OBSESSIVE GARDENING TEST

I’ve compiled a list this week about how to notice that the garden is taking up too much of our thoughts. I suppose you could say it is all about obsessive, compulsive behaviour. Now I’m not saying that I do all these things of course, but I must admit to doing a few of them in my time as a gardener. If you do any little things with your garden that I haven’t mentioned maybe you’d be better off keeping them to yourself!


You know your garden is taking over your life when:

You stay up until three o’clock in the morning browsing through your collection of gardening books and catalogues.

You have photos of your garden alongside photos of your children on your desk at work.

You wash your trowel in the dishwasher.

You go to the garden centre instead of the pub for an active social life.

You give individual names to your prized pansies.

The thought of receiving 8 tonnes of soil on your birthday thrills you.

You have a personal vendetta with the next-door neighbours cat.

You have a garden sitter when you go on holiday.

You just daren’t go on holiday and leave the garden.

You keep writing to Alan Titmarsh asking him around for tea on the lawn.

All your family and friends send you birthday cards with flowers on them.

You are lusting over your neighbour’s pile of manure.

You are on your hands and knees weeding in torrential rain.

Every meal that you prepare contains courgettes.

You send nasty letters to the winner of the Tidy Towns “Best Gardens” competition.

You have empty seed packets by the side of the toilet for a bit of light reading.

On bad hair days you get out the pruners.

You try to take your garden with you when you move house. (These are the same people that will take the light bulbs from the house too).

You fill your pockets with ill-gotten cuttings when you visit garden shows and centres.

You take up writing a gardening column in the local newspaper!


How did you score?

1-5. No problems for you. All is well in the garden of heaven.

6-10. You’re in the borderland of what is accepted as normal behaviour, be on your guard.

11-20 You’re in too deep, there’s no hope… you have left the planet. All that you can do now is build yourself a small shed at the bottom of the garden and wait for Alan Titmarsh to come knocking!

Horticultural.

TOP GARDENING TIP

Make a mini propagator from a clear plastic drinks bottle, ideal for Fuchsia cuttings or growing sunflower seeds etc. Cut the bottle in two, a few inches from the base, put in some compost, place the cutting or seed into this and water in. The two parts can then be sellotaped together. Leave on a bright windowsill or outside. The top can be taken off to allow for ventilation. Another idea that I’ve been experimenting with is to use a small plastic drinks bottle as a water reservoir for hanging baskets. Leave the lid on, cut the base off and make a succession of small holes down the length of the bottle. Tip upside down and sink into the middle of the hanging basket. This can be filled with water and hopefully this will soak the centre of the basket.

Horticultural.

SKY TUNNEL

Photo: I haven't got a photo of the sky tunnel so here is a picture of the church in Newtowncunningham

I was at the Inishowen Co-Op last week buying paint. (I started off by re-decorating the front bedroom but I have to carry on through the house, as everywhere else looks dull in comparison) I noticed the shop were selling a skylight dome that fits on to your roof and lets in daylight to where it is needed. The company is called Sky Tunnel and the device looks very interesting. It helps control the ventilation of your loft and displaces moisture. The idea is simple; the light comes through the transparent dome and runs down a thick tube made from a silver foil like material. This in turn fits on to a frosted plate that is fitted in to the roof. Each one costs the best part of €400 but this is probably less expensive than light reflectors made out of fibre optics. A friend of mine was looking into the possibility of using these fibre optic light carriers in a house design. He has the idea of living in a hillside, which sounds a bit daft but it makes very good sense. His plan is to carve out the hill and have the rooms underground with one large window at the front of the property. As the walls will be in the ground they will not be subjected to the chill factor of the wind and will stay at a constant temperature all year round. With the light domes in the roof it will be bright and when the grass has grown again the house will be almost invisible. You could walk over it and never know!

Environmental.

WART REMOVAL

Photo: Rubbing Echinacea on a wart could help to remove it.

WART AN ORDEAL

Ian.
I wondered if you knew of any remedies for getting rid of warts? I have three on my left hand and find them very embarrassing. I have tried a couple of the over the counter remedies but none of them seem to work. D.S. by e-mail

Reply.
Hand warts are very common and are caused by a virus called The Human Papilloma virus (HPV). This virus is not just responsible for hand warts. It is the cause of all warts. Hand warts make up a few strains of the wart virus. There are over 80 different strains of the warts virus and therefore warts can be found anywhere on the body. HPV is contagious and can be passed from one person to another, without the carrier of the virus actually having any hand warts or any other type of warts. The virus can lay dormant in the body for months without any warts surfacing. This makes HPV one of the fastest spreading viruses known today.

Getting rid of warts can be a bit of a trial and error. Here are a few ideas.

Warning: Even though these ideas appear harmless be very careful, as there could be side affects. Consult your doctor if you have and doubts. Never use any products with bleach in them

SIMPLE REMEDIES TO TRY

Lime juice: Drink diluted lime juice for a week or two.

Potato skin: Rub potato skin over the wart for a few weeks. Eventually the wart will drop off.

Sticky tape: Any form of sticky tape will do including sellotape or plasters. The tape is bound around the wart to cut off the air supply. Keep changing the tape until the wart disappears.

Clear nail varnish: This is also to cut off the air supply. Someone I knew used super glue to do it but this could prove to be a bit difficult to get off. I stuck my fingers together the other week with the stuff and it took a day washing in soapy water to get them unstuck!

Apple cider vinegar: Take the little cotton bit off a cotton bud and roll it into a ball. Soak it in the apple cider vinegar, apply it to your wart and tape it on. The first two days you might notice that your wart gets really big, but don’t worry- this happens to everyone because the vinegar is soaking in your wart. Normal white vinegar could be just as effective.

