Fall Garden

Spring Divisions Caring for Your Flower Beds Budget Gardening: Increase Stock with Cheap or Free Garden Plants
Some perennials do best if divided in the spring, some do best if divided in the fall, and others may be divided in either fall or spring.
The following may be divided in the fall with good results. I think you will be surprised at how many perennials can be successfully divided in the fall!

Propagation by division assures the new plant will be an exact match with the original.
Division is an inexpensive way to increase your stock of a favorite plant, or to create extra plants for swapping with friends.

1 Dig up the clump, taking care to get as much of the roots as possible without damage.Most roots are in the top 12 inches of soil, and the root’s mass will usually be the diameter the plant plus 3 to 6 inches beyond the plant. For digging and transplanting, going larger than this shouldn’t be necessary.

2 Use a sharp spade to cut or cleanly break the clump into two or more pieces (divisions), each with an obvious growing point and some roots.Work on the clump quickly so the plant parts don’t dry out too much (you can cover them with a tarp or mist them occasionally if need be). Discard any unproductive portions and any shriveled or rotten parts. Leave the roots surrounded with the soil to protect the root hairs from drying out and becoming damaged.

You can pry apart fibrous-rooted perennials with your bare hands; all others require sharp, strong, clean tools that are equal to the job: a stout knife, a trowel, even two spades or gardening forks braced back-to-back.

3 Replant the new pieces.Plant some in the same spot and the others perhaps elsewhere in your yard (or share them other gardeners).

Many perennials can be left in place for at least several years before they need dividing
-- and a few such as peony and baptisia -- rarely need dividing, if ever. But if you have plants that need to be divided, see if they are listed. If so, do it this fall and both you and your plants will get a good jump on spring!

These Perennials May Be Divided in Fall
Listed Alphabetically by Botanical Name

Achillea
Aconitum
Aegopodium
Ajuga
Amsonia
Anaphalis
Anchusa
Anemone
Anthemis
Arenaria
Armeria
Artemisia
Aruncus dioicus
Asarum
Astilbe
Aubrieta
Aurinia
Baptisia
Brunnera
Campanula
Centaurea
Cerastium
Chelone
Cimicifuga
Convalleria
Corydalis
Coreopsis
Crocosmia
Dianthus
Dicentra
Disporum
Dodecatheon
Echinops
Eremurus
Erigeron
Eupatorium
Euphorbia
Filipendula
Galium
Gaura
Geranium
Geum
Helenium
Helianthus
Hemerocallis
Heuchera
Heucherella
Hosta
Houttuynia
Iris (early fall)
Kniphofia
Lamiastrum
Lamium
Liatris
Ligularia
Lilium
Linum
Liriope
Lobelia
Lycoris
Lysimachia
Monarda
Nepeta
Paeonia
Papaver
Physostegia
Platycodon
Polemonium
Polygonatum
Potentilla
Pulmonaria
Ranunculus
Rodgersia
Salvia
Saponaria
Sedum
Senecio
Sidalcea
Smilacina
Solidago
Stachys
Stokesia
Tanacetum
Thalictrum
Tiarella
Trollius
Uvularia
Veronica
Viola
Yucca

Cute Lattace Card Tutorial

Found this cute, simple Lattace card tutorial HERE

Easel Card tutorial Link

Find instructions to this and many other cards HERE

Twisted Easel

Shabby Chic Card tutorial

While surfing on the  net yesterday I came across this card and site. She has wonderful tutorials and this darling shabby card made of bits and pieces of all kinds of stuff.

 From here you can add all sorts of items ,your own photos and artwork dressed with tons of knick knacks. Go wild She did. Card Tutorial; HERE

 Check out her  her blog list of tutorials HERE

Scrapbook Layout Ideas

Found a fresh  layout blog for scrapbooking.

She has wonderful ideas and simple how to's.

Blog found HERE

For Sue and all who are fighting .

Free Plans

Free Woodworking plans link found HERE

Make your own paint

With cheap, non-toxic ingredients

So where to get the least costly, non-toxic, low-energy paint?

