Bare Bones Gardener asked:


In Today's throwaway society, there is absolutely no need to go out and purchase mulch material for your garden, unless it is for the particular aesthetic appearance, "The Look", sake of the mulch material.

Were you aware that there are a number of mulching materials that you can obtain from around your own community that are free, and some of which can even be even delivered to you for nothing as well.

Impossible you might say. Well I mulch my gardens fairly heavily, and I never pay a cent for the mulch material. As a matter of fact, most of the mulch is willingly delivered to my home for nothing. As the former owners are only too glad to see the back of it, as it would cost them money, time and effort to find other ways of getting rid of it.

I also combine these outside sources of mulch with my own compost, weeds and other organic matter mixed through to achieve a great result in my garden, and so all that it costs me is time and effort.

So what am I talking about? While some of the below list is delivered free, other items I pick up myself, depending on time, circumstances, importance etc.

Grass Clippings from other people in the area or from lawn-mowing contractors.

Wood shavings from local wood turners and carvers, ( Do not use shavings from treated timber).

Small amounts of solid fill from friends who are excavating. This is to assist in raising garden beds, in my heavy clay soil.

Light prunings from shrubs which is shredded by me or put whole into garden

Heavier sticks and logs, which are turned into trellis, garden stakes, garden edges, seats, frames, log planters etc. while they slowly decay.

Newspaper, cardboard, non-rubber carpet underlay, and even carpet and carpet squares. Which is put under other mulch to prevent grass and weed regrowth

Animal manures sometimes mixed with straw from places like Racetracks and Showgrounds, Pony Clubs, Stables etc. I contact them well beforehand to see if any is available.

To this I also add my own weeds, throwing away some which can still be a potential problem, or burying them below the bottom most layer of mulch material to stop them regrowing.

Another item I add is any old potting mix from deceased plants or when repotting plants.

Being a fairly lazy gardener, I throw the material around a bit at a time, as they are available, and let nature mix them for me. On a couple of occasions I have received a bit too much wood shavings so these became path material between some of the garden beds, with a heavy underlay of newspapers. People even tell me that it looks and feels good underfoot.

Never put a large amount of fresh animal manure on any garden, as it will burn any plant around it. Be extremely sparing or let it age first for a few months before applying it to the garden.

I have been living in my new house for about fifteen months, and the mulch layer in all my gardens (there were no gardens originally), is about 10 cm or 4 inches deep. None of which I have paid for and little that I have had to even pick up for myself.

People are even starting to comment on how fast the plants in my gardens are growing in the local heavy black clay soils, and they are surprised when I tell them that I have never bothered to fertilise the plants. The reason for this is that the earliest laid mulch material, is now broken down into plant nutrients and is now feeding my plants as a plant nutrient soup aided by the soil life which has suddenly started appearing in my gardens.

Another benefit that has started to appear in the last few months is the arrival of insect eating wildlife into my garden. Predatory insects and birds are now visiting my gardens on a regular basis, where I saw none this time last year. Bees and butterflies are also starting to visit many of the plants, which have come into flower for the first time this year.

So what can you do to start locating your own supplies of free mulch material, well here are a number of suggestions.

Put a little sign near your gate, something along the lines of ‘Organic mulch required', or ‘Lawn clipping wanted'. There are sure to be a number of local people who are currently throwing theirs away in your community or even local area. Never mulch solely with grass clippings as they form an impenetrable layer that air and water cannot get through. Always mix it with other things to stop it ‘thatching', just like a roof over the soil.

See if you can get into contact with local people who are into woodturning and carving, or even local sawmills. And come to some arrangement about unpreserved wood shavings.

Check the local phonebook for local showgrounds/racetracks/stables etc, to find out if any have stable or manure waste to give away, for people willing to pick them up

In other words, start talking around the place that you are after mulch materials and they will soon start coming to you.

The only caution with using other peoples waste material is the chance that you might also import other peoples pests and weeds. I have rarely found it a problem because of heavy mulch on mulch routines. But it is possible.

