:The Flash Advancer

The Finishing Steps to Building Your Log Cabin: Roofing, Siding
and Interior

After the rafters are in place, you will be ready to put on the
roof boards. These boards can be 5/8-inch by 6- or 8-inch
tongue-and-groove boards. There are some exceptions to this
which are covered in the next section.

For siding, probably the most practical and easiest material to
use as the exterior finish is wood. It has the advantage of
coming in many different shapes, colors, and textures. It can be
stained, painted, or left natural.

As noted in previous articles, I have not specified that
sheathing must be used. Plywood or one of the composition
sheathings or diagonal sheathing boards may be used–in fact,
should be used if you plan to use the cottage year-round at some
time in the future. It should also be used if you are going to
use plaster or plasterboard on the inside.

The sheathing helps to stiffen your structure. One of the most
common types of siding is the lapped bevel. Cedar is one of the
popular woods from which this siding is made. It comes in 4-,
6-, and 8-inch widths. The thick butt edge is usually 7/16 inch
thick. The 10- and 12-inch widths have an 11/16-inch butt.

The minimum headlap for 4- and 6-inch widths is I inch; widths
over 6 inches should have I inches headlap. Hot-dipped
galvanized nails should be used for applying the siding to the
studs. If sheathing is used, try to nail through the sheathing
to the stud.

Rustic and drop siding as well as shiplap and matched siding are
also popular. The first two should have a finished thickness of
inch. The maximum width is 8 inches. Shiplap or matched siding
should be a minimum of 25/32 inch thick. The maximum width is 12
inches.

Plywood is always a possible exterior finish. It is very
important that it should be exterior grade–never use
interior-grade plywood for exterior purposes. Cottage No. 2
would look particularly attractive if it were finished with
%-inch exterior-grade plywood.

In this case I would nail the 8-foot length of plywood
horizontally. The horizontal joints and nails would be covered
with batten strips. Similar batten strips could be nailed
horizontally every foot above and below the joint. This
procedure would also keep the plywood from warping or raising at
the edges.

Be sure the vertical edge joints are joined at the mid-point of
a stud. One of the best ways of finishing the exterior of your
cottage is the use of vertical tongue-and-groove boards. This
type of siding is usually nailed at the bottom to the sill, at
the top to the plate and in the middle to a herringbone brace.

In Hawaii the vertical siding is often used without any
intermediate framing members. The roof load is actually carried
by the siding. Shingles can also be used to cover the exterior
of your cabin. I would suggest that you follow the instructions
of the manufacturer for laying these.

Usually the manufacturer recommends the use of sheathing. If
plywood is used for sheathing, the shingles should be applied
over l-by-2-inch nailing strips, and attached with copper or
galvanized nails. Asbestos-cement shingles should be attached to
the sheathing with barbed nails.

Fiberboard sheathing is not acceptable as a nailing base for
this type of shingle. Wood shingles should be attached to
l-by-3-inch nailing strips which have been spaced according to
the shingle exposure.

There are many types of roofing materials that can be used on
your cabin. To some extent, the choice of materials will depend
upon whether the roof is pitched or flat. The table on page 120
indicates whether you should use a roll or shingle type of
roofing material.

Asphalt shingles require a roof pitch of at least 4 inches to
each lineal horizontal foot. When the pitch is this low, most
manufacturers of roofing materials recommend that roofing felt
or asphalt-saturated building paper be laid under the shingle
roof. If your roof has any valleys, I’d suggest that you start
your work by laying heavy roofing felt down the center of the
valley.

One layer of felt, 18 inches wide, should be laid face down.
Then a second layer, full width, should be laid face up. After
this is nailed down, you can start laying the under roofing felt
or paper. Manufacturers’ recommendations vary, but you’ll be
pretty safe if the edges overlap about 2 inches horizontally.

Start with the lowest part of your roof. Let the edges of the
paper overlap the end of the roof by 2 or 3 inches. This overlap
should be cut later, a little under the first shingle course.
The next layer of paper will overlap the lower one by 2 inches.
Continue this process to the peak of the roof.

