DIY Life

Sunday is Father's Day and, yes, despite what your dad (or spouse) says, he probably does want a gift. Time to shop!

First piece of advice: skip the big box stores unless you're utterly desperate. Check out their websites and you'll see what I mean. Lowes has a pretty good Father's Day gift-finder page. You can search products based on the type of dad you have. (Lawn dads, wood-working dads, etc.) However, it's hardly inspiring stuff. Example: their suggestion for the dad who has everything? A gift card.

The Home Depot does a little better with its online gift center, but the suggestions are uniformly dull... or just plain stupid. I mean, do you know anyone who would buy dad a $699 pressure washer for Father's Day? Oh, but it's not just Home Depot and Lowes pitching dumb Father's Day gift ideas. Amazon: come on!

I'm a green gardener. I'm loathe to use toxic chemicals in my yard. However, there are certain situations when only toxic will do. Like, for example, when I recently had to kill a tree. Read on if you're in the same boat and would like some tips. Oh, and be sure to check out my photo gallery, too!

The Camphor Laurel: An Invasive Pest

First up: a bit about the tree in question. The offending plant was a camphor laurel tree (cinnamomum camphora), a native of East Asia that has become an invasive pest here in the US and in other countries, like Australia. Yes, this plant is the source of stinky camphor oil, which is found in products like Vicks® cold remedies.

In my backyard, the camphor is a big pain-in-the-butt-plant. My nemesis. My arch-enemy. It self-sows everywhere. I must have pulled hundreds of tiny seedlings by hand since learning (the hard way) to be more vigilant. Hand weeding camphor seedlings is a nuisance, but it sure beats trying to eradicate them once they become established.

I have a huge perennial garden in my backyard. Being somewhat persnickety, I have a grid diagram of my garden showing where each plant is and when its flowers are due to bloom. But this year I'm going to have to make some major changes.

Several of my plants have grown to enormous proportions so they need to be split and relocated. Others just aren't performing well, so I need to put out feelers and see if any family or friends are interested in them. Because so much work needs to be done anyway, I've decided this is a perfect year for a garden redesign.

BBC Lifestyle has a virtual garden design tool -- an easy way to envision how your garden may look. The tool is simple to use. You'll enter the dimensions of your garden and select the plants. The selection of plants is somewhat limited, so you may have to choose some that are roughly comparable to what you really want. Next is the fun part -- the tool will render a 3D image of your virtual garden. Enjoy!

When I was a kid, my dad would routinely get out his pruning tools and ruthlessly cut back our lovely wisteria. This would always upset me greatly because the vine was so very beautiful when it bloomed in Spring. Would it ever come back and flower again? Yes, it always did. Always.

What I understand now is that wisteria is one tough and relentless vine once established. The form of wisteria I'm talking about is Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinesis), which actually belongs to the pea family. This big, sprawling deciduous vine has fast-growing branches that twine up and around anything it can get a hold on.

Wisteria was introduced to the US from China by gardening enthusiasts back in the early 1800s. If those folks were around today to see what they had wrought they'd probably say, "oops." That's because W. sinesis has become an invasive pest, wrapping it's vine-y arms around roadsides and woods up and down the east coast. As it spreads, wisteria chokes out native shrubs and trees with ease, and is known to climb as high as 65-feet. That's one powerful vine!

Each week, Diane Rixon brings you Avant Yard, a look at all your lawn and garden could be. Diane shows you how to give life to everything inside your fence. We promise that your yard will be the greener "other side" and the neighbor's envy to boot. Alright, we don't really promise, but you get the idea.

Is there a dead tree in your yard? Let it live on -- repurpose it! Here are a bunch of suggestions, with an emphasis on projects that are both easy and inexpensive.

LEAVE IT ALONE
1. Leave it standing. If it's not a danger to people or structures on your property, of course. Let it be a home for birds, bugs and assorted critters.
2. Leave it standing and turn it into yard art -- hang colored bottles from the branches or string it with colored lights that change with the season.

CUT IT UP
3. Use planks for fencing.
4. Build a big brush pile, which is a fantastic refuge for wildlife.
5. Use it for garden mulch. You will need to hire a mulching machine or mulching service for this, however.

