By Ryan Henderson

Perhaps you have dabbled a bit in woodwork, and you aren’t too bad at doing some minor home repairs but you have discovered you really need an outdoor shed to store all those tools and garden items in. Problem is there just isn’t anything on the market that perfectly suits your needs.

Then all you have to do is design your own shed. It doesn’t take a scientist to draft plans for these and its not much different than when you have planned out how to do those minor repairs.

There are several benefits to drawing your own outdoor shed plans. Most importantly, it’s going to be exactly what you want. It’s not as expensive because you don’t have to buy the plans.

Not to say that plans are really expensive but they still cost money and besides you most probably won’t be able to find the perfect plans anyway because what you are drawing is the plans for a custom built shed. On top of all this, it really is fun and quite rewarding not only when you have the plans finished but hopefully you will go onto building your shed. You have to admit that’s a real do it yourselfer.

So what do your require to complete this task of drafting your own designs for your shed? Not much at this point really. You don’t need to be a mathematician but you need some average math skills. Ideally, you will need a computer that has some soft wear like AutoCAD, or Corel draw or even adobe illustrator. If you don’t have any of this software there are free programs that you can sometimes download on your computer or even purchase that are for design planning.

So assuming your computers on and you are ready to go with your new software the first thing you are going to want to design is the floor. There is no doubt that once you have designed one thing you are going to be hooked and want to take on other projects. Being as this is your first time though keep it simple. Don’t get too fancy with your design especially if you are going to be the one using the plan to build your outdoor garden shed.

Visualization goes a long way when you are designing something. You have to have the picture basically in your head then get that picture into the computer. So the next item you will need to draw is your walls. Use the actual measurements that you are going to use when building your shed because your software should draw it to scale. Finally, when it comes to the room you may find it a little trickier because of the angles. You could go with a flat roof but some type of triangle room is far more appealing such as a barn roof or even a gable roof.

The nice thing about drawing your design this way with the computer and software is you can try all different kinds of designs and options until you get the exact one that suits you and is your perfect plan.

About the Author: Download your *FREE* shed plan at MyShedPlans.com – http://www.MyShedPlans.com Discover the easy way to build beautiful woodworking projects with over 12,000 shed plans and woodworking blueprints. MyShedPlans – Discover The Easiest Way To Build Remarkable Sheds And Woodworking Projects Today!

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=385556&ca=Gardening

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Planting

Cabbage and Chinese cabbage (Brassica. rapa, Pekinensis Group) are cool-season vegetables that should be grown in early spring or fall. They grow best at temperatures of 60 to 65 °F.

Chinese cabbage forms dense heads that may be very upright and tall (Michihili types) or round and barrel-shaped (Napa types). The leaves are slightly wrinkled and thinner than the leaves of regular cabbage with wide, crisp midribs.

Like many other cool-season crops, they will “bolt” or produce a flower stalk if exposed to a prolonged cold period of 10 or more continuous days of temperatures between 35 and 50 °F following a favorable growing period. When planted in the spring, cabbages must be planted early enough to ensure that they are harvested before temperatures become too hot. Mature cabbages can withstand temperatures as low as 18 to 20 °F.

Cabbage transplants are best for spring plantings, but fall plantings may be directly seeded into the row. Plant spacing affects head size. For 2- to 3-pound heads, transplant plants or space seed 9 to 12 inches apart in rows 36 to 44 inches wide. Varieties for sauerkraut are spaced wider.

Direct seeding is possible, especially for the fall crop. Loamy to sandy soil is best for direct seeding. It is critical to keep the soil moist during seedling establishment. It is also desirable to have an area that is protected from the wind when seeding these crops. Direct-seeded plantings should be thinned to the desired stand when the plants are in the three-leaf stage.

Chinese cabbage is best sown in late summer and fall rather than spring. If seed is sown in the spring, young plants may bolt if they are exposed to frost or to a long period of cold nights.

Sow the seed thinly in the row, and thin the plants to 12 inches apart for Michichili types and 18 inches apart for Napa types.

Cultivars

• Cabbage: Bravo, Market Prize, Rio Verde, Savoy Express, Tropic Giant (hybrid), Green Jewels (hybrid)
• Chinese Cabbage: Pak Choi Type - Joi Choi (hybrid)

Soil

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea, Capitata Group) grows well on a wide variety of soils, but a well-drained sandy loam with high organic matter content is preferred. Soil pH should be 5.8 to 6.5. Have your garden soil tested several months prior to planting and adjust soil pH according to recommendations.

Fertilizing

A soil test is always the best method for determining the fertilization needs of the crop.

If a soil test has not been taken, apply 5-10-10 at 3 pounds per 100 square feet before planting. These vegetables should be sidedressed once during the growing season. Sidedress with ammonium nitrate at 1 pound per hundred feet of row or calcium nitrate at 2 pounds per 100 feet of row. More frequent sidedressing may be required if the garden is sandy or leaching rains occur.

Watering

Water the garden to provide a uniform moisture supply to the crop. The garden should be watered in the morning so that the foliage is dry before dark. Water sufficiently to moisten the soil to a depth of at least 6 inches. Light sprinklings will encourage shallow rooting of the plants. The critical periods for moisture are stand establishment and crop maturation. It is important to have a constant uniform moisture supply to produce a high-quality crop and to have the spring crop mature before high summer temperatures. Mulching can help conserve water and reduce weeds.

