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The most popular choice for advanced pond constructions is the pond liner, because it offers an unlimited potential for design creativity, dependable longevity, and low maintenance. However, make sure you invest in a high quality pond liner, because a low-quality liner may leak, be toxic to marine life, and/or cause many other headaches in the upcoming months after your installation.

The purpose of a liner is to retain the water within the pond basin, while providing the water gardener with the complete flexibility of shaping his/her own pond design. Durability is one of the primary yardsticks used to measure the efficacy of pond liners. In areas where earth tremors occur, liners do not crack as easily as preformed liners or concrete, and will thereby last longer than their preformed cousins. However, depending on the liner material, liners are adversely affected by UV light to varying degrees.

A secondary consideration is the suitability of the liner material towards marine life. Plastic-based liner material (E.g. polyethylene, polythylene, PVC, and polypropylene) contain stabilizers which allow the plastic to bond. In liner materials such as polyethylene, polyethylene, and PVC, these stabilizers are lead- and barium-based, which are heavy-metals that are known as carcinogens. Another liner material, Polypropylene, utilizes Di-Octyl Phtalate (DOP) as a stabilizer, which is a toxic substance that is extremely corrosive and harmful. Envision what would happen to your aquatic life if a crack were to develop in a plastic liner, and plasticizer were to enter the pond eco-system.

There are five main types of liner constructions: Polyethylene, Polythylene, PVC liners, EPDM/rubber, and polypropylene. Polyethylene and Polythylene liners typically cost half that of polypropylene and EPDM. While they are both lightweight and inexpensive, they typically only last one season. Polyethylene will readily conform to any shape, however, it does not have the sturdiness that is required for a permanent pond liner. Polythylene, on the other hand, is extremely rigid and can be stiff to work with. Polythylene can be damaged easily by rocks, and has to be handled with care. If polyethylene is damaged, it cannot be seamed together without expensive welding equipment.

PVC and PVC-E liners are the next step up from polyethylene and polyethylene, and they can last for up to 10 years. Compared to other liners, PVC is somewhat more affordable, while being somewhat puncture resistant at the same time. In terms of durability, the typical 20-mil (I.e. 0.020″) thick PVC is somewhat mediocre; liners need to last a significant amount of time, because no water gardener wishes to replace their pond liners with any frequency. Therefore most water gardeners opt for liners that can last at least 20 years.

Polypropylene is an expensive material, however, it is the most durable pond liner material in existence because it can last for up to 40 years. Polypropylene, however, is not as flexible as EPDM liners. The main advantage of polypropylene is that it comes in large sheets larger than 50′ x 100′. If you are building an extremely large pond, polypropylene may be a viable option. Otherwise, the majority of pond builders prefer EPDM rubber liners.

EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer) rubber liners are recommended for most pond installations because of their delicate balance between longevity, flexibility, affordability, and their lack of toxic plasticizers. Because EPDM liners are rubber-based, they are extremely flexible (much more so than PVC liners), and they do not contain any plasticizers that can make the liner brittle and crack with age. The lack of plasticizers also makes them completely fish and aquatic safe.

The extra flexibility of EPDM comes in handy when working with irregular folds and shelves that are commonly found in a pond. While more expensive than Polyethylene, polyethylene, and PVC liners, a 45-mil EPDM liner can last for up to 20 years because of its natural resistance to UV, and its puncture resistance. However, a limitation of EPDM is its size; they typically arrive in sheets ranging from 5′ x 10′ to a 50′ x 100′ roll. With some training, landscapers should be able to join small sections of EPDM liner with seaming tape.

EPDM rubber liner is currently the standard liner for most water gardening installations. However, before you go out and buy an EPDM liner, make sure you do the prior calculations to determine how much liner you need. A handy calculator that can be used to calculate the required EPDM liner size can be found at http://www.gardensupermart.com/tips/calc.asp

To maximize cost savings, it is recommended that you consider purchasing EPDM liner as part of a pond liner kit.

For more information about EPDM liners, please go to http://www.gardensupermart.com/buypond/pics/pondliner.html.

If you’re looking to update and revitalize a room in your home quickly, easily and inexpensively, consider using an area rug. A decorator rug is a furnishing and home-decorating product. While rugs serve a practical function as a floorcovering, they have the ability to transform the look and feel of every room and are great for a quick solution to problems with your existing carpeting.