One point being that when you first start applying mulch to your garden you may see some nitrogen deficiencies occur in some plants. This is because the organisms that are breaking down the mulch material are using up all the available resources of it during the initial breakdown. Once you have gotten past this time the old composted material provide more than enough nitrogen for future processes.

Another thing to be careful of is not to bury or mulch up against the stems of wanted plants, as it may cause further problems for your plants in rot problems around the collar of the stems.

So get out there and talk around the community, find the contacts, believe it or not they will be as grateful as you to solve their particular problems of waste reduction. As well as that, you may start making some new friendships out of the deal; I know I have.



Moshe

Susanne Pacher asked:


I had spent a wonderfully rejuvenating night wrapped up in the soft high-thread-count sheets and comforters of my temporary home at the MacKinnon-Cann Inn in Yarmouth. After an exciting drive down the Evangeline Trail yesterday that included a very informative tour of the Bear River First Nation Heritage and Cultural Centre, followed up by an early-evening walking tour to admire Yarmouth's Victorian heritage areas, I had definitely needed a good rest. But a new day had broken and I was ready for more adventures.

First on the plan was of course breakfast, so I got myself ready and walked downstairs into the tastefully decorated dining area of the MacKinnon-Cann Inn. Neil Hisgen, one of the co-owners, was working in the kitchen to prepare breakfast and occasionally dropped by to see how the guests were doing. I caught him for about ten minutes to find out more about this property and his own personal background.

Neil is originally from Racine, Wisconsin, and hails from a family with six children. He spent six years in the navy following which he briefly returned home, only to move to Fort Lauderdale in Florida where he started his hospitality career. He started working at the front desk at the Marriott Hotel and for the next 18 years worked in various hotels and restaurants, gaining experience at the front desk and in the kitchen. He capped his employed career after 15 years with a general manager's position of a major hotel.

Neil met his business and life partner Michael Tavares at the end of 1997. Neil had made a good return on the sale of his first house and decided to invest it in a bed and breakfast. At the time Michael owned a 200-acre property on a peninsula near Yarmouth which they used as a vacation home. Michael had invited him to spend about a month at his farm near Yarmouth and Neil loved it. Being from the mid-west, he had always enjoyed the change of the seasons.

Neil and Michael were thinking about what they wanted to do and decided they were ready for a change, so they went ahead and opened a bed and breakfast in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia where there was a beautiful Victorian residential district waiting for them with many restoration opportunities. At this point Neil unfortunately had to go back in the kitchen to continue working, but Michael, his co-owner, joined me at my table to give me a more in-depth overview of their projects and his own life story.

Michael is originally from Boston and grew up in the southern part of the city. During college he majored in education, but after school he went into real estate and started his own brokerage firm. He was always fascinated by old buildings and illustrates this with a story from his childhood: at 12 or 13 years of age there was an old farm house nearby, and Michael always wondered who had owned it and lived there. So he talked to his mother about it and she took him to the land registry office to do a title search, obtaining a record of all previous owners of the property.

With these documents in hand he approached the current owners and gave them the historic ownership records of the property. They absolutely loved it, and from that point forward Michael was hooked on the mystique of historic properties. In his words, he loves to "peel back the layers of time" and started to buy and restore his own historic buildings. Over several years he completed eight restoration projects in the south end of Boston.

After Boston he moved to Key West and became a tropical landscape architect. He spent five or six years living and working in Key West, completing many garden design projects for the local gay community. In the 1980s he finally bought a 200 acre farm as a vacation property in Nova Scotia together with several friends. This was when his love affair with Yarmouth began. Michael moved his permanent residence from Key West to Fort Lauderdale where he met Neil in 1997 at a fundraising event. They lived together for a year and Neil helped Michael in his landscaping business. In the summer of 1998 Michael invited Neil to his property in Nova Scotia because he wanted Neil to share this part of his life. So for the last eight years Neil and Michael have been residing in Nova Scotia. Their first Yarmouth property was a run-down Victorian brick mansion which they lovingly restored in 1999 and turned into the present Charles C. Richards House, a historic bed and breakfast with three guest bedrooms decorated in the 1930's Art Deco Period. Each room at the Charles C. Richards House features a private bath, cable TV with DVD players and period furnishings.