When both sides of the roof are finished, lay one width of paper
over the ridge pole. Short wide-head roofing nails should be
used with this paper. When the paper has been put down, use a
carpenter’s chalk line, which is impregnated with chalk, and
snap the guidelines for the shingles. If your shingle exposure
is 4 inches, you will want to snap chalk lines with this spacing
all the way from the first course to the last at the top.

You are now ready to start laying the shingles. The first course
of shingles should be laid double and should extend % inch
beyond the roof edge. The guidelines on the paper will align the
overlap which each course will have. The last rows at the top
will have to be cut; and a strip of granulated roofing paper, a
metal cap, or a ridge piece, or shingles laid edgewise will be
required to finish the top as shown in the illustration.

Wood shingles are laid much as asphalt shingles are except that
they are not butted on the sides. Leave a %-inch space between
the shingles. The ridge piece can be made of wood strips as
shown in the illustration.

Roll roofing is one of the easiest types to apply. The
accompanying illustration shows how this is done. You’ll note
that there is an overlap that is cemented down and nailed. This
overlap varies with the type of roofing felt used.

One type has half of the width granulated, the remainder heavy
felt. The granulated section is left exposed, and the felt part
is cemented and nailed. This type can also be used on roofs
having only enough pitch to drain the water, provided that the
roofing boards are first covered with roofing mastic.

Flat or pitched roofs can be covered with a number of materials,
but one of the least expensive methods is to build up the roof
with a number of layers of roofing felt saturated with asphalt
binder. The illustration shows how this is done. A cold roofing
compound or hot pitch may be used as a binder.

Regardless of the above directions, be sure to follow the
manufacturer’s directions for applying his particular roofing
material.

About the Author

About the Author: Jack Hudson is a writer for
http://www.log-cabin-plans-n-kits.com and
http://www.best-house-n-home-plans.com/. These two sites work
collectively as a resouce for the planning and building of log
cabins as well as choosing from different house plans. Visit one
of these sites for informative articles as well as free TIPS for
building a log home or choosing a house plan.

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What everyone is astonished at a flower, is its fragrance. There are different flower fragrances as there are different flowers. But some of them are less popular than others. That comes from the fact that people prefer specific flower fragrances and are indifferent to others. The most admired flower fragrances are the following ones:

Roses. Roses are regarded as the finest of flowers, as the “queen of the flowers”. That is because of their incredible flower fragrance. Rose fragrance is used for making of many perfumes. There are two main species of roses: the Rosa centifolia (found in the south of France) and the Rosa damascena, known as Damask Rose, which can be seen mainly in the Arab countries. Roses were greatly used by the Greeks and Romans. The gathering of roses should be at night, because the rose fragrance is stronger before sunrise.

Violets. The flower fragrance of violets has a wide variety. There are different kinds of violets, but the two most common are The Victoria Violet and the Parma Violet. Violets were largely used in perfumery, as well as in medicine. The essential oils that violets produced can nowadays be synthetically superseded by various chemicals.

Orange flower. They are grown in the south of France, Spain, Italy and the north of Africa. Orange flower is associated with brides, mainly because of its fragrance, and because of its beautiful flowers as well. Its flower fragrance is one of the most popular for making different scents. The oils extracted from orange flowers are called “neroli”, after the Italian Princess of Neroli. She was the first to start using orange flower fragrance on her gloves. The oil of “petit grains” is obtained by distillation of twigs and leaves.

Jasmine. This is another pure flower fragrance. Jasmine fragrance cannot be mistaken with anything else, as it is highly specific and brings intense pleasure to the senses. Jasmine is gathered before dawn, when its flower fragrance is at strongest. Taking care of the gathered jasmines is essential. Jasmines have to be processed immediately after picking, because their flower fragrance and freshness soon fades away. Another thing is that jasmines have to be put in special baskets where their natural look is preserved for a while.