With more and more homes using wood or tile flooring, area rugs have seen an increase in popularity, as they can protect hardwood floors or wall-to-wall carpeting. Rugs also have the ability to tie elements of a room together.

An area rug is an excellent way to instantly warm the room up too. They can add a great dramatic color and design to every room. They define a seating arrangement beautifully, in a sense creating an island in the room to make it more intimate and inviting. You can change rugs when the seasons change and take them with you if you move.

Decorator rugs are popular with all home do-it-yourself decoraters.

Rug Colors and Patterns

Color is always the most important facator when decorating. Your chosen color or pattern of rug should act as a contrast to the already existing theme and elements within that room or area. If your room has a great deal of bright and bold colors, choose a neutral color and a subtle design for the rug. If the colors of the room are soft and neutral, you can add interest with a bright rug and a dramatic design.

When choosing the pattern on the rug, remember it must not clash with patterns on the wallpaper, window coverings, cushions, and any other fabrics in the room. Dark colors add warmth, and light colors will make the room appear more spacious. Also consider the amount of traffic through the room or area. If there are children or pets, or the rug will get steady use, dark colors and intricate patterns will not show dirt as much or as quickly as light colors.

Rug Sizes and Shapes

A great tip when deciding on rug shape and size is to use masking tape to define the space, to help you vizualize the rug in the room. You could also lay sheets.

When an area rug is to be used to cover most of the floor, the same amount of bard floor space should be exposed on all sides of the rug. If your room is irregular in shape, try to arrange furniture to extend to the rug sides. And if this is not possible, ensure at least two parallel side are exposing the same of amount of floor space.

For a rug that is defining an area, there should be no more than than two feet of empty rug extending out from behind the furniture. A rug used for defining is unifying the items placed around it if the rug is large enough to accommodate at least the front legs of each piece of furniture.

A rug for a dining room, should extend eighteen inches to twenty-four inches beyond the table, with generally an eight- by ten-foot rug working in most living rooms and dining rooms. For small areas, such as coffee tables a six- by four-foot or a six- by nine-foot rug is sufficient.

Rug Theme and Characteristics

Contemporary rugs come in every variety of color, design, texture, size, and price.

Consider a rug with a central medallion, if the rug is to be the focal point of a room. If the medallion will be hidden for the most part by a piece of furniture, select a rug that has an allover design, or one with detail on its borders.

Oriental rugs are a term which refers to rugs from any Asian country that are popular in modern as well as traditional homes.

A round braided rug, would suit a North American theme. Using a Navajo rug, with its geometric designs and flat weave, can reinforce a southern or desert theme.

Other Rug TipsMaintenance is an important consideration when choosing rugs not only for the bathroom, but also the kitchen, the hall, or the room of a child. Select designs and colors that dont show the dirt, and are stain resistant and easy to clean.

It is a good idea to add padding under a rug because it will not only keep the rug from moving, it will also extend its life, absorb sound, and make vacuuming easier. If you are placing a rug over wall-to-wall carpeting, choose a thin under-pad coated with an adhesive.

About The Author

Olivia Filipetto is publisher of www.bedroomfurniture.com, providing all you need to know about enchancing your bedroom and buying bedroom furniture.

bedroomfurniture@gmail.com

Naturalized bulbs look beautiful in a wooded setting. You can plant them and leave them to multiply. After the bulbs bloom the foliage will die down, but you can interplant bulbs with ground covers for a carefree and beautiful garden.

For a natural look you should arrange your bulbs informally. If you toss them and plant them where they land, with small adjustments for spacing, it’ll look much better than if you arrange them.

Bulbs also work well in a perrenial garden. When your bulbs finish blooming your perrenials are just ready to get started and they’re now filling in the spaces and hiding the soon to be dormant foliage of your bulbs. This is a great way to extend color in the garden for a good 6 weeks.

Summer bulbs can be used to fill in areas that need color when perrenials have finished. Keep in mind that most summer bulbs do need to be dug up and stored over the winter. The good part is that next season when you replant them you can totally redesign with them.

Whatever your garden style, make sure you add some bulbs. They’ll provide you with years of enjoyment!

