To a married man, a shed can be his haven, his fortress of solitude, a place to escape the stresses of daily life, but to most it’s just somewhere you put the lawnmower. If you are looking to build one you can either build it from scratch yourself or buy a pre-built assembly pack, but if you can’t build one then you don’t deserve it in the first place!
Your first step is to choose a location, its best not to stuff it up against the hedge but don’t be stupid and put it in the middle of your garden. Mark out an area just larger than the size of the shed on the ground. Although you won’t need to build foundations, a hard standing is quite important to keep the shed sturdy. Begin by stripping the topsoil of your marked area and pour a couple of inches of sand which will compress over time. Then place a series of paving slabs onto the area, hammer them down with a rubber mallet and use a spirit level to make sure they are level.
If you already know what a shed is supposed to look like you can go ahead and design that yourself, it can be as big or as small as you want but remember that larger structures need more support. Build each panel with a diagonal support beam for strength and to avoid twisting and warping.
Your base can be made up of flat planks but to protect it from dampness you should apply an additional coat of wood preservative. Position the base centrally on the hard standing and consider the location of the door.
You might need a hand erecting the first wall, unless you can find something to balance it against, then nail the bottom of the wall to the floor and position the adjacent wall and securely join the corners.
Your roof can be of any design but remember that it will drain water so do not position the lowest point above the door, which would be an error. You will need to waterproof your roof which is commonly done by using felt; this can be securely fastened to the roof of the shed but will need replacing every few years.
Use preservatives to treat all the wood so it will cope with weather and moisture many wood paints are pre-mixed with treatments. Finally, watertight your shed with silicone around all the internal joints.
Fit a sturdy door that won’t be blown open with the wind or broken in to easily, depending on the size of the shed and your budget you may want to include windows but these aren’t vital. Now just enjoy it, use it to escape life and all its troubles or just store stuff in it, whatever.
You can get your materials for a shed from any decent hardwood suppliers and there is a variety of hardwood and softwood timber you can use.
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August 21 2010 | Gardening | No Comments »
Plastic is a non organic substance which adds nothing to the soil. Plastics cause a lot of trouble if you try to grow crops were they have been buried. In fact some believe that plastics can interfere with plant growth. I have seen where plastic has actually killed the soil by cutting off the air exchange of the soil. One thing is for sure the organic gardener can do very nicely without plastic. When you think about it what could be more unnatural than plastic material mulch? Plastic keeps the soil untouched by sunshine, air, dew, or rainfall. Plastic does nothing to enrich the soil. With an organic mulch it breaks down into compost, humus and minerals. It also lets the air rainfall, dew and sunshine seep through it to the soil beneath.
Of course you will have much more work with an organic mulch. It will have to be replaced at least once a year as it breaks down and nourishes the soil. Plastic will set on the soil for years and do nothing for the soil. It will most most likely damage it almost beyond repair. Hay, straw and leaves make fine organic mulches, old newspapers, brown grocery bags and waste paper make an great underlayment for organic mulch. They provide a barrier to prevent light from reaching weed seeds and stimulating germination. When you work the soil you bring weed seeds to the surface where the the light will stimulate them to germination. A layer of paper with a thick organic mulch on top will stop this from happening and significantly loose time spent pulling weeds. Thus freeing you for the more pleasurable aspects of gardening. Organic mulch can be laid in thick layers to mulch nearly anything. From a box hedge, expensive evergreen border, a perennial bed, or a row of rhododendrons. These are all garden spots that respond well to a paper mulch. If you use a permanent mulch on your vegetable garden, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the absence of weeds. The paper can be covered with something attractive and organic. Such as hay, straw, compost, wooden chips, sawdust or anything else organic. You must cover the paper with something or the wind will scatter them all over the neighborhood.
The plastic industry has been with us for about 35 years now. During that time they have made it the good objective of their research to develop much more and much more indestructible material and more uses of this material. They’re great success, causes an ever growing burden on the sanitation department. This causes extra burden on the tax payers. You can garden just as well or much better without plastic. Even if that were not true. Organic gardeners that are truly worried with environmental contaminants must make up their minds to avoid using as much plastic as possible. It is one of the fastest-growing pollutants of all. A biodegradable plastic material has required the industry to spend a sizable portion of its income on serious research and development. The biodegradable plastics are heavily expensive for anyone to use.
The reports regarding plastic material have been very disturbing, for one thing plastic material is practically indestructible, unless you burn it. Which causes air pollution. It cannot be composted or digested. It is non degradable and incapable of being assimilated into the organic cycle. Our societies obsession with plastic has caused a blight on our land that time will not erase. We need to increase our efforts to improve plastic or decrease the use of it. How much nicer a reflection on our society it would be, if an archaeologist ten thousand years from now would insert a shovel into clean wealthy soil, breathe fresh air, drink pure water. Then name our present society for those characteristics, instead of the litter of plastic material that is fast over burdening us.
Thanks for reading and I hope you had learned something from this article.
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The author has written more about plastic organizer case here: plastic organizer case
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July 14 2010 | Gardening | No Comments »