Landscaping

Backyard Fence Canvas

The backyard fence is like a canvas and you are the painter.

No doubt, you can paint the fence any color.

How about decorating the fence as a focal point in the yard?
You can hang a large mirror up or several smaller ones creating an illusion of depth in a small space. Placing picture frames or fancy plates on the fence for an interesting aspect. Add a few climbing plants like clematis to finish the look.

Use an ornamental trellis or bed frame for those climbing plants. Everything will stand out better against a light-colored fence.

If you are short on growing area, try hanging pots or planters, or building boxes for plants onto the fence. Try nailing open wooden crates to the fence with pots and plants in them.

Do not forget to experiment with lighting. Try placing solar deck or spotlights around for a stylish effect playing off of focal points and shadows. It also adds to the security of the backyard at night.

If you are an artist, you can always paint a mural on your fence.

DIY Projects, Home Improvement

Stained Glass

If you admired the stained glass in a church and wished you could have this in your home, there is a way. You can buy window film looking like frosted or stained glass for your own windows. These products can be found online or at major hardware stores.

The self-adhesive film has an adhesive on one side that will stick to the window. A drawback to this is it is harder to apply and can only be used once. The benefit is that it can be applied to the exterior of the window.

The static film can be easily placed on an interior window and be reused. Make sure your window is clean before placing the film. There are countless options like the look of stained glass, graphics, and glow in the dark styles.

Folding screens come in bifold or trifold sections. These cover the window with decorative or simple scenes and an alternative to more permanent treatments.

If you are creative, you can use no tack tape and spray the window with frosted glass paint. Frosted designs double as a decorative element and provide privacy while letting light in.

You can buy actual stained glass to replace existing windows, however, it is more expensive than replacing the original glass. The average cost is $100 per square foot.

These window treatments add privacy to the room while allowing light to enter the home. This is especially important in the bathroom, living room, and kitchen.

Vegetables

Growing Tomatoes

In growing tomatoes, there are some things that people do not tell you about. First, there are two different types of tomatoes, indeterminate and determinate varieties. Indeterminate types produce tomatoes thru the season while the determinate ones produce tomatoes faster in cycles making them good if you want to can or preserve.

Another secret is not to buy the cheap tomato cages. Most of you have experienced go out to the garden after a windstorm and seeing those cages all bent out of shape and twisted. Get the more expensive, taller ones and place and tie a T-post inside the cage. You can make your own cage out of heavy fence.

Tomatoes do not like the leaves to get wet which causes various fungus diseases. Water the plants with a soaker hose or drip irrigation. My mother use to dig trenches along the plants to get water to them allowing the water to get deep into the soil.

Plant deep, always deeper than the pot they are growing in. Plant much of the stem into the soils allows for better protection from the wind. Roots will form along the stem allowing for a sturdier plant.

Fertilize the plants when you transplant with a water diluted fertilizer like Miracle-Gro. However, do not feed the plants too heavily thru the growing period, this creates more foliage at the expense of fruit.

I you can, mulch the soil around the plants with 1 to 2 inches of straw or hay. This keeps the plants from drying out, controls weeds, and controls fluctuations in soil temperatures.

After the plants get taller, prune all the lower leaves and sucker off the bottom 12 inches of the plant. This lessens rain hitting the soil and splashing up to the plant reducing diseases like Septoria and other fungus diseases from affecting your plant. If you want to do further pruning, remove the suckers between the stem and main leaf. This allows for more air movement in the plant reducing diseases. Remember is you remove too much foliage, you will run into sunscald later on.