Home Made Easy – Spring in the Garden

Making grass seed heads is a fun way to encourage your children’s green fingers!

On Lawns

– Identify the weeds in your garden. Broad-leafed weeds are a big culprit in our gardens.

– Make use of a “selective herbicide”. It’s very important that you as for this, as it will only kill the broad-leaved weeds.

– Be sure to read the relevant product’s instructions as each product is slightly different . Failing to do so, you stand the chance of killing more than just the weeds.

– Spray on a hot, sunny, windless day

– Keep kids and pets off the lawn for at least an hour after herbicide was applied.

– When applying the herbicide, it is very important that you only spray over the weed once. No need to soak it.

In between gravel, paving or garden bed

– Use “Roundup Gel”

– Click the button until the gel starts coming out

– Dab the weed so the gel can make contact

– This herbicide only affects the weed that it touches, it doesn’t affect the soil around the weed, so you can happily use it to kill selected weeds.

– Start by sprinkling some fertilizer (2:3:2 Fertiliser OR organic fertilizer like Atlantic BIO for Lawns) over the affected area. Remember if you are not using “organic” fertilizer, you must water the area thoroughly as soon as you are done covering the hole.

– Next step is to add lawn dressing. Lawn dressing is specifically formulated for lawns, so don’t substitute it with compost or potting soil.

– Use a spirit level to even out the potting soil. Use the existing lawn on either side of the hole, to level the turf.

– Important to remember never to add a layer thicker than 3cm. If you are struggling to level out the lawn, rather add topsoil to fill the donga and add grass seeds or new lawn.

– final step, give the area a good watering.

What to plant in Spring:

– Begonia (Brown leaf = full sun / Green leaf = shade)

– Gazanias (Full sun)

– Marigolds (Full sun)

– Zinnia “Tom Thumb” (Full sun)

– Sweet alyssum

This ladder structure is a quick and easy way to add some personality to your patio area. Have fun by dressing it with foliage and hanging decorative items from it…

Steps

Option 1: Creating New

1. Determine the size of your application, taking into considering the proportion of the area where it will be installed.
2. Place 2x parallel lengths of timber horizontally, then measure and evenly place smaller pieces of timber that will form rungs like a ladder.
3. Secure each rung using glue and screws.
4. Paint or stain to the desired colour e.g. aged or brilliant white, dove grey or French blue
5. Using rope, wrap around each joint to make it appear that each rung has been secured by rope only. Clamp the end of the rope using a staple gun.
6. Secure rope or cable wire to each end of the structure. You could either secure each corner vertically to the ceiling or consolidate into 1 fixing point by joining all 4 corners.
7. Install 3-5 candle-holders ensuring a safe distance to any flammable parts, or safely install your desired light fitting. Use a qualified electrician if uncertain.

Option 2: Re-purposing

1. Using a ready-made aged ladder or similar type structure, cut to the appropriate size.
2. Depending on the look, you may choose to use the current appearance of the object or apply steps 4-7 above.

What you will need

Steps:

1. Set out the spacing between the glass bottles to determine the length of the “box”. Make a marking and cut 2 x lengths of wood to that length, using a Jigsaw and clamping the wood securely.
2. Once you have the 2 x length pieces cut to size now you can determine the height of the 2 x side pieces of wood ( sides of the box). Cut to size using the jigsaw and clamp the wood securely. Please remember to take note of all safety tips when using as Jigsaw.
3. Use the 1 length of wood as your base of the table centre “box” , place your bottles on top and space them out evenly, once you are happy with the spacing turn each bottle on its neck and trace out the bottle neck with a pencil to mark out where the drilled holes should go.
4. With all the holes marked out you can now insert the hole saw bit into the drill making sure that the hole saw diameter is wider than the diameter of the glass bottles.
5. Lay the base piece of wood with the marked out holes on top of a scrap piece of wood for drilling, Securely insert the hole saw bit in the chuck of the drill, place over the traced out holes and start drilling & pressing down firmly. Please note that when drilling with a hole saw, you may see smoke while drilling as friction is caused between the wood and the hole saw bit, causing it to heat up. Take care when handling the bit as it will be hot to touch. Adjust your drill setting to a lower drill setting mode to reduce friction and burning the wood.
6. Sand all pieces of wood with a sander. Remove the saw dust with a rag and then stain the wood with a wood stain. For this project we used an oil based stain in weathered grey colour and applied it with a rag, lightly rubbing the stain into the wood grain, leaving a beautiful finish.
7. Mark out pilot holes on the 2 x side pieces of wood ( the height/sides of the box frame) and drill pilot holes using a small (4mm) wood bit, this ensures that the wood does not split when driving in the screws.
8. Drive in the wood screws and secure the box frame together. Remember you can opt to use wood glue to really secure the frame together in addition to the wood screws.

Style up using flowers, to add a unique touch to your dining table.

For more inspirational ideas visit Karen Kelly’s blog lovilee.co.za