Raw garlic: Cut a section of garlic in half and rub it on the warts. After a couple of weeks they should disappear.

Witch hazel: Rub into the wart a couple of times a day until it disappears.

Banana skin: Rub in the same as above

Vitamin A and E: Increase these vitamins in your diet, this is said to help.

Dandelion’s milk: The white liquid that comes from the stem is rubbed on the wart a few times.

Tea tree oil: Rub oil on wart two times a day within a week or so it will be gone. Use good quality 100% tea tree oil.

Echinacea. Health shops stock this plant extract. Use as per the instructions on the bottle. The plant is said to increase your immune system and comes highly recommended by those who try it.

Power of thought: People can cure their ailments with the power of positive thinking. This might be just as effective as any of the remedies I have just mentioned.

Household.

WINDOW CLEANING

Most of the products on the market for cleaning windows are very powerful, considering the simplicity of the job, to get the glass clean. You might like to know that when you buy the products, the spray ones in particular, they contain mostly water. A vast majority of products contain large amounts of water, as it is a cheap bulking agent. (Bulking agents are found in other products too, especially the food industry -salt and sugar being the favourites, -think how your rasher of bacon shrinks when you fry it up). Back to windows, the spray type containers, whether they are aerosol or pump action are used at very close range to the face, inevitably you inhale a small proportion the contents. Some of the ingredients can be very irritating to the lungs. Apart from harsh solvents there is a chemical called ammonia that will irritate people with asthma. Don’t spray them near children, people or the elderly as they will be more sensitive the irritations.

If you have no choice but to use these products then choose the pump action ones in preference to the aerosol ones. The aerosol ones contain propellants that are highly flammable, damaging to the environment as well as your health.

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?
Consumer research has found that water is the beat cleaner for windows. The statistics found that it was better at getting the grime off the glass than 60 per cent of the glass cleaning products on the market. Home made concoctions also came higher in the list and of course they are a fraction of the cost of the commercial brands.

Get the right tools for the job before you start cleaning. I usually use a lint free cloth, or muslin squares. We have the liners left from when nappies were used in the house, they are very good for the windows. This material is effective to get a shine after cleaning. Newspaper is another alternative for getting a shine; try not to use paper towels, as they are an expensive, wasteful method of cleaning.

GLASS CLEANER METHOD 1
Get hold of some plain club soda from the shop and put it into a spray bottle. People swear by this method and it appears to work because it contains a product called sodium citrate, which acts like a water softener and helps in the cleaning process. It is good for lightly soiled glass. The only disadvantage is that it doesn’t dry as fast as the shop bought products so you can go and put the kettle on and have a brew whilst it dries a bit.

GLASS CLEANING METHOD 2
Mix equal amounts of water and distilled vinegar in a spray bottle. Not only does the vinegar cut through the grease of fingerprints, it also acts as a room deodoriser.

GLASS CLEANING METHOD 3
If you would like a cleaner that foams to show where you have been on the window then here is a simple recipe.
½ teaspoon full of liquid soap
3 tablespoons full of white vinegar
2 cups of water

Put the ingredients into a spray bottle and shake well. This mixture will clean the dirtiest windows and it can also be used as a light, all-purpose cleaner for around the house.

More natural cleaning tips....

WINDSCREENS
It is very important that the glass in a car windscreen is kept clean at all times. Some of the additives that can be added to the water to clean the windows can be very harmful to health and the environment. A lot of them contain solvents such as ethylene glycol, which can cause blindness and damage to internal organs. Try to choose the ones that are detergent based. Treat them carefully as you would any poisonous substance.

Household.

HARDWOOD FLOOR CARE

Dear clean and Green.
I have recently invested in a hardwood floor. I have opted for a solid wood type as opposed to the veneer ones and have invested a lot of money in it. Could you give me some tips how to look after it as I would like it to look good for many years to come.
Thanks S. J.

REPLY-With a little care of your new investment you should get a lifetime of value. The initial investment in a good hardwood floor is daunting but you wont have to pull it up and change it after a few years like you do a carpet. Some people like to age the wood naturally and leave the floor to it’s own devices, this is all right but it is a good idea to take a few steps to keep it looking fresh.( If you are in any doubt about these tips, consult the company that fitted the floor.)

PROTECTING YOUR SOLID INVESTMENT
The wood will need to be protected from dirt, grit and sand as much as possible, which is easier said than done around here. These are the wood’s worst enemies as they act like sandpaper, causing scratches dents and dulling on the surface.

Water and other spills- Standing water can warp a poorly finished hardwood floor and can damage the finish. Wipe away spills as they happen.

Hard cleaners; Avoid oil soaps. These can build up and create problems when it’s time to put a coat of varnish on the floor. Use neutral pH cleaners made for wooden floors. (I’ll think up a recipe for you to use in a week or two)

Furniture; Lift the furniture to move it. Avoid dragging. Felt contacts under the legs will help prevent scratches.

Dents; Vacuum with a brush attachment and don’t use vacuums with beater bars, they could make marks in the grain.

Sun; Direct sun can discolour the hardwood floor. Close the curtains and blinds or add sheer drapes to protect the floor from the strong summer rays.

REGULAR CARE

Sweep; Brushes with fine nylon ends trap the dust and grit effectively although the natural brush is as good if you get a very soft one.

Vacuum; Use a vacuum with a bare floor attachment and don’t clean in a hurry with the wrong fitting, you will scratch the finish.

Cotton mop; Use a good cotton mop with a full head. Some mops are so thin that the metal attachment that holds the cotton string can scratch the floor.

Check with the manufacturer; You didn’t tell me what wood the floor is. There will be certain treatments for different types of wood. Check with the manufacturer to see if there are any specific things you should be doing to keep the investment in tip top condition.

Household.