Looking for a loooong-term gardening project? Are you the patient sort? Check out this plan for growing a living garden chair using the technique known as arborsculpture. According to arborsculpture enthusiast (and author of a self-published book on the topic), Richard Reames, creating a work of arborsculpture may take years, however, "the truth is time is an illusion and the sooner one starts the sooner one will have a substantially large tree. Do children grow up fast? How fast has the last 10 years of your life gone by? You see it is all relative isn't it?"

Don't plan on moving anytime soon? Give the garden chair arborsculpture a try. Apart from the initial investment in the trees, there isn't a lot of equipment required. Start with ten long, thin, branchless tree saplings. The saplings should be around six to eight-feet tall. Next, get yourself two five-foot and three four-foot cold rolled, one-half-inch diameter metal bars. Follow these instructions on how to plant, then bend and twine the saplings together and gradually force them into the shape of a chair. The finished chair is perfectly functional -- you can sit in it just as you would a regular garden chair.

Personally, I'm a bit dubious of the whole concept. Somehow, the words "tree torture" spring to mind when I consider it. On the other hand, Reames is motivated in his work by his love for trees and their role in protecting the environment. Then there's the artistic value -- talk about a novel landscaping accent!

Thanks, Anna, for your great Christmas tree-recycling tips. Here's one more: make your tree the foundation for a backyard brush pile.

Now, you might ask: why a brush pile? Answer: it encourages wildlife diversity. Yes, putting out a bird feeder is an important first step to attracting birds and other little critters. However, a brush pile will draw in many more. Plus they're easy to make, don't cost a dime, and they encourage true diversity in the landscape.

Want to give it a try? Here are some tips for creating a brush pile that critters will love.

1) Use something fairly substantial as the base for your pile. A Christmas tree is one idea, but you could also try an old wooden pallet, two or three short logs, or a couple old fence posts. This foundation will support the smaller stuff you stack on top. It will also let oxygen flow through, and prevent settling -- so that countless insects and other small creatures (like the baby anole pictured above) can scuttle in and make their homes there.

Spotted on the Snopes messageboards: instructions on how to fireproof your Christmas tree. Say the authors of the instructions, "traditionally we take a dead tree not properly prepared, set it in our homes and wrap it with electric wires. What an invitation for a fire!" Hmm, I thought, making sense so far... Sounds interesting. So I did a few searches and found that this "recipe" is up on a bunch of other websites. Like this one, for instance.

Here's what you do:
1) Fill a two gallon bucket with hot water to within one inch of the top.
2) Add the following ingredients: two cups Karo syrup, two ounces of liquid chlorine bleach, two pinches of Epsom salt, half a teaspoon of Borax, and one teaspoon of chelated iron (found at gardening supply stores). Stir the mixture thoroughly.
3) Saw at least an inch off the base of the tree and stand it in the bucket of solution. At which point, I'm guessing, the bucket totally overflows, spilling bleachy syrup goop all over the floor, so probably best to do this outside! Leave for twenty-four hours.
4) Set your tree up in its stand as usual and fill the well with some of the solution. Top up as necessary.

Frankly, I'm dubious. Yet curious, too. Does it work? I mean, I can't imagine it being much help in stopping the tree from burning. Fact of nature: when flame meets needle, burning happens, right? But, you know, testing it out would make a great science experiment!

This idea is so wonderfully simple without giving up an ounce of style. The perfect bound blog brings us these classy placeholders just in time for Christmas dinner. All you need is a plain Christmas ball ornament in whatever color matches your table setting. You can stencil, or even more simple, stick on a fancy initial for each guest. If you want to add a little something, attach a nice ribbon for hanging. Your family and friends will love the creativity and have a memorable ornament to add to their tree at home.

Some of the commenters suggest that these would also make great wedding favors. If you're pulling together a winter wedding, these might just be that perfect placeholder/party favor you've been looking for.

[via: Ready 2 Spark]

We have a real Christmas tree. I love opening the door and smelling the fresh pine scent that fills the living room. I wouldn't give up using real trees, but I am tired of their short life (mainly cleaning up all the needles!). The challenge: keeping a tree fresh.

