Wine Cellar and Wine Storage

We just bought a new home up in the mountains and we actually have some space (versus cramped apartment city living). There is a whole area downstairs that already looks like a wine cellar - it just needs some racks. The temperature stays pretty even all year long but the humidity probably changes too much for long term storage.

I was reading through this report about wine storage. Probably overkill to have serious software and a wine cellar unless your collection is worth something or if you are trying to age the wine properly.

Enhance Your Garden with Beautiful Edging

Adding edging around your garden or landscape is as important as the garden itself. The edging frames your garden much like a picture frame. A picture can be interesting and beautiful but it needs a frame to enhance its appearance, so it is with your garden.

There are various types of garden edgings. Many people prefer to use something heavy and permanent, like a low brick wall, or rocks set together with mortar. However, not everyone is physically capable of creating such a structure.

Bricks set freely can be just as effective. They can be placed in a simple line, end to end, or stacked in a double row, with gaps in between. They can also be set diagonally, leaning against each other for support.

Another attractive alternative is to decorate short lengths of board with old tiles. Tiles can often be purchased very cheaply from re-recycling places. Glue your choice of tile along the board using outdoor glue. On each end of the board, tack a peg with one end pointed. This will be used to push into the soil to support your board and keep it off the ground.

Bush rocks can also be used to give your garden that finished look. They need not be too big, unless you have plenty of muscle or help. You may be able to gather rocks from a friend's farm, or from the bush if that is legal in your area. Otherwise, garden suppliers usually have plenty to choose from.

How about flowering plants or shrubbery to create a living border. Choose a plant that will be suitable for your climate and conditions. The pretty pink of alpine phlox is an attractive border and the plants can be divided and planted again and again. Many other plants can be propagated in this way, thus reducing the initial costs. Of course, your border will take a little more time to get established than if you bought all the necessary plants at once.

Gazanias are another hardy border plant that can be divided many times. Bulbs might seem like a good choice too, but remember that they will die down and leave your borders looking messy for ages. In addition, they remain dormant for at least six months, so if you plant anything else there you risk damaging the bulbs. Of course, you can dig them up and replace them with something else, but you may prefer a more permanent border edge to save on the workload.

If you have a larger garden, comfrey is a plant to consider using for an edging plant. Its thick growth habit will prevent any grasses intruding into the garden, and the leaves can be pulled for excellent mulch around roses or other plants. It has delightful, dainty flowers in season too. However, a small garden could be overwhelmed by more than one comfrey plant.

In a small garden attractive annuals like sweet alice, pansies, violas or petunias make great borders. For something a bit different, try an herb border. Then you can go out and pick your herbs any time you want. Chives have a crisp green color that would make your garden sparkle while strawberries will entice the kids out into the fresh air to have a healthy snack.

Some people prefer to simply bevel an edge around their garden with the shovel. This is a good option if your lawn has the sort of grass with runners, like kikuyu. Those runners can be kept under control by chopping them off every so often with the edge of the shovel.

Whatever option you choose, it will enhance your garden to have a beautiful edging. For more ideas on creating a border for your garden, visit the links at the bottom of the page.

By David Chandler, 10/4/2005 Reprinted from Buzzle.com

Timely Tips for Getting Your Garden Ready for Winter

It's fall – time to forget about the garden, right? Not so fast – getting your garden ready for winter can make a big difference next spring.

Instead of playing catch-up and fixing winter's damage, you'll be out gardening and enjoying your yard as soon as the first spring bulbs come up. A final garden cleanup is the first priority, so here's a checklist for the fall jobs to do around the yard and flower garden.

