Why Teak Outdoor Garden Furniture?

Photo: Pixabay

Teak Outdoor Garden Furniture is made from the teak tree found in the tropical region of Javanese.  Most companies that build teak outdoor garden furniture purchase their teakwood from farming companies that practice environmental harvesting.  The cut trees are replaced by newly planted trees so that the chance of teak trees becoming obsolete will not be a reality of the future.  The teak trees will be growing for generations to come.  

The teakwood has a beautiful golden hue to its natural finish.  It has a natural resistance to the elements of the weather.  Teakwood is the perfect material to be used in the making of teak outdoor garden furniture.  Teak wood is known for is durability and strength, and its timeless beauty even after being exposed to the weather is unequaled to that of any other material.  After being exposed to the rain and the sunshine, the wood will turn a lovely silver-gray color.  Teak outdoor garden furniture never requires additional oils added to the finish of the wood the teak outdoor garden furniture may mildew or the color will become irregular.  Care and maintenance are involved to aid the wood in retaining its natural beauty, but only an insignificant amount depending on the look you want.

The Teak outdoor garden furniture's design is simple and elegant.. Teak outdoor garden furniture is built to be sturdy and durable. Teak outdoor garden furniture is available in the same notable pieces comparable to that of other wooden outdoor garden furniture lines.  The conversation sets are cushioned for comfort and the colors will be an asset to any garden's décor.  The dining sets are equally as elegant as any furniture you might find.  You can choose from a roundtable style of a dining table or a rectangle style of dining table.  You will also have the option of choosing chairs with or without arms. The styles of teak outdoor garden furniture available to choose from vary from manufacture to manufacture.  Teak outdoor garden furniture is extremely lightweight so it can be easily rearranged to accommodate any additional seating needed for a special occasion.  Bench seating is also available in the teak outdoor garden furniture for you to choose from ranging from the straight-line bench seats to the tree base bench seating.  Intimate porch swings are available as well as single chairs, small tables, sofas, and love seats.  If an outdoor bar is an option you wish to incorporate into your outdoor garden or patio setting, you will want to look into the bar chairs and stools.

Cushions are available in a range of colors to choose from for the teak outdoor garden furniture that does not come equipped with them.  The cushions will add comfort and color to enhance the décor of your garden or patio.  Teak outdoor garden furniture is an immense investment in your future and the future of your home.  You will want to contemplate your decision of the style and design of the teak outdoor furniture wisely. Because of teak outdoor garden furniture's strength and durability, it will be a part of your home for many years to come.

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The Cuisine of The Costa Tropical Andalucia Spain

Marbella  Andalucia - Photo: Pixabay

Andalucía is one of the most beautiful regions of Spain and a popular tourist destination. The mesmerizing coastline of Costa Tropical is a haven for beach lovers while the mountainous landscape with architectural delights, historical monuments, and luscious vegetations can cure any eyesore. Just like the varied landscape, the cuisine of Costa Tropical is pleasantly different.   

Probably one of the standout examples of Andalucian cuisine can be seen at the highly popular tapas bars, where you can get a sample of hot food and tasty morsels. These are tasty local snacks that can be eaten hot or cold depending on how you want to have it. Tapas bars can offer as many as 40 different cuisines and some of them are traditional local fare that is extremely popular in Spain. 

Meal times are late in Andalucía; 2-3pm for the ‘comida,’ or midday meal, which for the Spanish is the main meal of the day, then 9-10pm for the ‘cena,’ evening meal.

The cuisine of Andalucia is characterized by several different types of dishes like fried fish or pescado frito, gazpacho, the jamon of Trevélez, and the wines of Jerez, Rueda & Somontano. The hot favorite in fried food in Costa Tropical is Puntillitas, which is a fried and battered baby squid. Frying is an important aspect of Andalucian cuisine and the main ingredient is olive oil, which is produced in the different provinces of Cordoba, Granada, Seville, and Jaen. Most of the fried food here is scoured in flour a la andaluza, which means that the flour doesn’t have any egg or any other ingredients mixed in it. Most of the flour is fried in huge quantities of burning hot olive oil.

The fish is a favorite in Spain and so is the shellfish. The consumption is rather high and spread over five coastal regions. Different types of fishes are popular in different places like the white shrimp is a popular cuisine and is found in and around the Bay of Cádiz; murex, prawns, baby squid, cuttlefish, and anchovies. Another popular cuisine is the bocas de la Isla, which is popular in and around San Fernando and contains a local variety of crab, which can regenerate certain parts of its body like the flounder, claws, and smelts.

Desserts are an integral part of every cuisine in Andalucia and one of the favorites is Pestiños de Miel, which is more of a honey-coated sweetened fritter. Most of the desserts here are influenced by the medieval cuisine and some of the other varieties of desserts include amarguillos (It is a type of almond macaroons) that is popular in Medina Sidonia, alfajores, polvorones (almond cookies) popular in Estepa, wine doughnuts, lard bread, and torrijas.