Lily. Lilies are the most commonly- grown flowers in everyone’s garden. That is because they are easy to grow. Their flower fragrance is fresh and light and it brings to mind beautiful thoughts. In between June and August is the bloom of lilies in every garden. Their trumpet-like shape of the flower can be seen in various tints and nuances. Lily can be planted either in autumn, or in spring. The flower fragrance and the beautiful colours make lilies liked by everyone.

Ylang-ylang. Ylang-ylang has beautiful flower fragrance and is almost inevitably used when making all kinds of perfumery. The flower comes from southern Asia. Ylang-ylang should be gathered when its buds have been opened for several weeks. After picking, the flowers have to be quickly processed so that they retain their flower fragrance. The flower fragrance produces sensual delight in women, as well as in men. Another thing to be known about ylang-ylang is that its oil can easily be replaced by synthetic materials in cheaper perfumery.

Plumerias. Plumerias are a sort of trees. Their flower fragrance is irresistible, and their colours are various. The flowers from plumerias are used in the Hawaian leis. The Polynesian people value them very much, because they are durable and soft-scented. Their colours differ from white and yellow to red, violet, pink and other multiple pastels. Once picked, a flower retains its good look and flower fragrance for several days, if kept in water. Another specificity about plumerias is that the blooming of flowers lasts about 3 months, with new flowers being produced on the tree daily.

Article by Robbie Darmona - an article writer who writes on a wide variety of subjects. For more information click Flower Fragrances

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Azaleas can be either evergreen or deciduous. Deciduous Azaleas are known as Mollis or Exbury Azaleas. They bloom in the early spring with vivid orange and yellow colors. They can be grown from seed if the seeds are collected in the fall and sown on top of moist peat at about 70 degrees F.

Evergreen Azaleas are known as broad leaf evergreens because they do not have needles. They bloom later in the spring, and are usually propagated in the fall over bottom heat discussed in detail at http://www.freeplants.com Rhododendrons are also broad leaf evergreens and are also propagated over bottom heat in early winter.

The best time to prune Rhododendrons and Azaleas is in the spring right after they bloom. These plants start setting next year’s flower buds over the summer, and late pruning will cost you some blooms next year, so get them pruned as soon as they finish blooming. It’s also a good idea to pick off the spent blooms so the plants don’t expel a lot of energy making seeds, unless of course you’d like to grow them from seed. But keep in mind that they don’t come true from seed.

Seeds from a red Rhododendron are likely to flower pale lavender. Cuttings ensure a duplicate of the parent plant. How do you prune Rhododendrons and what does pinching a Rhododendron mean? These are frequently asked questions.

Pinching is a low impact form of pruning that is very effective for creating nice, tight full plants when you are growing small plants from seeds or cuttings. Typically a Rhododendron forms a single new bud at the tip of each branch. This new bud will develop into another new branch, another bud will form and the process will continue. If left alone this will produce a very lanky plant with a lot of space between the branches, forming a very unattractive plant.

So if you are starting with a plant that is nothing more than a rooted cutting all you have to do is pinch off this new growth bud as soon as it is about 3/8″ long. Just grab it between your fingers and snap it completely off. When you do this the plant usually responds by replacing that single bud with two, three, or even four new buds in a cluster around the bud that you pinched off. Each one of these buds will develop into branches and eventually a single bud will appear at the tip of each of these branches, and of course you should come along and pinch each one of those off, forcing the plant to produce multiple buds at the end of each of these branches.

The more often you pinch off these single buds, the more branches the plant will form, making a nice, tight, full plant. This is especially helpful with young plants such as rooted cuttings or young seedlings.

But what about larger plants, how do I prune them? I prune mine with hedge shears!!! I just have at it and trim them like I would a Taxus or a Juniper, and guess what? The result is a very tight compact plant loaded with beautiful flowers. My Rhododendrons are so tightly branched that you cannot see through them, and that is the result of vigorous pruning with hedge shears. Sure you can use hand shears, and you’ll have a nicer plant because of it, but I just use the hedge shears because that’s the tool that I happen to have in my hand as I am going by.