To do: Around the yard and flowerbeds

Until the ground freezes hard, continue to water woody plants, especially trees and shrubs just planted this season and all evergreens. Evergreens especially need a good store of moisture going into winter because they don't lose their leaves, which means they continue to transpire (give off water vapor) through the cold months.
This is a good time to transplant shrubs or small trees that you have earmarked for relocation. Do this job when the leaves turn color and begin to fall.
In most regions, autumn is also an ideal time to plant new trees and shrubs, as there's still time for woody plants to make good root growth.
Put plastic or wire mesh tree guards around the slender trunks of any new trees and shrubs to protect them from gnawing animals such as rabbits and mice. Make sure tree guards reach high enough, over the snow line.
Don't cut roses back now – wait until early spring. Hill up hybrid tea roses with soil for winter protection if necessary.
Pull out frost-killed annuals, and plant remains from the vegetable garden, and add spent plant material to your compost heap or home compost unit.
Whether you cut down dying perennial foliage or not when you're getting the garden ready for winter is up to you. Some gardeners like to leave seed heads and dried foliage for winter interest and to feed birds, while others prefer to leave neat beds ready for a show of spring-flowering bulbs. But remember: whatever you clean up now, you don't have to worry about in the spring.
Do one last weeding of your flowerbeds, and discard any weeds with seeds in the garbage instead of the compost. You don't want those pesky seeds sprouting in your garden next spring.
Consider shredding leaves and using them as winter mulch on flowerbeds. You can also add shredded leaves to the compost pile. In a season or so, they'll make compost, the best organic treat your garden soil can get. (Use a chipper shredder, if you have one, or just run your lawn mower over leaves.)

To do: Last-minute lawn care

Rake fall leaves off your lawn. Leaving them on will smother the grass.
If you spray your lawn to kill weeds, the month of October is about the most effective time for this job.
Apply winterizing lawn fertilizer.
Do a final grass cutting. Long grass encourages low-temperature fungi.
Why not get your mower serviced and its blade sharpened in late fall so it will be ready for you in the spring?

Now you can put your feet up and relax, sure in the knowledge that your garden is all snug for its winter nap.

Garden writer, photographer and lecturer Yvonne Cunnington gardens on a country acreage, where she has plenty of space to try out the new plants and garden design ideas that she writes about. She is the author of a book for beginner gardeners, Clueless in the Garden: A Guide for the Horticulturally Helpless. For more gardening tips, visit her website, http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Shop now for trees with autumn colored foliage!

One of the distinguishing characteristics of a tree is the fall colored foliage. In the San Francisco Bay Area, we are fortunate enough to have a handful of reliable trees that display great color each autumn. Trees such as: Pistacia chinense ‘Keith Davey’(Chinese Pistache) has dense foliage and bright red fall color. Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweet Gum) has several cultivars with reliable fall color. In particular, ‘Burgandy’- deep purple red; ‘Palo Alto’ – bright orange and ‘Festival’ –yellow, orange and red mixture. The leaves have five lobes and look similar to a Maple. Best time to buy? In fall, to pick the color of the tree!

Next post: More information on this topic

Finding the time to garden

With hefty mortgages and expenses to pay, many homeowners are unable to afford a gardener. At least this is the case in San Francisco, where struggling young homeowners quickly become do-it-yourselfers. Suggestion: Keep your green compost bin filled. Where time is an issue, set aside one hour each week and garden in stages. Eventually you will get through the side, front and back of your house.

Landscaping Design - The Primary Principles

Principles refer to standards or prescriptions for working with or arranging various elements to produce the intended landscape design. Good landscape design follows a combination of seven principles: unity, balance, proportion, focalization or emphasis, sequence or transition, rhythm, and repetition.

Unity refers to the use of elements to create harmony and consistency with the main theme or idea of the landscape design. Unity gives the landscape design a sense of oneness and interconnection. Unity in landscape design can be achieved by using plants, trees, or material that have repeating lines or shapes, a common hue, or similar texture. However, too much unity in landscape design can be boring. Therefore, it is important to introduce some variety or contrast into the landscape design.

Balance gives the landscape design a sense of equilibrium and symmetry in visual attraction. There are three ways by which balance may be presented in landscape design. Symmetrical or formal balance is achieved when the mass, weight, or number of objects both sides of the landscape design are exactly the same. Asymmetrical or informal balance in landscape design suggests a feeling of balance on both sides, even though the sides do not look the same. Asymmetrical balance in visual attraction may be achieved by using opposing compositions on either side of the central axis. Landscape design with radial balance has a center point. A sunflower, a wheel, and the cross-section of an orange all have radial balance.

Proportion describes the size relationship between parts of the landscape design or between a part of the design and the design as a whole. A large fountain would cramp a small backyard garden, but would complement a sprawling public courtyard. Additionally, proportion in landscape design must take into consideration how people interact with various components of the landscape through normal human activities.

