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When you start looking to purchase a lawn rake UK or marveling at that Gardeners’ Heaven lawn rake, don’t forget that it’s only recently that gardeners have been able to get hold of garden tools and efficient devices. Settlements grew gardens thousands of years before the design of the hoe or the rake. What we know as an everyday hobby actually began before the rise of the dawn of history.

In Egypt gardeners worked by a blending of spirituality, practical reasons, and practical reasons. The necessary flowers as well as other food-bearing plants would mingle with pools for fish. While admittedly the majority was grown as food some plants were cultivated in the name of their deities. Temple caretakers also tended to certain roots in locations apart from the gardens.

Assyrians, Assyrians and Babylonians combined fruits, vegetables, water features, and fruits with water features and vegetables to design peaceful settings. As you might predict, another example of a culture who practiced this was the Romans - though the Greeks focused on the potential for food of their plantations and nothing else.

Although as you might know they had no access to garden forks or rakes, these peoples had devised a variety of primitive contrivances and garden aids not dissimilar to modern hoes and spades. Hoes were initially constructed from stone, but their replacements would fashion them in iron, wood, and pine.

The confusion of the Dark Ages pushed many peoples to set aside the simplistic hoe and other garden tools - except for the priests, who cultivated certain flowers and herbs .

Little by little we discovered again the practice of cultivating gardens for pleasure. Guidelines began to emerge, a formalized structure overseeing the way the garden would eventually appear. You need only to think about the artistry inherent in a knot garden for that to be plain.

Should you happen to be checking out how to remediate that irritating wooden picnic tables handle or perusing some informative lawn rake reviews, remember that as time went on visionaries such as William Kent, William Kent, as well as William Kent picked up a spade and other garden tools to develop mind blowing designs. Where others abided by these guidelines that had been rigorously observed for centuries, “Capability” Brown and others innovated a remarkable mix of structure and instinct by combining artificial garden decorations like statues with natural lines.

Today, their appearance may have changed but nonetheless we cultivate plants for many of the same reasons. At the end of the day, they remain among the most peaceful places in the world.

Be sure to surf to our comprehensive webpage for garden tables products

Rawhide lamp shades can be ruined in transportation and shipping or they can arrive in perfect condition, with the right handling techniques. Weather you use these tips for personal use or if you are one of our dealers on the road to trade shows or other stores, the valuable techniques we have pioneered come from personal experience in the school of hard knocks, a class we don’t want you to have to attend.

Each month, Mission Del Rey transports hundreds of rawhide lamp shades to our shipping center in El Paso, TX for shipping to destinations around the world. The 450 mile trip through the southwest desert has been our proving ground.

Rawhide lamp shades have three enemies in transportation, heat, light, & air. Shades may be stacked together to save space but must be sealed to protect them from wind and sunlight and must be humidified to avoid being heated to the point of splitting. In our cargo trailer temperatures can soar to 150 degrees. In the early days, we lost dozens of rawhide shades. Now, we don’t lose any.

Packing for transportion. First, the rawhide lampshades are separated by size into stacks that are manageable. Second, the stack is placed inside a large plastic bag and then the laced edges sprayed with water using a spray bottle, then the bag is sealed with packaging tape. Third, the humidified and sealed packages are padded from each other and covered with furniture blankets which act as insulation from sun, wind and heat.

Finally, immediately upon arrival, the packages are unsealed and the rawhide lamp shades emerge intact. Note, it is very important not to leave the rawhide shades in the sealed packages as the moisture will ultimately rust the metal frames.

Packing for UPS/Fed Ex shipping. If you have ever witnessed the handling procedure at one of the distribution centers you might say it is amazing. If one of the packages being handled is your rawhide lamp shade, the word scary might come to mind. Mountains of packages are thrown and climbed on in handling and sit every which way but up.