This homemade tree preservative recipe saves money and keeps the tree healthy for weeks. There are many store-bought solutions, but why bother with those when you can make your own? Here's what you need:

1. 1 quart warm water
2. 1/2 cup light corn syrup
3. 1 teaspoon chlorine bleach

You'll want to top off your tree every day. This simple solution will help you enjoy a lush, green tree right through New Years.

These fabric ornaments are simply designed, easy to sew, and sure to impress. If you're looking too add a little country charm to your home or give that memorable teacher gift, try your hand at this fabric apple ornament. Here's what you'll need:

1. 1/4 yard of fabric
2. Scraps of felt
3. Scissors
4. Sewing machine (you could hand-stitch them too)
   
5. Thin cording
6. Any added decorative items (beads, glitter, buttons)
7. Hot glue gun

The instructions are simple and you could sew a whole batch this afternoon. Adding some tasteful embellishments will make each one unique. If it's a teacher or grandparent gift, you could let your child add sequins and glitter, making it their own special creation.

Along with just about everyone else, I really like the sewing patterns created by Hillary Lang at Wee Wonderfuls: way back in July, I posted about her free Pointy Kitty pattern.

Last year, she gave us the Elf Stitchette embroidery pattern as a Christmas freebie; this year, it's a small pig to make out of felt.

You could make the pig alone, as an ornament or as a decoration for a package, but it's designed to sit on a small platform with button "wheels," like a pull-along toy. You could also consider altering the shape of the ears and snout, and making a little elephant! So cute.

DIY Life is full of ideas for ornaments, and in case you haven't read up on those ideas, here is a look at some posts we have brought you. Brian told us how to make paper ornaments. Farrah gave us 10 handmade ornaments to deck our halls. Diane let us know that pomegranates make stunning Christmas ornaments.

If you have a really big Christmas tree, and all the above ideas haven't quite filled up the branches on your tree, I have another ornament idea for you. You can make photo Christmas tree ornaments. Take some of your favorite photos, cut them up into strips, punch a hole in the strips, stick a paper fastener through the hole and with a little more tweaking, and of course, following the rest of the directions on Photojojo, you will have beautiful Christmas ornaments that should last you for years.

Let the kids pick out which photos they want to have turned into ornaments and have them help you make them. That way, your pictures will be displayed, and the kids can give them as Christmas gifts for Gramma and Grampa.

Since snow is now covering the ground where I live, I haven't seen too many birds. If I don't put out some special food for them, they will find somewhere else to find their food, and I won't be seeing much of them until next spring.

You can make your own pinecone bird feeders with pinecones, peanut butter, and bird seed. Slather some peanut butter on an open pinecone, roll it in bird seed, and allow the peanut butter to harden. Hang up in a tree outside. If you aren't so lucky to have a tree, you can throw them on the ground. Trust me, the birds will find them. Be careful if you buy pinecones at the craft store, as they may be preserved with fragrance oils that could harm the birds. If you don't have any pipe cleaners, you can use yarn or even fishing line to hang up the yummy bird treat.

You can get the kids involved in this project. They will be proud of themselves, knowing that they are helping to feed creatures that otherwise might go south for the long (loooong) winter. What better way to spend a snow day than to watch the birds gobble up their man-made yummy treat!

[via: Craftzine]

Before you know it, Thanksgiving will be over and it will be time to send out Christmas cards to family, friends, and acquaintances. Making our own Christmas cards is a tradition I want to start with my youngest daughter, and it will be made easier with these instructions from wikiHow.

To make the Christmas tree pop-up card, you will need heavy card stock or construction paper, a ruler, a paper clip, a pair of scissors, and some art supplies to decorate your finished card. WikiHow gives you step-by-step instructions on how to construct the card, including the pattern for the tree.

I think this would be an ideal project for youngsters in school to give to their parents for Christmas. The art teacher could print out the paper, have the kids cut and decorate the card, and then make a fancy envelope to put their decorated card in. I know that I would have a happy heart if my little girl gave me this card for Christmas. How about you?