The answer lies in a trip to the milk-bar. A couple of litres of skim milk will form the base for enough paint to begin experimenting. The next stop is the hardware store for some builder's lime (also called slaked or hydrated lime) and plaster of Paris. Apart from some water and your choice of pigment, these are all the ingredients you will need.

There are several variations on what is usually referred to as `milk paint'. One involves mixing lime into a thick paste with a little water, then gradually adding milk until it reaches a paint-like consistency. I was told about this method by a friend of mine, Salvatore, who had used it while growing up in Italy in the 1930's and 40's. Both ingredients were widely available, and used with various pigments, milk paint is attractive and durable. I tried the recipe using bottled skim milk, though Salvatore recommends milk directly from the cow, with the cream skimmed from the top.

Sieve the lime before mixing it with the milk, and let it sit for several hours, though found that it was still quite lumpy. Straining the mixture through muslin makes it much smoother. I used the paint on old unpainted weatherboards, and got good coverage-once it dried it actually looked like paint!

An internet search revealed some other paint recipes. One that I tried consists of plaster of Paris as the main solid ingredient, mixed with a little lime and skim milk. Again, filtering through muslin cloth to remove lumps is a good idea. This paint was similar to the lime paint, but where the lime-only paint was powdery when dry, the plaster of Paris set a lot harder.

Creating colours

There are many options for colouring milk paint. For a straight white, zinc oxide or titanium dioxide are good. Calcium carbonate or chalk will make the paint more opaque. Iron oxide (rust) is easy to manufacture at home from steel wool or iron filings, and gives the paint a nice ochre colour. Many traditional paints used wild berries for colouring. Again, the muslin cloth comes in handy for removing pips. If you're concerned about being able to replicate your colours, you could compromise and buy some ready-made pigment from an art supplies shop.

Cleaning up

Besides the obvious advantage of not having to inhale pungent vapours, cleaning up these paints with water was dead simple. I didn't have to worry too much about tipping the cleaning-up water on the garden, although too much lime can be a bad thing for soil. Lime and milk paint also comes off hands and clothes much more readily than other paint. While lime is alkaline and can cause skin to dry out and feel `burnt' after prolonged contact, it is easy to dip your hands in a bucket while you paint, or wear gloves. If you get lime in your eyes flush them with cold water immediately.

Finishing the surface

One disadvantage of milk paint is that it can be marked by water. Sealing will eliminate this problem, and will make the finish generally easier to clean in `high splash' areas like the kitchen. A range of finishes can be used, including linseed oil and Danish oil. The roughness of the surface caused by particles of lime can be smoothed with steel wool or sandpaper before applying the finish.

What the ingredients do

Why milk and lime? The first reason is that they are cheap and readily available, which is why milk and lime mixes were the most commonly used paint until the mid-1800's. Most importantly, though, they have a synergistic effect that makes great paint. Milk contains a salt called casein, which reacts with calcium in lime to form calcium caseinate, a resin that binds itself with pigments in the paint and the surface the paint is applied to. Many people complain of the great difficulty in removing the bottom layer of paint on old doors and window frames-in many cases, that's well-cured milk paint. The combination also means that once cured, milk paint will no longer be alkaline.

Make your own milk paint:

Home-made paint recipes

Basic lime and milk paint

Mix in one part of lime with twelve parts of skim milk (you can measure by either weight or volume). Add pigment until desired colour is achieved.

Lime, milk and plaster of Paris paint

Ingredients:

Skim milk 1.5 cups

Lime 30 g

Plaster of Paris 240 g

Pigment

Mix skim milk with lime while stirring briskly until the lime is thoroughly dispersed.

Add plaster of Paris and pigment until desired colour is achieved

Notes:

Allow the mixture to sit for an hour or until it stops bubbling.

When painting, stir the mixture every five minutes to prevent the solid ingredients settling.

Washing up

Use water, and a little soap. Unlike commercial synthetic paints, the residue can safely be poured onto the garden, though be careful not to tip too much lime on one area.

Blank Recipe cards