Month: February 2021

Tomato Varieties – Why Not Grow the Best Ones

There are tons of tomato varieties that are easy to grow and not to mention how great they can look in your garden. They all have their unique size, shape, taste and even color. Let’s discuss some of the different types of tomatoes…

Beefsteak Tomatoes

The beefsteak varieties are very popular and make a great ingredient for a sandwich. They’re one of my favorites due to the delicious, sweet flavor. These tomatoes are also very big and contain a meaty texture.

The Big Boy- This one is popular and very big. I guess that’s why it was given that name. They weigh about 1 lb or even more. To accommodate the size, it’s best to disbud to 3 fruits per truss and provide support if necessary.

Dombello- These are one of the best beefsteak tomato varieties. This is due to the excellent flavor; however they are not as big as the others.

Dombito- This is considered to be the ideal beefsteak. They are about A� lb with thick, fleshy walls and a small number of seeds. The disease resistance level is quite good and that’s a very good benefit when planting.

The Ordinary Varieties

Moneycross- If you get excited about making money then this can be a good choice for you. It’s resistant to leaf mould and produces an earlier crop than the basic types.

Moneymaker- This is a popular tomato variety and is a good choice for a beginner. The big trusses produce medium-sized fruits that are heavy. However, they tend to have a bland taste though.

Ailsa Craig- this is another popular type that produces some brightly colored fruits that are medium sized. They mature early and have a great flavor.

Alicante- this is a money maker type that produces some heavy cropping. It’s resistant to greenback and contains a fine flavor.

The Novelty Tomato Varieties

These are some beautiful yellow, orange and striped varieties. These types are not very popular though. Some of them contain a sweet taste and are used in fresh salads. They look beautiful with their bright colors when in blossom.

Golden Boy- This is a great variety to grow if you want to get some big yellow fruits. They are more meaty than juicy and can be worth growing.

San Marzano- This is a well-known Italian tomato. It is well used in a lot of Italian meals such as soups and spaghetti sauce for example. It’s shape like an egg and contains a firm flesh.

Golden Sunrise- This is a common gardener’s choice and is one of the best patio tomatoes. It’s a delicious container gardening tomato that produces some medium-sized fruits.

F1 Hybrid Varieties

Supercross- The fruits are similar to the moneymaker but are more disease resistant than its relative Eurocross. They are also tolerant to the mosaic virus.

Estrella- this type is known to be highly diseased resistant.

Tumbler- This is a very common patio tomato and is also a great fit for a hanging basket.

Cherry Belle- This has an outstanding taste along with a good disease resistance level and tends to crop heavily. It’s great for salads and snacks.

These are some of the best tomato varieties for a vegetable garden among many others. The good news too is that a lot of them are highly disease resistant, easy to grow and incredibly tasty.…

Garden Fountains Can Add More Life to Your Garden

Gardens are great. It may be rose garden or even a vegetable garden. The question is do you want a garden like everyone else. The same look and feel used by all your neighbors can get very boring year after year. About the only that will change is the variety of plants that are being used from year to year.

How can you spice up your cookie cutter boring garden? By adding a garden fountain. Garden fountains come in all shapes and sizes. This allows you to get the right shaped and right sized fountain to fit in the space available. These things are pretty easy to install. Just about anyone can do it. All you have to do is follow the directions.

Garden fountains come is different designs. There is your standard round design. You could go for a more elaborate shaped fountain to add some character. Some of these even have different tiers. You can even make your own garden fountain if the time and effort are put in.

One of the things a garden fountain lends itself to is relaxation. The steady sound of the water flowing will relax you. One of the purposes of you having a garden in the first place was to reduce stress and relax some right. Other fountain designs may produce a knocking sound. This is usually done by having the water flow from one place and hit another place. The water then moves the part it is hitting back and forth creating a rhythmic sound.

Another thing a garden fountain will do is attract birds. Birds are always looking for something to drink in the hot summer months. You are providing this service for them. The fountain may attract a lot of different interesting looking birds to.…

Giving Care to Your Broccoli

So you’ve decided to grow broccoli, the bed is properly watered and sown and the crop is growing nicely. Now you have to keep in mind after care, but fortunately for us broccoli can take care of itself. This makes our job that much easier. Take all these measures to make sure your broccoli is in good health.

Very carefully scan the bed and pick out any weeds around the broccoli.

Guard your crop from wild birds, this is as easy as positioning a few logs or perhaps even a wire crate around the plants, this will allow the broccoli to breath, receive sunlight and water and at the same time it will make the bird think if they get in, they won’t escape.

Water once or twice a week, and be particularly cautious in dry seasons.

It is up to you although from time to time you may supply the broccoli with liquid fertiliser.

Provide support for the broccoli to give it an advantage against strong winds and heavy rain, this is also a good idea if there are small animals such as cats dogs or foxes in the area that are likely to knock over your broccoli.

Here are a couple disorders the crop can develop, you shouldn’t be too concerned, as they are unlikely to develop anything, but it is good to be aware of them. The first is Aphids, which are a significant pest, they can distribute infections, weaken your broccoli, this is a pest that must be eliminated immediately.

Watch out for butterfly eggs, they are often large and yellow, and they develop on the underside of a leaf, simply squish them, problem solved, or if you would like to be more traditional, swipe them off onto a common hedge or shrub, just as long as they are not on our broccoli.

Look out for caterpillars, that’s correct these cute and fuzzy insects can earnestly affect your home grown broccoli, it is really astounding just how quickly they can get through a leaf, you are frequently left pondering where it all fit! Simply pick them off and throw them away. In all seriousness you genuinely must to be vigilante, seeing that they are exceptionally well camouflaged within broccoli.