Rawhide lamp shades have sturdy welded steel frames. The laced edges are the part of the shade most susceptible to damage. Wrap the shade loosely in paper or plastic. Place a ring of bubble wrap or foam around the lower rim to protect both the side and bottom of the shade. Tape it in place. Cover the top of the shade with the same material. Select a box the size of the bottom diameter of your lamp shade. (ie. a 20″ dia. Shade in a 20″x20″ box) Seat the padded lampshade firmly into the base of the box and trim the box height so that it closes flush with the top of the shade. Use plenty of tape in different directions to seal the package and short of the delivery truck running over it, you should have good results and a perfect shade.

About the author:

Craig Chambers, is the President of Mission Del Rey, an Arizona non profit organization preserving and advancing the culture of the Tarahumara Indians through traditional skills. Rawhide lamp shades and other hand crafts are available through the mission store at http://store.missiondelrey.com or on ebay at http://stores.ebay.com/Mission-Del-Rey For further information or questions you may write to sales@missiondelrey.com

We’ve finally reached the end of this 3-part series on drying flowers. If you’ve gotten this far, you probably already know that small, home-style, do-it-yourself flower presses can be purchased in places like craft stores, well-stocked gift shops, and even some of the big ol’ box stores have been known to carry a few now and again. I’ve seen the lot…mostly made in some far-distant third-world country, then shipped over here to be sold for a good deal more than they should.

A flower press is really a handy gadget for the craftsperson. It is not only fun to dry and press your own…it can be profitable as well. Our daughter, for example, earned a tidy after-school-spare-time sum making perfectly charming pressed-flower bookmarks that were accepted and marketed in a very nice craft shop. Imagine making your own personalized, laminated and delightfully-charming bookmarks for gifts to friends and relatives. Leaded-glass crafters also employ pressed flowers with good effect in their often jewel-like creations.

Quite literally, anyone with the most basic hand toolsor who has a friend or neighbor with a hand-saw and light-duty drill. The one detailed throughout this article cost a grand total of 88-cents (for the four bolts with wing-nuts and washers) so, you see, this is not an expensive project! A link to pictures of the process appears at the end of this article.

First, locate some scrap pieces of quarter-inch plywood, Masonite or paneling. You’ll need three pieces. Color, wood type or finish really doesn’t matter. Old, no-longer-used clipboards would be a perfect source. Most basements, attics, garages or barns have stashes of too-nice-to-throw-away wood scraps. Poke around.

Your finished product can be practically any reasonable sizethis one will be 5-1/2″ by 7″ when it’s done, but that could vary according to your needs. Don’t be fussy about precise measurements-as long as all three pieces are the same size and shape. Most of the flowers you’ll be pressing will be fairly small, so there’s no point in making one that’s jumbo-size.

Cut (or have them cut) to what you think is an appropriate size, then carefullythoroughlysand with medium- and then fine-grit sandpaper to remove all rough edges. Splinters can be an uncomfortable reminder if you skip this step. Smooth edges and surfaces will be much better to paint or decorate later on. Now stack all three pieces together and snap 4 or 5 rubber bands around them to hold them in place. Using either a hand or electric drill, drill a 1/4-inch hole about 1/2-inch in from each corner. Hold the drill as close to perpendicular as possible, and drill through all three pieces at the same time, making certain that nothing “slips” in the process, so all the holes line up. I like to file or sand a notch along one edge of all three boards at this point so it’s easier to line up the holes when it comes time to actually pressing some blossoms.

Once the holes are done, go back with your sandpaper and smooth-up the rough edges of each hole to remove slivers and “hanging-chads” (sorry, I just had to get that in!). So much for the fun part.

Somewhere in that basement, garage or barn must be some cardboard boxes just waiting for a need to arise. If not, try your local grocery, hardware or appliance storethey’ll be happy to let you poke through their recyclables. Use one of the wooden pieces to measure out and mark about a dozen same-size pieces of cardboard and, with either a stout pair of scissors, a yard stick and a craft-knife (being careful not to slice a chunk out of your knee or thumb), or a paper cutter, cut them out. Neatness counts…and be careful you don’t slice into the carpet or dining room table.