The MacKinnon-Cann Inn where I was staying was built in 1887 and is an example of the Italianate Victorian style. The house was built as a duplex for two female cousins, and to this day the inn features two staircases side by side. Michael and Neil rescued the property in 2000 and took it from a condemned state to the stunning mansion that it is today. All seven guest rooms are uniquely decorated in a style reflecting a different 20th century decade, from the 1900s to the 1960s. The main floor features five lavish parlours and Michael pointed out the beautiful patterned wood floor that was installed at great expense throughout the dining area. Neil is a talented glass artist, and many stained glass windows throughout the MacKinnon-Cann Inn and the Charles C. Richards House feature Neil's artwork.

Michael explained that he is very active in Nova Scotia's heritage community and mentioned that he is a member of two historic organizations: he serves on the Board of Directors of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia whose mission it is to preserve and protect the heritage properties in the province. Both the MacKinnon-Cann Inn and the Charles C. Richards House are provincially registered heritage properties. Michael is also a member of the Provincial Heritage Owners Association of Nova Scotia which encompasses 265 provincial heritage properties. Both inns have won several awards, including the 2005 Restoration Award from the Yarmouth County Historical Society and the L.B. Jenson Award as a contribution to the development and economic health of the Yarmouth Heritage Community.

In addition to the two inns, Michael is also currently renovating the property right next door to the MacKinnon-Cann Inn, another Victorian heritage property which he is thinking of turning into a restaurant that will serve the tourists and local community of Yarmouth. The fourth recently renovated property owned by Michael and Neil is a blue-coloured Victorian heritage property located right between the MacKinnon-Cann Inn and the Charles C. Richards House. In essence, Michael and Neil have single-handedly transformed an entire street block, rescued four historic properties and turned them into stunning examples of architectural revival.

As an astute tourism marketer, Michael Tavares is also the President of the Nova Scotia Association of Unique Country Inns, a collective marketing and branding group that promotes upscale heritage tourism in unique historic properties. Michael is generally responsible for the inn's marketing while Neil's responsibilities focus more on hospitality and innkeeping.

Michael's restoration mindset is based on a commitment to the preservation of buildings and a respect for the historical integrity of the property. He approaches his projects with a certain humility which he says many renovators today are missing since they are only looking for the highest return on investment. He is a strong believer that the cultural renaissance and economic revival of a town begins with heritage restoration and then trickles down to Main Street.

At the same time he also recognizes the need for protecting his investments, and as a member of the local Yarmouth Town Planning Council he has a chance to participate in shaping the future of this town. Michael and Neil have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless thousands of hours in their heritage properties and business ventures. Their efforts make a significant contribution to the economic well-being of the town.

The beginning was not easy since Michael was an outsider with new ideas in a town with long-standing traditions and established power structures. He was the new kid on the block. In addition, it took some time to gain acceptance, particularly as a gay couple in a rather conservative community. Conflict arose originally since Michael was also very outspoken and questioned the old ways of doing things.

However, his commitment to the community became evident in his renovation projects. Michael would call together all the contractors for each project, such as electricians, plumbers, carpet layers, etc. and told them that he would deal exclusively with them as local merchants instead of choosing a big box home renovation store as his main supplier. This commitment to local merchants has earned him a lot of respect and goodwill in the surrounding community, and today many people call him for his opinion before a debate of important issues that will affect the town.

After I completed my delicious fruit salad and omelet breakfast, Michael took me on a tour of all four properties. We started off with the smaller Victorian house currently under renovation where the entire first floor has currently been stripped down to the bare walls. As with his other projects, Michael is going to do the vast majority of the project himself and will call in specialized contractors only where needed. He is one of those people who have that special gift of spotting a diamond in the rough and taking it from a derelict hovel in danger of collapsing to a stunningly updated and stylish historic jewel with all modern conveniences.

