Growing Hostas

Posted on May 31st, 2008 in Hosta by homeimprovement


Thunderbolt

Here’s a recent hosta acquisition of mine. This is called “Thunderbolt.”
Large (leaf 81-144 square inches; plant 18”-28” tall)

I was attracted to this plant instantly. I probably didn’t give it enough space as 36-48″ is the recommended spacing. I probably paid too much for it but it sure is striking.


Krossa Regal

This is a blue hosta and is showing the effects of being recently divided (see browning on the leaf). The Krossa Regal will reach a size of 70×36″ with 4 to 5′ flower scapes (pretty massive). As you can see I’ve got a long way to go to get there.

Memory Foam Mattresses are Garbage

Posted on May 18th, 2008 in memory foam mattress by homeimprovement

Less than two years ago, I bought a memory foam mattress off of ebay.com. I know, I know, big mistake! It was an 8″ QUEEN MATTRESS W/ 3″ MEMORY FOAM 5.3lb density. Memory foam is pretty much an oxymoron. There’s basically no such thing as foam that retains the memory of its shape or whatever their claim was - “keeping you in a natural, ergonomical position” - bullshite - memory foam does not provide adequate support for your back.

Almost two years later, my wife’s back and mine are not in good shape. I’m taking delivery of a real mattress in a couple days. We can’t wait to get rid of the sleep on cloud garbage. Hopefully, with time, our backs will get better. The seller’s id was sleeponcloud. Now sleeponcloud is no longer on ebay.com as a seller. Fancy that!

Los Angeles Eco-Home Impressive

Posted on May 6th, 2008 in green by homeimprovement

I watched a bit of Eco-Home on public television. Eco-Home is a house in Los Angeles, Ca that takes advantage of green practices in order to have little or no impact on the environment. Among the green practices employed are using native and other drought resistant plants in place of a lawn (a Xeriscape); collecting and re-using grey water to irrigate fruit trees in the back yard; employing solar panels to generate electricity; heating water with a solar water heater; using a sunpipe to light the kitchen during the day; using low flush toilets to conserve water; composting kitchen scraps and other materials to enrich the soil; as well as many other environmentally sound practices.

RoundUp WeedKiller lessons

Posted on May 2nd, 2008 in weed killers by homeimprovement
I was over at Sears Hardware debating whether to pick up the regular pre-mixed, spray bottle RoundUp or the concentrated version that makes 2.5 gallons of Roundup or 5 gallons (slightly more diluted) of Roundup. I ended up getting the 15 ounce bottle of concentrate. I mixed it up using 6 ounces of Roundup to 1 gallon of water. It seems to be taking much longer to kill the weeds. I’ve sprayed them three times now.

What I suppose happened, is that Sears probably doesn’t move much of the concentrate so who knows how long that stuff has sat on the shelf. I imagine over time that it breaks down and isn’t as effective.
So if you go to buy Roundup, opt for the pre-mixed, spray bottle version or check with the store to make sure the concentrated version of Roundup hasn’t been sitting on the shelf for over a year.