What is a nice meal without a mature wine? The wines of Costa Tropical are quite famous. The wines of Jerez are world famous and have been praised by the great writer and poet William Shakespeare. Some of the other wins produced and consumed in this region include the white wine of Cádiz, Manzanilla of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Condado wines in Huelva, Paxarete (a type of sherry), Montilla-Moriles, la tintilla wines of Rota and Málaga Wines.

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Compost Smells: This and Other Composting Myths

Photo: Pxhere

Composting is a natural and simple process and yet it has been complicated by machines, fallacies, misinformation, myths, and misunderstandings that came out due to erroneous publications and aggressive commercial marketing approaches. Some of these misinformed facts have been passed around so many times that the general perception has become truth. An example would be the seemingly accepted fact that all compost smells. But before we go into that, let’s discuss some other composting myths first. 

Myth: Composting requires a lot of work

Truth: Composting is a natural process which involves basically the elements of nature doing the job for you. All you need is to gather all the materials, lay it on, and let nature do her job. Composting is a low maintenance activity as well. You only need to turn the compost file every once in a while to keep the air flowing to quicken the decomposition process and that’s it. You practically sit and wait for the compost to finish. 

Myth: Composting is limited to farms and wide open spaces

Truth: On the contrary, people living in urban areas who have no luxury for space can create their own composting bin from a trash can. How much space would that take up? Also, there is another technique which you can use, the so-called vermicomposting which involves the use of red worms in a contained bin where you feed them table scraps. 

Myth: Composting needs precise measurements

Truth: Even though composting ideally would be best achieved with the right combination of greens and browns elements, having the exact measurements is not that necessary. Estimates work just fine. And those neatly piled up layers of composting piles you see in commercials, books, pamphlets and brochures of composting products, those are all for the show. You don’t need to copy those, composting works the same way as you pile them up haphazardly. 

Myth: You need specially formulated chemicals as starters or activators

Truth: Well, despite the claims of commercially available products that applying them to the compost pile will speed up the process of decomposition, buying them is not really necessary. It is often the practice to just throw in some finished compost into the newly formed compost pile and that itself will serve as the activator to get things started. There’s no need to buy that expensive stuff. 

Myth: Adding yeast will boost the compost’s performance

Truth: This is not true at all. What you’re doing is just wasting your money by adding yeast to the compost pile. Yeast does not do anything to the compost pile and neither does it affect the performance quality of the compost. 

Myth: Animals are attracted to composting piles

Truth: Yes, this to some degree is true. Composting piles do attract the occasional cat, dog or raccoon. Small critters will likely go for open compost piles and for piles that have kitchen scraps like meat, fat, dairy products, bones and pet manure to the pile. 

Myth: Compost smells

Truth: Compost should not smell. If you find bad smelling compost, then the maker did a poor job picking the materials for the compost pile. 

Other composting myths exist and it would be best to do your research first before accepting them as truth.

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Tasty And Healthy SPINACH SALAD Recipes

Salad with baby spinach (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Think spinach and the cartoon Popeye comes to mind. It is not so much of a mystery why the creators have decided to create this character. It is the only way to convince kids to eat their spinach. High in iron and vitamins, the spinach has a slightly bitter taste that needs a little getting used to. But with the following preparations, even most discriminating kids will come in for seconds.

24-HOUR SPINACH SALAD RECIPE

Ingredients:

1 pound Fresh Spinach -- torn in pieces

1 pound Bacon -- chopped

1 Head Lettuce -- torn in pieces

1 medium red onion -- diced

6 Eggs, Hard-Boiled -- cut in wedges

3/4 cup Mayonnaise

3/4 cup Miracle Whip

8 ounces Swiss cheese

Directions:

This is a layered salad, don't mix until serving time.

Place prepared spinach in bottom of large bowl, sprinkle with salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Add prepared bacon, do not mix. Add onion and prepared lettuce, add the eggs.

Mix both mayonnaise and Miracle Whip and pour over eggs, cut up the Swiss cheese and place over mayonnaise. Cover and let the salad set for 24 hours. Mix and stir just before serving.

WILTED SPINACH SALAD WITH WARM DRESSING RECIPE

Ingredients:

2 heads spinach; torn

1 small can mandarin oranges; drained

1 avocado; sliced

Dressing

2 teaspoons sugar

2 green onions; sliced

4 slices bacon; chopped

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons water

Directions:

Tear spinach into a bowl; season with salt and pepper. Fry bacon crisp; add vinegar, water, sugar and onion; heat to boiling. Pour over spinach. Toss until wilted. Add mandarin oranges and avocado.