We then went over to the recently restored blue Victorian mansion that was renovated by the previous owners according to Michael's recommendations since Michael and Neil were going to purchase the property. We capped the visit off with the Charles C. Richards House, a stunning Victorian brick mansion with gorgeous architectural details, built for a wealthy local businessman. It was started in 1893 and took two years to finish and was the first brick house of this class to be built in Yarmouth. Most of the special building materials, i.e. the brownstone, granite and brick, were imported from the United States and make this house unique. Michael told me that it took him a whole season to strip the many layers of paint on the ornately carved porch and 32 weeks to repaint it, using eleven different colours.

I admired the wonderful details and stylish décor of the various rooms, including the flower-filled conservatory. Michael and Neil posed for me in front of the intricately carved wooden staircase that leads to the upstairs bedroom and this was the fitting ending for my introduction to architectural preservation and heritage tourism in Yarmouth. I thanked them both for their welcoming hospitality and got ready for my next item on the itinerary: an exploration of Yarmouth history at the Yarmouth County Historical Museum, located right across the street from the Charles C. Richards House.

For the entire article including photos please visit

http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/mackinnon_cann_inn.htm



Abigayle

G N Home Improvements asked:


We at G. N. Home Improvements Limited are a small family run business providing a vast range  of home and building services.  We specialise in reconstruction, refurbishments and new build homes.

 We have all fully qualified tradesmen under one roof, (Electricians, Plumbers, Plasterers; Joiners; Bricklayers; Painters and Decorators) so we can offer you a full service across the board  improvements.  We even offer a Landscape Garden Service and fitting kitchens and bathrooms are a speciality.  You name it we've got it covered.

 We are UK based and 80% of our clients return for a further service after giving them a 100% job satisfaction.  Our services has taken us to Europe on several occasions to build homes, fit kitchens, bathrooms, supply new windows and doors reconstruct and decorate homes and we are proud of the  Quality of work we give..

 So if you require a UK firm to build you a house, reconstruct or even paint and decorate your home - just give us a call and we will give you our immediate attention and first class service.  Supply us with the jobs you need doing, plans will obviously be of a great help if you have them and we will get back to you as quick as we can with a free no obligation quote.  See our web site which gives a brief explanation of who we are and the services we offer.  Don't worry if you cannot see the one you want, we will assist you all we can.

Your budget is our budget too !!

 Just ask for Gavin Nunn (Director) or David Sharp. (Company Secretary) Hope to hear from you soon.                                 



Kathryn

Jim Brown asked:


Organic home vegetable gardens have gained increasing popularity in homes these days. Families especially the ones that have health buffs are won over by the idea of getting those luscious greens and ripe tomatoes at their freshest state as you are able to personally pick and pluck them up straight from your home garden. No more worries and questions on whether your vegetables come from a healthy source because you yourself are in control of their growth and produce. Here are some ideas and tips to help you in nurturing your organic vegetable home gardens.

In starting out, make sure that you have the space and a good garden location. Vegetables grow best with full sun exposure which translates to a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight in a day. In choosing what plants to grow, select the varieties that are more likely to resist diseases. This fact is usually mentioned in the labels and plant tags and pointed out in catalogs. Having plants with a good immune system will give you one less thing to worry about.

Speaking of plant diseases, it is advisable that you rotate your vegetable location whenever you can. As trite as it may sound, this technique actually reduces the chances that your plants will get infected. It has not been proved scientifically but the element of surprise is said to keep and mislead the infections from attacking your vegetables. And most importantly, keep your garden clean. An ignored dead diseased leaf can actually cause your home vegetable garden to have an infection. Taking time to pick up dead foliage a few minutes each day can help you maintain a healthy garden.

