Commercially available 5.1.1 mix?
Cassie (8b Southern AZ, high desert)
2 months ago
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popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
2 months agoRelated Discussions
UK Exterior house colours
Comments (25)Love the tile--very Victorian entryway looking, but not as elaborate as some. Unfortunately I live in a small town miles (about 70) away from the nearest salvage yard. They do a little at the dump in the summer, but not windows. I have gotten some cool doors on the curb and at yard sales, including one I might use for the front door, but it nearly matches the original on my rental property, so I'm reluntant to use it for this one. And the size isn't standard, so I have an idea to redo the yucky ranch style door to make it almost bungalow, and hope to eventually replace the storm door, which isn't too bad. I think English Victorian is more restrained and geometrical than American, which often went kind of went wild with the millwork,. We had lots of wood to work with and flattened the virgin forests in the process. But many, many homes, like my rental, were built in a far more restrained and simple vernacular version. Love the stained glass door--not many like that in the US! Happy Hunting! BTW, are you familar with English leaded glass strips and films? Saw it in a magazine on kitchen cabinets and it looked so real--thinking about doing some American Queen Anne style (center pane completely surrounded by squares of colored glass) on my back door. Can be used inside and outside, or both, for a really great look. http://www.decraled.co.uk/ Decra Led http://wn.com/Decra_Led_tutorial_Part_Two_Applying_Designs#/videos There is a great English website for traditional architecture, and some great reference books too to educate yourself. Just got the basics at school--the rest came from lots of reading and looking around, soaking it in. Sounds like you have a good feel for what you like and there are plenty of neighborhoods of Victorian Terrace housing to go look at for ideas. http://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/index.php Actually, I'm pretty close to the neighbors on both sides, at least pretty close in American terms. The fully original bungalow to my left is about 20' away maybe slightly less and we can see clear into each other's windows, but that's what curtains are for, and I don't care much. We are closer on the right--maybe about 15' with a good view of the stairs to the second floor apartment--the downstairs is an office with parking in the back. I grew up in similar or tighter housing so it doesn't bother me and we are quiet people with nice neighbors. Got a motel across the steet, but the back is for long-term renters and blocks the parking lot, and we haven't had any problem except we can wave to the maids on break from our big picture window! Had a great Queen Anne there originally, but the old commercial district has crept over to our block and the motel was built two years after the previous owners put in the big window. Never understood that picture window facing the street fad here. but again, that's what curtains are for! At least it is fairly in proportion to the rest of the house....See MoreHow to Clean White Marble
Comments (5)continued from above - So I started thinking, what is a similar natural material that is porous as well as white and what is used to clean it? Eventually it came to me, Teeth. Now I know there are stark differences between the two but I thought it was worth a try, plus I was desperate or maybe I had now moved over to obsessed. I wasn’t about to use tooth paste for fear of it 1) possibly scratching the marble and 2)I didn’t want to risk trading yellow smoke stains for blue ones, so instead I decided to try an old homemade remedy of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. So taking a couple of tablespoons of baking soda I mixed in just enough hydrogen peroxide to create a paste. I then took the paste and applied it in a circular motion to the marble with a couple of cotton balls. After about 20 minutes I sprayed one of the cleaners on the marble and I was amazed! It literally reduced the stains by almost half and I could begin to see a little of the veining again in those particular tiles. But I wasn’t finished, half was good but I still wasn’t satisfied. So that night I made the same solution, applied it and then left it on while we slept. The next morning the paste had hardened so initially I really couldn’t tell a difference so I took a cloth and brushed off what I could and then sprayed it with water, used a different cloth to remove that residue and then sprayed it with one of the commercial cleaners to clean off any remaining paste. Result – almost as clean as the day they came out of the box – for now that’s close enough. What was also amazing was the way that it cleaned the grout. It didn’t remove all of the stains from the grout but it removed the majority of them and there are enough commercial grout cleaners and whiteners available that I’m not overly concerned about it, plus I plan on tackling this issue in a couple of months when the mantel is repainted....See MoreBest Mattress Brand?
Comments (93)We bought a Talalay latex mattress. Love love love it. So hard to know what to get. We ruled out Tempurpedic because it is hard to turn sideways. Hubby has a bad shoulder so we ruled that out right away. Considered sleep # but didn't want to take the risk of an air mattress getting a hole. Then you are without a bed. I wouldn't think that would happen very often but I read a lot of reviews where that has happened. There are more and more organic latex mattresses coming out now. We have no regrets. Have had the bed over a year and still is like brand new....See Morepotting soil or Shrub & Tree Planting Soil when using container pots
Comments (10)It's not likely you'll find an appropriate soil in a bag from a nursery or greenhouse because nearly all commercially prepared soils for retail are based on fine particulates like peat, compost, coir, composted forest products, sand ....... Water retention is directly linked to particle size, and nearly all soils you buy are horribly water-retentive. Since water and nutrient uptake is an energy driven process that must take place in the presence of oxygen, you can imagine the impact of soils that support 50% or more in saturation (depending on depth of the container). Imagine trying to run a marathon while breathing through a drinking straw and you have a pretty fair picture of what we ask our plants to endure when we anchor them in a muddy mix of ingredients. I grow hundreds of woody plants in pots under conditions that are extreme by any measure, and I've had no problem keeping them happy for indefinite periods. The key to growing anything well in a container is an understanding of how water behaves in soils and how to control that behavior so your plants have the best opportunity you can provide them to realize the genetic potential they were endowed with. Your plants already have what it takes to be spectacular specimens. Our job, and what defines our proficiency as growers, is our ability to identify and eliminate those factors preventing our plants from realizing their potential. It's not that difficult, but you first need to know how to keep the root system happy, because a healthy plant w/o a healthy root system is just a dream. Much more on the topic here (click link). Al...See More
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 months agoCassie (8b Southern AZ, high desert)
2 months agoJodiK
2 months ago
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
2 months ago@Cassie (8b Southern AZ, high desert) Since Fafard was acquired by Sun-Gro, they have eliminated the 3 or so mixes that contained pine bark as the primary fraction of the medium. Trying to "amend" media that are too water retentive is almost always an exercise in futility. Must growers believe that as you add perlite or pine/fir bark to media based on primarily fine materials, it increases aeration, but it does not. More accurately, it does not increase aeration until the % of coarse material is so great there is no longer enough fine material to fill all the spaces between the large particles. This transition point is called the threshold proportion. If you have interest, find it here. To take best advantage of the greater opportunity a highly aerated medium offers your plants to realize as much of their genetic potential as possible, the coarse material (larger than will pass a 1/8" screen) should be north of 75-85%, which would mean the medium should be based on coarse material with only enough fine material to raise water retention to a level you are comfortable dealing with.
You can find screened pine bark at American Bonsai in FL (LINK), but the cost of shipping and screening probably raises the cost to >5-10x what you'd pay for it unscreened and local by the 2 or 3 cu ft bag; even more than 10X if you find it in bulk.
Best luck, no matter course you decide on.
Al
seasiderooftop
2 months agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
2 months agoseasiderooftop
2 months agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
2 months agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
2 months agoJodiK
last monthpopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
21 days agoI purchased a soil mix from an Etsy seller that looked interesting. It was kinda pricey but I wanted to see what it was like. So I bought a bag. I corresponded a bit with the seller and he told me that he was familiar with the 5-1-1 and took his inspiration from that. Here's a picture of it.
His website is kgisubstrates.com.
Travis in PHX (9b)
17 days agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
17 days ago
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