SPINACH FLAMBE RECIPE

Ingredients:

6 bunches spinach -- washed and dried

6 hard-boiled eggs -- sliced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

12 strips bacon, crisply fried -- chopped

3/4 cup bacon drippings

1/2 cup malt vinegar

1/4 cup lemon juice

4 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 ounce brandy (100 proof)

Directions:

Tear spinach into bite-sized pieces and place in large salad bowl. Add egg slices, salt and pepper. 

Mix remaining ingredients except for brandy in small saucepan and heat until very hot. Heat brandy briefly, adds to a saucepan and ignite. Pour flaming dressing over spinach and toss gently but thoroughly. Serve on warm salad plates.

SHRIMP AND GRAPEFRUIT SPINACH SALAD RECIPE

Ingredients:

3 pink grapefruit

3 tablespoons wine vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 1/2 pound spinach, stems trimmed and leaves washed well

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Directions:

With a sharp knife, peel the grapefruit, removing all the bitter white pith. Slice about 3/8 inch thick. In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, and 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Drizzle in 1/2 cup of the oil, whisking to combine. Season the shrimp with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. 

In a large nonstick skillet, heat the remaining tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add the shrimp, and cook, turning once, until pink, about 3 minutes per side. Add the grapefruit, cooked shrimp, spinach, and onion to the vinaigrette in the large bowl. Toss well.

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Beat the Weeds and Save Time in the Garden

Photo: Maxpixels

New gardeners are so often put off gardening at the thought that it has to involve hours and hours of hard work. The popular idea of a low-maintenance garden is one of covering the space with decking and gravel, planted with a few kinds of grass and pots of evergreens.

However, I have discovered an ideal way to help thwart one of the most time-consuming chores in the garden - that of weeding. 

This came about almost by accident, as I have a cat who thinks that any uncovered ground is a glorious litter tray! I quickly had to find a way to cover up as much of the soil as possible, but soon realized that ground cover plants gave me the even greater benefit of vastly reducing the number of weeds.

Of course, there are many gardeners who enjoy the time spent weeding, and I admire them tremendously - there are great physical and mental benefits to spending time outdoors among your plants. 

But for those of us whose time spent in the garden must be limited because of work commitments or perhaps physical limitations, there is a way to enjoy our plants with a minimum of fuss. Of course, the time has to be spent on the initial ground preparation and planting, however, this would probably take far less time than laying decking and gravel!

Weeds are great survivors and they very quickly take over any bare patch of soil. Once they take hold they can very easily smother existing plants and become notoriously difficult to get rid of.

So the idea is to find plants that form dense clumps or spread via their roots to cover the ground. As with most plants, there are ground cover plants for each season when they are at their best, and some that look good all year round.

One word of caution. Because some of these plants spread quickly - which is of course what we want - they also don't actually know when to stop! So you may need to cut them back occasionally to keep them within their allotted space.

What to plant?

I have discovered that plants such as bugle (Ajuga) - you can get plants with purple, bronze or variegated foliage; euphorbia - with stunning acid-green flowers in early to late spring; lesser periwinkle (vinca minor); bergenias - commonly known as elephant's ears; as well as small-leaved variegated ivies, all provide year-round ground cover. Another advantage of these particular plants is that they are also slug and snail resistant!

In spring and summer, you can use aubretia, Arabis, alyssum and candytuft (Iberis), which all hug the ground. And particularly useful, and providing some height to a border, is aquilegia - the old-fashioned cottage garden variety - which after flowering retains its foliage in attractive clumps. They also self-seed prolifically, giving you extra plants each year. 

Another favorite plant of mine is the hardy geranium. Some varieties do die down in the winter - weeds don't grow much then anyway - but the plants soon romp away in spring and provide ground cover and masses of flowers all summer.

Other useful plants to use for ground cover are herbs. Among a wide variety to choose from are comfrey, feverfew, catmint, golden marjoram and mallow. 

So there you have it! Once your ground cover plants are established, you'll no longer have to spend hours on your knees, but can spend quality time in your garden.

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The Joys Of Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon blanc wine grape. Location: Vlasotince vineyards, southeast Serbia - Photo: Wikipedia

To many people, if you say you want a white wine, they think Chardonnay. And while the Chardonnays of many vineyards are delightful, light and tart presenting a rich body and smart nose, many others are awkward, sour or overpowering. These latter ones and the somewhat unpredictability of the varietal has caused me to search for an alternative, a more reliable alternative, to the ubiquitous Chardonnay. I should say here that most California Chardonnays, and some South African ones, are absolutely wonderful, well-crafted wines with nuanced and multi-layered flavors that entertain without overpowering. However, there are those others...