A fungus to be cautious of when you grow broccoli is club foot, it has an affect on all associates of the breccias household which means broccoli, sprouts cabbage and so on. It is extremely receptive to young roots, so watch out for this when replanting your broccoli outside. The symptoms are rather easy to notice, the roots will be stubby and irritated, you will also see your broccoli boasting stunted growth and all too frequently they will have yellow leaves. The reason this occurs is because the plant just cannot take in enough nutrients and water due to the roots being damaged. A word of advice in avoiding this is putting lime juice to the earth, this will lower the acidity of the ground, also throw away the soil that contained the fungus to avoid further infections.…

The Importance Of Understanding Blueprints For DIY Woodworking Projects

Blueprints for do it yourself woodworking projects are a necessity because they allow the builder to see the project both as a whole and a set of interlocking pieces of material. Shed plans are unique in do it yourself blueprint plans due to the variety of designs and features that can be incorporated into the plans at the beginning stage. A basic understanding of how the blueprints work is very helpful in completing any project that requires wood working skills. Most of the sheds that are made have several items in common with other types of sheds such as garden sheds. These include a foundation, walls and roof; how they are put together is the focus of a good set of blueprints.

It is a good idea to think of the blueprints as a map with that leads a craftsman to complete a whole building or project from a single set of plans. Blueprints have legends or keys, like a map has in addition to the individualized drawings of the pieces of the project being made. Solid lines on blueprints usually indicate solid outside walls, interior walls that are not seen are dotted lines and there are special symbols for every part, such as windows or doors. If there is a place for any plumbing or electrical components, the specifics will be listed for them. The blueprints are essential to any type of building project from a roadway or traffic intersection to a house they all have blueprints of varying degrees of complexity.

Woodworking projects often have the supplies listed somewhere on the blueprint plans; for sheds or garden sheds the same design may be used but the garden shed may include a window or extra shelving for planting supplies or other items needed in the garden. Blueprints do not have to be drawn up by an architect but unless you know how to draw blueprints, it is a good idea to find the blueprints you need for woodworking projects from an online source or in a woodworking book or magazine because they will be accurate.

Woodworkers quickly find out that accuracy is a must in any type of project they are building and therefore the blueprints or plans that are being used must be accurate with no errors because this could lead to a waste of materials and the intended project being a failure if the plans are not correct. The plans should include the types of recommended wood used for the foundation, walls, floor, roof and exterior. Good blueprints include the quantity of materials needed and the dimensions of each the boards and other material that is required for the shed, if that is what are being built.

The great part of understanding how to read blueprints is that you can look at them and easily visualize the finished project, if it is an easy one like a sawhorse or a more complex garden shed to hold your lawn mower or other items needed for lawn and yard care. A good set of blueprints can save a craftsman a great deal of money and time when it is properly used.…

Bosch Garden Shredder – 5 Reasons to Buy a Bosch Garden Shredder

The choices when buying a garden shredder can be quite bewildering. Choosing the manufacturer of your machine should be pretty easy though. Bosch is the dominant player in the electric garden shredder market- and for good reason. Here are 5 good reasons why you should seriously consider buying a Bosch Garden Shredder.

1. Best range

Every Bosch Shredder Model is top of its class:

Best rotary/impact/rapid shredder (The terms rotary, impact and rapid all refer to the same class of shredder and tend to be used interchangeably) – Bosch AXT Rapid 2200. The Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 has more Amazon reviews than all other shredders of all types combined. Average rating 4.1 stars. The few negative reviews concern the cutting blades. There seems to have been a poor batch of blades in the earliest machines – this problem was fixed long ago.

Best quiet/crusher shredder Bosch AXT 25D

Innovative quiet turbine cutter shredder designed to cope equally well with green and woody waste – Bosch AXT 25TC

2. Build quality

All Bosch products are built to last and to cope with all those knocks and bangs it is going to take in any garden. Impact shredders feature very hard, tough blades which seem to last much longer than those from other manufacturers. The quiet shredders are immensely strong – I have not heard of any Bosch quiet shredders failing in operation. The newer “turbine cut” models such as the AXT 23TC and AXT 25TC are also very tough and reliable.

3. Innovation

Bosch is at the forefront of garden shredder innovation. Their powertrain motors and drive on the ‘Rapid’ range of shredders set the standard for smooth, continuous rotary shredder operations.

Their current range of quiet shredders use gear teeth and static plates. Where customers struggle to adjust the cutter on other makes of shredder Bosch users are generally pretty happy with the one-click adjustment offered on the Bosch machines.

Most recently Bosch introduced their turbine cut range of shredders designed to cope equally well with green and woody waste.

The integrated collector boxes on the later Bosch quiet and turbine cut shredders are a step forward in designing safety into the machines.

No other manufacturer comes close to matching Bosch on garden shredder innovation.

4. Industry leading customer service

We have heard of a few problems customers have experienced particularly with the impact shredders. It seems there may have been a bad batch of blades included with the early batches of the Rapid AXT 2200 launch. Whenever Bosch has been informed of this problem they have invariably quickly fixed the problem at no cost to the customer.

There are far less reports of customers needed support from Bosch than for other manufacturers. Whenever service is required it is always exemplary.

5. Long parts and labour guarantee

It is a sign of the quality of the Bosch machines that Bosch is the only popular manufacturer that offers a 2 years parts and labour warranty as standard.…