Harvest and Storage

Cabbage should be ready for harvest 60 to 80 days after planting transplants. Harvest cabbage when the head is firm and has reached adequate size depending on the variety and growing conditions. Once cut, move it out of the sun as soon as possible. Cabbage will “sunblister” and lose weight in direct sun. Store all harvested cabbage in the refrigerator. Cabbage can be stored at 34 °F and 98-percent humidity for up to five months.

Problems

Head cracking or splitting occurs due to excessive water uptake and growth near maturity. Root-prune with spade or trowel or twist the stalk to break some of the roots and reduce water uptake.

Several worms (imported cabbageworm, cabbage looper, diamondback moth caterpillar), harlequin bugs, cabbage maggots, aphids and flea beetles are the major insect problems.

Common disease problems include black rot, wire stem, damping-off, downy mildew, Alternaria leaf spot and watery soft rot. Cabbage is more susceptible to wire stem and downy mildew than Chinese cabbage. Chinese cabbage is more susceptible to Alternaria.

Black rot causes the most serious damage and appears as V-shaped lesions down the leaves and spreads into the water conducting system of the plant. Black rot is caused by a bacterium that is seed-borne or that can be transmitted by transplants. Warm, moist weather favors the disease. There is no control for black rot once it is established in a planting. Prevent black rot by purchasing transplants that are marked with a tag indicating that they are certified disease-free or plant western-grown chemically treated seed.

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By Allison Ryan

To make your rock garden pleasing to the eye, you should seek out the greatest variety of plants. At the same time, you have to look at keeping a unified but not uniform effect. It is possible to make the planting too wild and unkempt, but more often a rock garden looks entirely too much dressed and too well tended to represent the moods of nature. There is a certain unity and plan in the arrangement of the wild flowers of the fields, and this intangible scheme should be your guide in planning the placing.

With all this striving for variety in unity, it is a good idea to keep the flower masses of the same date of bloom somewhat apart, getting fewer of the flower combinations than is planned for a flower border. The requirements of finished pictorial composition are less desired here, the effect being decidedly more toward the very uneven and picturesque, with the tenets of the art of manmade pictures as little in evidence as possible.

Further, each plant is to be enjoyed to a degree of itself, and it is distracting to have several adjoining pockets all in best bloom at once. Without making the arrangement spotty, it is better to stage the bloom of any week rather widely over the whole garden area, leaving each flower group set off by stones, wall fountains, garden water features, large waterfalls, and foliage with quite a patch of one plant and then no bloom for a distance, as often is the case in nature.

Yet companion crops, as tiny yellow Daffodils blooming in purple Aubrietia, are always desired and welcomed. It is hopeless to explain in words how to do it and yet not overdo each requirement. Not only do you want the interests of the plants well distributed over the area of the garden, but through the weeks of the year as well. Of course the climax of flower comes in the spring months; therefore, you must put a lot of thought into how you can much to maintain interest at other times of the year.

Many plants of evergreen foliage must be used, more than half the total planting being of this nature. Little bulbs may be added rather freely as second crop in the pockets, the bloom appearing before (or after) that of the major occupant of the pocket (or as companion bloom). Interest of foliage, as of Fern, Sempervivum, or Mossy Saxifrage; of habit, as tufted mats of Diapensia or irregular stems of Cotoneaster; or in fruits, as of Cornus canadensis, can always be employed to carry on the pictures when flowers are absent.

A garden of this nature, when devoid of interest with items such as large water features, outdoor fountains, or garden statuary, indicates a poor play on the part of the planner. Yet, in the zeal of getting a wide distribution of interests both in position and time of appearance, don’t forget to produce striking flower effects at times. Use special plants for accent and attract attention to these by their own charm and their placing.

A patch of Gentiana verna is a magnificent solo requiring no orchestra of other spring flowers, nor do Primula luteola, Cyclamen count, or Viola pedata need any helpers in presenting their message. Iris cristata may walk about and mingle its bloom with that of Phlox douglasii. Yellow Alyssum, White Iberis, Pink Arabis, and Purple Aubrietia may fall down a cliff and bloom together. In this planting, you can take a mean advantage over nature in that geographic distances can be overcome and flowers of Patagonia, Oregon, Finland, and Japan may all grow happily on one small mound.

You can also use the geographic restriction to a degree, and only wild flowers of one’s own region be allowed, or of one major mountain range, as Caucasus, Alps, Rockies, or Andes. Soil conditions may always be made a control of plants to be used. The rock gardener should take advantage of strategically placing patio statuary, a patio fountain, or a garden waterfall in the area of the garden to break up the monotony of too many rocks that look similar.

These water features are also an excellent place to place specialty rocks the gardener wants to bring attention to. Botany may become a major factor, and certain families or genera may dominate, as Primrose, Pentstemon, or Phlox; or definite flower shapes or foliage habits, as bell-like flower or grassy leafage, may be made the main motive. All kinds of intricate schemes can be thus elaborated. No other kind of gardening has such possibilities of variations.

About the Author: Allison Ryan is a freelance marketing writer specializing in landscape architecture and
outdoor fountains and
garden water features. For the perfect
patio fountain for your home, stop by
http://www.garden-fountains.com/.

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=388744&ca=Gardening

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