Do the same thing with about 25 or 30 same-size sheets of newsprint. “Newsprint” is what the daily paper is printed on. Most craft or art supply stores have tablets of blank newsprint that artists sometimes use as sketch pads. You might check with your local daily or weekly newspaper print shop… quite often they’ll have what they call butt-endsleftovers from once-massive rolls of paper that’re now too short to put back onto the press. Shouldn’t cost more than a dollar or so a pound - and a pound will go a long way. They might even just give you a handful. Most newspaper pressmen will run a few blank-and-folded copies before they begin applying ink, just to make sure everything’s lined up. Those blank newspapers all go into a really big recycling bin. No harm in asking!

I prefer newsprint because fragile dried flowers aren’t likely to stick to it because the modern type has a hard surface. Copier paper, on the other hand, is more porous - rough - and delicate petals can hang up in the texture.

Now comes an important step. Remember the holes you drilled in the corners for the bolts? The corners of both the cardboard and newsprint need to be trimmed off to accommodate the hardware. Of course, it should go without saying, but here it comes anyway: be real careful with those scissors! Yes, surgeons can sew fingertips back on, but the process leaves quite a scarmore than a few of us know that from personal experience.

All that’s left is to make a trip to your local hardware store and purchase four 4-inch-long, 1/8″ bolts (a little smaller or a bit larger doesn’t matter - as long as they’re long enough), 4 wing-nuts (you can tighten them with your fingers instead of having to use a wrench or pliers) and 8 appropriately-sized washers.

Now What? Easy as pie! The ideal flower to press is one that has very little lumpy-bulk. You wouldn’t have much luck, for example, with a rose, daffodil, begonia or cluster of geranium flowers. On the other hand, among the very best are the pansies and violas. Violets, individual florets of geranium and hydrangea seem to be made for pressing. There are many others equally suited to the technique… and don’t forget little bits of grass seed heads, small ferns and colorful or interestingly shaped leaves. Let your imagination soar.

Here’s how:

* Slip a washer on each of the four bolts, and slide them through the four holes of one piece of wood. Lay it on a table with the threaded ends of the bolts point up toward the ceiling.

* Place one sheet of trimmed cardboard, followed by one sheet of newsprint flat on that piece of wood…between the bolts.

* Now position your flowers so they don’t touch each other…watch for bent petals or anything that looks unnatural.

* Gently place a sheet of newsprint on top of them, followed by another piece of cardboard. Drop in another sheet of newsprint…ready for your next layer of flowers.

* Continue building up-cardboard, newsprint, flowers, newsprint, cardboard, etc., until you’ve reached about half-way.

* Now gently slide a second piece of wood down over the bolts as a rigid, central reinforcement, and continue building layer upon layer until all 12 pieces of cardboard have been used.

* Finally, slide the last piece of wood over the bolts, slip a washer on each, and spin on the wing nuts until they’re snug. It might help at this point to press down on the center of the stack with the heel of your hand while continuing to tighten the nuts.

The purpose here is to gently flatten the flowers…but not crush all the corrugations out of the cardboard. Done? Ok. Mow it’s time for patienceand dreaming about what you’re going to do with your pressed flowers. Place your press with its precious cargo in a dry, room-temperature spot with some air circulation. Keep it away from excessive heat and high humidity…and keep your shirt on.

Because the cardboard has corrugations, air is allowed to move through each of those little “tunnels”, evaporating any moisture that’s drawn from the flowers by the dry spacing materials. And because the process is really quite rapid, very nearly all of the original flower color is retained.

How long? For very small or light-weight flowers with little moisture, 2 or 3 days is usually sufficient. Thicker petals may take a bit longer. Gently loosen all four wing nuts, remove the first layer of wood and very carefully lift the newsprint by the corner and “peek” at the flowers. If they’re dry, you’ll know it immediatelythey’ll lift off easily and, if you’re not careful, may blow of the table with the slightest breeze. If they seem to “stick” to the paper, gently put the whole thing back together and wait another couple of days.