Favorite Picks

Early Spring

Crocus,Grape Hyacinth,Early Tuplips,Hyacinths,Snow Drops

Mid Spring

Daffodil,Crown Imperial,Iris,Tulips

Summer

Dahlias,Gladiolus,Lily

About the Author

Jill has been an avid gardener for the last 15 years. She faces the challenges of New Mexico’s high desert at 6800 feet. Resource websites are http://www.bulbandseed.com and www.agardenwalk.com

Most pool supply distributors can offer an astounding selection of algaecides and clarifiers for your swimming pool, and if you do not understand how they work, or what their uses are, it can be difficult to make the right choice.

Pool algaecide should be added to your swimming pool on a daily basis if you regularly experience problems with algae growing in your pool. If you have not ever had an algae problem in your swimming pool, there is no need for the algaecide pool chemical. Local pool stores and less honest pool supply dealers will sell an algaecide chemical to treat an existing algae growth. Once algae has grown in your swimming pool, the only pool chemical that will kill it is pool shock. Algaecide is only a preventative measure, and will do nothing to treat an existing problem.

Pool algaecide is either a copper based formula, or what is commonly referred to as a “quat” or “polyquat” algaecide. Copper based algaecides use copper to treat and prevent algae growth, and can be used against all types of algae. Copper algaecides will not cause foam in a swimming pool, which can be a problem when using “quat” algaecides. Although they are effective against many forms of algae, copper algaecides can cause stains on the surface of a swimming pool if the product is not used properly. Copper algaecides cannot be used in a swimming pool on a biguanide based sanitizing system (such as Baquacil or SoftSwim).

The “quat” or “polyquat” algaecides are quaternary ammonium compounds, which treat and prevent algae growth in a different way. These algaecides are safer to use than a copper based algaecide because they will not stain a swimming pool. If you have experienced any pool stains caused by metals in the past, you should use a quat or polyquat algaecide to treat your swimming pool. Although quats cannot cause staining, these algaecides may cause foaming if not used properly. Polyquat pool algaecides cannot cause staining or foaming, and are typically more expensive than the other forms of algaecides.

When pool water becomes dull or cloudy, and is not cleared by 12-24 hours of filtration, a pool clarifier chemical may be necessary to help the pool filter improve water conditions. If all chemical levels are properly balanced, the source of the problem is most likely fine debris suspended in the swimming pool water. Dust or debris particles are sometimes too small for the pool filter to remove from the pool water, and may pass directly through the pool filter. A sand filter provides the least efficient filtering of pool water, and this problem is more likely to occur when using a sand pool filter. A pool clarifier chemical will group together very fine particles of debris into larger bunches, which can be more easily trapped by the pool filter. Most pool clarifier chemicals cannot be used in a swimming pool with a D.E. (diatomaceous earth) filter.

Please visit In The Swim Discount Pool Supplies for a complete selection of quality pool supplies, including algaecide and pool clarifier.

The flittering of the butterfly through your garden is no accident if you planned your garden carefully. The adult butterfly flitters from flower to flower - sipping nectar from many flowers in your gardens, while other adult butterflies search for areas to lay their larvae. It is good to take note that the butterfly garden is going to differ from other areas of your garden. Your natural instincts will be to kill off pests, larvae and creatures in the garden, but in the butterfly garden your best results are noticed when you use organic gardening: Which means no chemicals at all.

In you want to include the use of butterflies in your landscape you will need to create a safety zone for your butterflies to feel safe. Butterflies frequent habitual zones, where they feel safe and where areas of the landscape meet with the tree lines. Creating your butterfly gardens near or around trees will help in attracting even more of these graceful creatures to your gardens.

A tip in attracting the Black Swallowtail or the Anise Swallowtail is this: Plant parsley, dill or fennel in your gardens, these plants attract this certain butterfly. If these herbs are not your favorites, you can attract other types of butterflies using other flowers. To attract the Fritillary butterfly for instance, plant Lupine flowers your garden. Or you may want to consider planting Snapdragons to attract butterflies that are native in your own area. Your early butterfly gardens are going to attract butterflies only in passing, but creating and growing the gardens that offer a safe haven for the butterfly will urge them to stay in your garden.

Butterflies are attracted to areas of your gardens where they can gather food for their offspring. The caterpillar will eat from the plants while the adult butterflies will sip on the nectar of the flowers. As your plants, shrubs, and flowers mature, the amount of butterflies to your gardens will also increase. The plants and flowers that you put in your garden this year will attract only a few, but in the years to come the natural instinct of the butterfly will lead them to your garden.