Focalization or Emphasis directs visual attention to a point of interest or prominent part of the landscape design. This could be a hanging earth-forms sculpture, a stone-finished Corinthian garden fountain, a mass of architectural herbaceous perennials, or an elegant spruce. Emphasis in landscape design may be achieved by using a contrasting color, a different or unusual line, or a plain background space. Paths, walkways, and strategically placed plants lead the eye to the focal point of the landscape without distracting from the overall landscape design.

Sequence or Transition creates visual movement in landscape design. Sequence in landscape design is achieved by the gradual progression of texture, form, size, or color. Examples of landscape design elements in transition are plants that go from coarse to medium to fine textures or softscapes that go from large trees to medium trees to shrubs to bedding plants. Transition in landscape design may also be used to create depth or distance or to emphasize a focal point.

Rhythm creates a feeling of motion which leads the eye from one part of the landscape design to another part. Repeating a color scheme, shape, texture, line or form evokes rhythm in landscape design. Proper expression of rhythm eliminates confusion and monotony from landscape design.

And finally, repetition in landscape design is the repeated use of objects or elements with identical shape, form, texture, or color. Although it gives the landscape design a unified planting scheme, repetition runs the risk of being overdone. However, when correctly implemented, repetition can lead to rhythm, focalization or emphasis in landscape design.

J Voight is an avid landscaping design enthusiast who provides excellent tips, techniques, and advice to anyone wanting information on landscape design. You'll find all of this outstanding landscaping news at http://www.great-landscaping-ideas.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

How to extend your living space outdoors – working with color

By: Malcolm Kay
September 19, 2005

As suburban gardens become smaller, outdoor areas have evolved into more of an extension to our interior living space. Much more thought needs to be given to decorating the available space so that it becomes a totally integrated area. Colour in particular greatly affects our moods and changes the feeling of the space within which we relax, play and entertain. And for plant lovers, there's a plant thats suitable for every colour scheme and every location.

If you already have a dominant architectural or color theme indoors that brings you pleasure, try to extend this to the outdoor area so it becomes a natural extension of the indoor living area by using the same theme with cushions, pots, furniture or other decorative features. If you have a wooden floor adjacent to the outdoor patio or courtyard, you could extend the natural wood look to the outdoors constructing a wood deck with a similar colour lumber species. A simpler and quicker alternative if you have an existing concrete patio is to cover the area with interlocking wood deck tiles. These tiles can be simply laid over any existing concrete or wood surface and lock into place with inbuilt connecting tabs. Theres a range of wood species available so you should be able to find a color that comes close to your existing flooring (see for example http://www.ezydeck.net). And if you have ceramic or porcelain tiles indoors, theres now a range of similar interlocking tiles available with ceramic tiles on top which also comes in a variety of colours and styles. Both types of tiles can be laid by anyone without any experience in just an hour or so and are generally available in several patterns so you can choose a design which suits your situation best.

Experiment by using neutral colours for walls, fencing and paving and then by changing decorative accessories and garden plantings, you can create a different look for each season until you've found what works the best and give the most pleasing result.

Don't overlook using textures in addition to colour, as contrasting textures play a very important role in a pleasing landscape design. Opportunities for experimenting with texture effects could include tables, chairs, pots, wall hangings, cushions, paving, plants and practically any decorative accessories. Foliage in particular offers a multitude of textures and interesting shapes. Choose plants with a theme in mind: are you creating a tropical wonderland, a place to sit in the sun and dream of holidays in Tuscany, or a stark modernist approach with grasses and cacti? But before rushing out and spending a fortune at the nursery, remember that each plant has specific requirements in terms of soil, sun, humidity, temperature and rainfall. If you can't provide these, your plants simply won't flourish. Consider how each plant will look in each season, especially the main season when you want to be using your exterior spaces the most.

But remember, too much of anything, whether it's patterns, textures or colours, can be confusing. Too much variety in small spaces can look excessively busy. And with plants, large groupings of just one or two varieties will usually create a much greater impact and look more balanced in a small area than a host of different plants with a riot of different colored flowers.