Home Improvement

Bookshelves for Book Lovers

As book lovers, we don’t lust after cheap bookshelves. When thinking about our private libraries and how to best display our treasured books, we all dream of something like the library from Beauty and the Beast, right? Or, barring that, some impossibly swirly or hidden-away book nook to settle into.

And then… well, we look at the price of those fancier bookshelves, take a deep breath, and redirect our attention towards some cheaper bookshelves that actually still look pretty nice and do the job.

It’s sometimes difficult to say goodbye to a beloved piece of furniture—no matter how weathered—so skip the fond farewell by refurbishing an old but cherished bookcase. Whether it needs stripping and sanding, a layer of lacquer, or a fresh coat of paint, a worn bookcase can be made as good as new with a little effort.

Assembled from a small stack of 1×8 boards and black plumbing pipes, this bookshelf is industrial in both strength and style—and putting the unit together proves that the electric drill is the tool that rules them all!

Rope is an excellent all-purpose craft material—it can be used in making stair railings, lampshades, and even privacy screens. A sturdy length of knotted rope is also great for suspending a shelf that lends a nautical charm to any room.

Using your imagination, you can create any type of bookcase like the birch wood. Possibly better suited to a music room or study, to be a conversation starter wherever it’s put.

Give old bricks a second life as a DIY bookcase by mounting it sideways on a wall. Glue the bricks together making the sturdy.

Use shipping pallets or old wooden boxes as the primary construction material in your DIY bookcase. Once you’ve assessed the quality and integrity of your individual pallets, begin the straightforward task of attaching horizontal shelves to the pallets’ slats. Be sure to mount the pallets using drywall anchors for maximum steadfastness against the wall.

Cinder blocks and wood planks form a more perfect union in this affordable shelving project, easy enough for even a novice DIYer to complete. Enhance the structure’s style by painting the boards before inserting them into the cinder blocks.

Garden almanac

Growing Season Ended

The growing season ended for the flowers and vegetables, what were you pleased to see that? was surprised to see? was disappointed to see?

I’ll go first. I was pleased to see my new asparagus plants grew like crazy! By fall I had 5 or more stems from each root, and most grew 3feet tall! My parsnips grew like crazy, as did onions … and all root crops except the radishes for the four years in a row. Need to plant them as soon as the ground thaws.

I was surprised to see how my okra grew to four feet. It’s a lesser-known crop, one that is cooked and eaten, not munched raw like carrots. It tasted good in soups or sautéed. I was surprised that my beets grew so perfectly, even the ones that I had not thinned enough.

I was disappointed to see, once again, that I had to fight various blights on my tomatoes. In the “old days” tomatoes kept on growing and producing fruit through September and into October. We covered them with blankets to keep the frost off them. But not anymore. Hail finished everything off right after Labor Day.

How about you?

Vegetables

All American Selection for Vegetables

The new All American Selection for 2020 for vegetables goes to 3 tomato varieties.

1. Celano is a patio type grape tomato with a strong bushy habit. It is best grown with some support, such as a tomato cage. This semi-determinate hybrid tomato is an early producer of sweet oblong fruits weighing about 0.6 oz. each. Plants grow to 40” in height and spread to 24” and have excellent late blight tolerance. In comparing it to other grape tomatoes on the market, one judge summed it up by saying “(Celano) is sweeter, the texture is better, the color is deeper, the plants are healthier, and the yield is phenomenal.

Celano Tomato


2. Early Resilience is a rounded Roma tomato with a deep red interior color, uniform maturity and good quality flesh for canning and cooking. Determinate, bushy plants can be staked but it is not necessary. The AAS Judges noted that this variety was very resistant to Blossom End rot, resulting in a high yield and less fruit loss. This could very well replace some of the other Roma varieties as a new standard in the arena.

Early Resilience Roma Tomato


3. Galahad is a brave new tomato variety that has a high level of Late Blight resistance because both parents are resistant. Galahad is a high-yielding, great tasting tomato that grows on a strong sturdy plant. Judges agreed that the sweet, meaty flavor is better than that of the comparison varieties and boasts of being crack resistant.

Galahad Tomato