What is the adult butterfly searching for in your gardens? The butterfly searches for areas to take shelter from the high winds, the rains, and the summer storms. This is where the trees and shrubs in your gardens become important in protecting the butterfly and offering shelter. During the normal, warm sunny summer day the butterfly wants the wide-open areas of your lawn and garden.

Butterflies will seek soft soil that is sandy-like to find water. The sand-like soil that allows water to puddle up after a rainstorm is a butterflies delight. The developing stages of the caterpillar to the butterfly are observed often in the established butterfly garden.

By creating the atmosphere in the garden that offers the shelter, food, water and the fragrance the butterfly is searching for you will have Butterfly Garden success.

Need flower and garden products? Visit The Garden Source Network today!

About the Author

This article is provided courtesy of The Garden Source Network - http://www.garden-source.com - a large gardening network devoted to helping you find all the gardening materials you need, such as Seeds, Live Plants, Roses, Trees and Beautiful decor. This article may be distributed and published on any website, as long as this statement and URL remain intact, and the website address is linked properly.

Cucumbers are easy to grow in a home

garden except for one problem. They are

especially susceptible to one disease. Perhaps

you’ve seen it in your own garden. You have

planted a row of seeds and they have sprouted

nicely and have grown into long vines that

have spread out over the garden and turned

themselves into a big cucumber patch. You

are beginning to anticipate having a bountiful

harvest of cucumbers for salads and maybe

even pickles. But then one evening when you

are walking through the garden you notice that

one cucumber plant has wilted. Your first

thought is that maybe one of the kids, or maybe

even the dog, might have been running through

the garden and maybe they broke the plant off

at the base of the stem. So you get down on

your knees and check things out. Nope. The

stem is intact. Then you think that maybe the

plant needs water, but if that is so then why

aren’t all the other cucumber plants

surrounding it wilted too? Then you notice a

few little striped or spotted bugs flying around,

especially near the blossoms of the plant, and

then you realize what has happened. All those

little bugs are cucumber beetles. They have

infected your cucumber plants with a disease

called cucumber wilt.

What can you do to control it?

Cucumber wilt is a bacterial disease that is

carried by the cucumber beetle. If you find an

infected plant in your garden the best thing to

do is just to pull it out of the ground and burn

it. At this stage, after one plant has wilted, the

cucumber beetles have no doubt had a chance

to spread through all the other plants in your

garden. If you have a really healthy garden you

might still be safe because many of your plants

could be strong enough to resist the disease

and still produce a crop. If this seems to be the

case, then the easiest thing to do is just to do

nothing. But if your garden is the least bit

stressed or out of balance and you can see

cucumber beetles zooming around everywhere

then the wilt will probably spread and kill

almost all the cucumber plants. The next thing

you can do is to try to kill as many of the

cucumber beetles as possible. Insecticides

containing rotenone or pyrethrins are probably

the easiest and safest solution and they do

work, but it will still be a continuing battle to

save the rest of your plants long enough to get

a harvest.

Planning ahead and use floating row covers.

There is a simple way to raise cucumbers

without having to worry about cucumber

beetles and cucumber wilt. Just put a barrier over your plants
so that the

beetles will never have a chance to touch them.

The easiest way to do this is to use floating

row covers. Floating row covers are big sheets

of spun-bonded polypropylene fabric that are

light enough and thin enough to lay over the

plants. Enough light and rain can pass

through the fabric so the cucumber plants can

grow until they are ready to blossom without

ever being molested by a cucumber beetle or

by being sprayed with and insecticide. When

the blossoms appear, just remove the cover so

that pollination can take place. If there are any

cucumber beetles around when you remove the

cover it will probably take them some time to

find the plants and then some more time to do

any real damage. By then you will be picking

cucumbers.

Tips for using floating row covers.

You should put the row covers on the same

day you plant your cucumber seeds. Don’t let

the seeds sprout uncovered because the beetles

might find the tiny seedlings then and all will

be lost. You should also place the covers so

that they have room to puff up after the plants

start to grow under them. Don’t put them on

tight. Make sure to seal the edges completely

with dirt all the way around. This is the only

way. Don’t use rocks or garden staples

because these things still leave openings where

a bug can crawl through.

Copyright 2006, Terry Cunning.