A good rich soil builds up your vegetables to be healthy and nourished so do not fail to check and fill your soil with organic material or compost at the very start. If you should find the need to fertilize your organic vegetable garden, opt for natural sources. Chemical substances could be very harmful not only to your plants but to you as well. You are ultimately the end beneficiary of your plants. If they are packed with chemicals then so will you. Your best source of fertilizer may be manure of plant eating animals such as horses, chickens and rabbits. Make sure that these are well-rotted. There may also be prepackaged organic materials that you can purchase online or at the local gardening shop. Make sure to check the label before making the purchase. Do not fertilize too much. Plants that grow at a faster rate are more susceptible to insects and disease than their slow paced counterparts.

Take time to weed. Weeds are a common garden foe. They not only cause your garden to look messy but they also attract unwanted insect pests. And we do not want insect pests because they are the main carriers of diseases transporting infection from one plant to the next. Thus allot a few minutes of your day to check on your garden and yank the weeds. It is way better to get them when they are still young and in the earlier stages. Pulling them out when they are fully rooted would be quite a chore.

Least not to forget is to water your plants well. Using a sprinkler is not very advisable as it can leave your leaves wet and that can invite disease. A good tip is to make use of a soaker hose that would carry the water directly to your vegetable plants roots.



Joey

Ellen Bell asked:


A hundred years ago, almost every American family grew some of their own produce at home.  In rural America, farming families would grow almost all their vegetables, as well as raise livestock for their meat and dairy needs.

Today, with the advent of mass transportation and the growth of suburban America, there are fewer and fewer self-supporting family farms.  Many Americans living in urban or suburban areas do the majority of their grocery shopping at large commercial grocery stores.  However, home vegetable gardening has reemerged as a popular hobby for families.

Of all homegrown vegetables, the tomato is considered the most popular crop.  Many American families plant at least one tomato plant each year, either in their backyard or somewhere in the landscaping around their home.  What is the reason for the tomato plant's widespread popularity?  It is an extremely easy plant to grow, thriving in almost all U.S. climate conditions and soil types.  Tomatoes will grow in almost any location that receives at least four hours of sunlight per day.  They do require regular watering for optimum fruit production, but will produce some fruit even in dry conditions.

Tomatoes are a fairly disease resistant crop, too, suffering only occasionally from leaf wilt and blight.  Good planting and pruning techniques can usually prevent these problems.  Tomato bugs, white flies, and cutworms can also pose threat to tomatoes, but these pests can usually be kept at bay with soap spray, cutworm collars placed at the bottom of the plant, or other commercially available pesticide sprays.

Because tomatoes are such a popular plant for home gardeners, they are usually readily available for purchase as young plants from local garden centers and discount stores during the early spring months of the year.  Plants found in stores will probably be of the more common varieties and hybrids such as Better Boy, Beefsteak, Sweet 100 (a cherry type tomato) and Early Girl.  Less common varieties may have to be purchased as seeds and grown "from scratch" by the gardener.  Growing plants from seed is certainly a more economical option than buying already established plants, and can be worthwhile, particularly when planting on a large scale.

Growing plants from seed is not difficult, and seed packets for many vegetables and herbs usually begin appearing on store shelves as early as January or February.  Starting plants from seed indoors is a good way to get a head start on the growing seasons, and can often result in bigger plants and larger harvests.  All you really need are pots full of soil and a warm, sunny location for them during the day.  For optimum seed starting conditions, you can also use a grow light or heat lamp.

Greenhouses can also be enormously helpful in starting plants from seed, because they create warmer growing climates for the plants than the surrounding air outside.  For the gardener with space restrictions, indoor tabletop green houses can be a good option, as they occupy no more space than a small table or workbench.  For the serious gardener with plenty of outdoor space, a larger outdoor greenhouse may be the better choice.  Greenhouse kits to help you build your own greenhouse are readily available through specialty catalogs and online stores.

Though home gardening isn't what it used to be a century ago, it has adapted along with the American family and our growing and changing way of life.  Most families today obtain the vast majority of their food from grocery stores; however, the small suburban garden continues to thrive as a source of good food and a leisurely pastime for millions of American families today.



Makena