So I began my quest for the Chardonnay alternative. I learned to enjoy Pinot Grigio, which offers a lovely contrast to the Chardonnay grape and intend to write another article extolling its virtues, which are many. The German whites, Riesling, Liebfraumilch, etc. tend to be too sweet for my tastes, though they are very popular and many people find them quite charming. Then a friend encouraged me to try a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. I had tried this varietal before, but it was European in origin, and consequently expensive and frankly, I didn’t find it terribly remarkable. But, this friend of mine is rarely wrong in matters of wine-loving interest, so I trudged to the local wine store and positioned myself in front of the New Zealand section. After a few moments, my eye was caught by a label that I felt was light-hearted and interesting enough to merit my attention. The bottle was not terribly expensive at $9, so I snatched it up and dashed home.

Photo: Pixabay

It was a summer evening, and that night’s dinner was a light pasta salad with vegetables, feta, black olives and fresh tomatoes in an olive oil and garlic dressing. I had chilled the wine thoroughly, though not overly, and popped the cork expectantly. Pouring myself a small portion, I sampled the nose of the wine and was greeted by the most amazing and almost overpowering freshness of citrus. In fact, not just any citrus, but strong grapefruit. The smell was so specific and strong that I read the entire label of the wine again to make sure that this was indeed grape wine of the variety Sauvignon Blanc with no additives or flavors beyond just the wine. I was startled at the strength of the grapefruit scent and had to know if it extended to the flavor of the wine. 

I took a small bit in my mouth and breathed in over it. And while the flavor was redolent with grapefruit, it was not overpoweringly so. In fact, this was an absolutely charming wine with power, nuance, and grace. The citrus quality provided a freshness that I can barely describe except to say that I now enjoy this wine regularly as one of my absolute favorites.

Since then, I have sampled many vineyards’ Sauvignon Blanc offerings and found them to have varying degrees of success. Frankly, my experience has been that Chile produces drinkable, but inferior bottles of this variety, while Australia and New Zealand seem to have mastered the graces of this delightful grape. South Africa, Europe, and California are uneven in their efforts and can range from the masterful to the amateur without any noticeable indication by price or availability.

Frankly, this variety has become my very favorite and I seek it in all its forms whenever I can. I encourage you to try it with a nice, light chicken dinner or avocado salad.

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Fundamental Organic Gardening Tips

Photo: Pexels

And the race is on. On the right corner is anything and everything goes garden which uses the best chemical fertilizers and pesticides the market today has to offer. While on the left corner is an organic garden that uses only the cycles of nature to cultivate the soil and grow the plants. If you’re on the left corner’s side what will you do? Like a boxer’s second you should have a set of instructions for your fighter, but in this case, a set of organic gardening tips will definitely come in handy. 

Organic gardening involves growing healthy plants and having high-quality products without the use of chemicals whatsoever. There are a number of ways or techniques that you could use when going organic. The following are some general tips or guidelines that would help you begin and maintain an organic garden. Remember that you don’t need a big area of land to go organic. 

The first tip for you is to develop a great organic soil. And the first way to do that is to give your soil some compost material. Compost one of the major components of an organic soil. Without it, your soil will not contain enough minerals for your plants to grow healthy. 

Aside from composts, you can add other organic materials to the soil to make it more suitable for your plants. If composts are not readily available, organic growers usually add different kinds of animal manures into the soil. This will act as your organic fertilizers to add to the useful soil nutrients that your plants will need. 

The second tip would be to plant the right kinds of plants for the right kinds of soil. Also, take into consideration how much sunshine your garden receives and even the temperature in your area when choosing the plants you will have in your organic garden. It would be to your advantage to choose well-adapted plants in your organic garden. 

Also, by choosing your plants wisely you would be able to plan how big, the layout, and the number the different kinds of plants you will have in your garden. We know for a fact that each vegetable, for example, requires different growing space than others. 

Another useful tip would be positioning your garden so that it will fall under a shade. Or you can create a makeshift canopy to shade your garden. Shaded gardens are low maintenance, that’s the main advantage. Under the shade, your garden will grow fewer weeds and definitely will not require more water than when it is constantly under the sun. We’re not saying that a good garden is only a shaded one. We’re merely citing the advantages and the benefits of growing your organic garden under shades.

For pest control, the best tip we could give you is to go down and get dirty. The organic way of pest management involves identifying which ones are pests and picking them off by hand. Yes, you read it right. You need to find the insects and pick them off your plants. However, if you don’t feel like it, you can apply a number of organic solutions that you can easily make from common household ingredients. You can also introduce their natural predators to your garden to help maintain the pests into a minimum. 

The key for both pest management and weed control is to act quickly. Once you have noticed that there are weeds growing or your plants are being damaged by insects, you should start pulling off the weeds or picking off the insects. 

There you go. A few general organic gardening tips to get you started. With the right attitude, the right approach, and armed with the right techniques, you will be able to grow a healthy organic garden and you will be able to harvest all its benefits in the end. 

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