So, what do you do now? We started out using clear, adhesive vinyl sold as shelf-paper. Later, we purchased a plastic laminator at Staples for just under $100. Most copy-shops (”Quick-Prints”) have laminators and will be happy to seal just about anything you bring in that’ll fit into their machine. Some of these big machines use a hot-process…some cold. I personally don’t think it matters. I know some industrious crafters who use the same plastic-sealing pouches (Staples, again) and a dry clothing iron set just a little shy of the hottest setting. A very flat surface and a sheet of stiff, smooth paper on either side should do the trick. If it were me, I’d try it a couple of times before wading in with my very nicest pressed flower specimens!

Finally, don’t forget to look at photos of this process using the link, below. When you get there, click on each photo to see a closer view. Enjoy! And why not share your pressed-flower bookmarks with a book-lover or shut-in. They will be appreciated!

You’ll find pictures of flower press parts and assembly at http://www.hillgardens.com/dry-photos.htm, and view the list of Fred’s other articles at: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Fred_Davis

Fred Davis is a Master Gardener, Master Composter, lecturer, and long-time nurseryman. He and his wife, Linda, own and operate a popular perennial nursery in Palermo, Maine, and maintain a no-frills gardening information website at: http://www.HillGardens.com/ where you’ll find answers to your gardening questions.

A common mistake that beginner water gardeners often make is that they fail to take the height and width of their waterfall into consideration, when they purchase a waterfall pump. Because of this, it is quite common for water gardeners to underestimate the size of the pump required for their pond.

Calculating the proper pump for waterfalls can be tricky, because waterfall pumps are rated by both GPH and maximum waterfall height. To estimate your waterfall’s height, you must measure the vertical height from the top of your pump to the top of your waterfall or stream. In addition, you must add another foot of height or lift for every 10 feet of hosing you will be using (this will allow for loss of volume from resistance within the hose). To calculate the required pump GPH, a general rule of thumb is that each inch of width of the channel will require an extra 100 GPH. For example, if your stream or waterfall spillway will be 10 inches wide, you will need a pump that produces an excess flow of 1000 GPH at your waterfall’s height.

Do not make the mistake of underestimating the pump size that you require, otherwise, your waterfall will be reduced to a trickle of water. If you have a large waterfall, you will need a specialized pump that will provide you sufficient GPH. GardenSM.com is proud to introduce a new product line of high-end Master DW submersible waterfall pumps that can run at ratings of up to 2780 GPH. The pumps in the Master DW series have been designed for medium to large ponds, for particularly dirty water, and to create waterfalls.

One of the most significant benefits of the Master DW series is that they have been designed to be clog-free. In addition to their built-in double filtration intake that can filter waste particles up to 8mm in size, all Master DW pumps feature an anti-clog system which consists of a double-rotation impeller. This “self-cleaning” feature is particularly useful when there is an abundance of leaves and sediment in your pond water. If one of the rotors is ever blocked by an object, the impeller will reverse direction, until the object is removed and normal operating status can be restored. And if these two fail-safe anti-clog mechanisms are not enough, the pump can also be combined with external filters for increased filtration.

The Master DW currently comes in 1430 GPH (Master DW 5500) and 2780 GPH (Master DW 10500) versions. Both run on SICCE’s patented NRG energy system, which utilizes magnet-synchronous motors for exceptional power and reliability. However, the 10500 model is a top-of-the-line pump which offers an unprecedented 10,500 lt/h power/head performance at 10 mt.

The simplicity and reliability of the Master DW’s synchronous motors, and its fail-safe anti-clog system, combined with the most sophisticated electronics make the Master DW a truly unique product.

The Master DW can be purchased from GardenSM.com’s online store at http://www.gardensupermart.com/buypond/c230094p16551679.2.html.

Please visit http://www.GardenSM.com for more information about water gardening.

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