Keeping Rhododendrons and Azaleas healthy and happy is as simple as understanding what they like. First of all, they like to grow in a climate that suits their tastes. Many varieties of both don’t like it in the north, and to prove the point they will up and die as soon as extreme cold weather hits. Buy plants that are known to be hardy in your area.

Here in zone 5 (northern Ohio) the following Azaleas seem to do well: Hino Crimson (red), Stewartstonia (red), Herbert (lavender), Cascade (white), Delaware Valley (white), and Rosebud (pink). Hardy Rhododendrons include Roseum Elegans (pinkish lavender), English Roseum (pinkish lavender), Nova Zembla (red), Lee’s Dark Purple, Chinoides (white), and Cunningham’s (white).

How should you fertilize Rhododendrons and Azaleas? These broadleaf evergreens are laid back and like to take it slow and easy. Do not fertilize them with quick release nitrogen fertilizers, it could kill them. Instead give them an organic snack, like Millorganite or well rotted cow manure or compost. Millorganite is an organic fertilizer made of granulated sewage sludge.

No, it doesn’t smell any worse than other fertilizers, and plants like it because it is plant and soil friendly. It won’t burn the plants, and it actually reactivates the micro-organisms in the soil. That’s a good thing. Most full service garden centers carry Millorganite.

A long time ago somebody let the word out that Rhododendrons are acid loving plants, and people are always asking me if I think their struggling Rhododendron needs more acid. The answer is no. Your struggling Rhododendron probably needs a great big gulp of oxygen around its root system.

Rhododendrons do not like wet feet. They don’t even like high humidity let alone wet soil around their roots. They like to be high and dry, and like an unobstructed flow of oxygen to their roots. You can accomplish this by planting them in a bed raised at least 10″ with good rich topsoil. They will be smiling from branch to branch.

A few years back my friend Larry and I had several hundred small Rhododendrons that we were going to grow on to larger plants. We planted most of them in Larry’s backyard which is fairly good soil, but a little sticky. We didn’t have room for all of them so we planted the last 105 down the road from my house in a field we were renting. (Never heard of anybody renting a field? You should get out more.)

This location had absolutely no water for irrigating and the soil was very dry and rocky. Other plants at that location often struggled during the dog days of summer due to the lack of water, but those Rhododendrons were as happy as pigs in mud. They outgrew the ones at Larry’s house by twice the rate and we sold them years earlier than the others.

My point? Rhododendrons don’t like wet feet. They do well in the shade, but contrary to popular belief they do even better in full sunlight.

You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information at the end. Website URLs must be active links. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link, http://www.freeplants.com/resellers.htm

Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his excellent gardening newsletter. Article provided by http://gardening-articles.com

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*Note: This article first appeared in Grandiflora Magazine.

Starting Your Own Fruit Trees

Thomas Ogren
I flat out love growing fruit trees and have been crazy about them all my life. Or at least, as much of my life as I can remember. Actually, the very first thing I can clearly recall involved fruit trees.
I was about three, possibly four years old. It was a warm, lazy spring weekend and my older sisters were gone somewhere with my mom, but my dad was home, working in the garage. I wasn’t allowed to cross the street by myself, but down the block, across the street, was a beautiful pineapple guava tree growing in the middle of some grouchy old man’s lawn. The tree had a huge crop of large, green, totally delicious fruit, but the owner wouldn’t let any of us kids pick guavas from his tree, much less climb it. He claimed that we would break the branches. He would however let us have fruit that fell on the ground, but these guavas were generally too soft and mushy.
That day I walked down the street by all by myself, seeing no adults or even any other kids around. I looked at that tree and dashed across the street. The old man was nowhere around and I climbed up his guava tree and started stuffing big, fat guavas in all my pockets. I picked as many as my pockets could hold and climbing back down I did indeed break a few small branches.
Looking both ways (of course!) I ran back across the street with my loot. Back at home I found my dad still in the garage and I showed him my stash, expecting him to yell at me for crossing the street. But dad never did make the connection and thus my first episode of crime was all in all, a total success.
Some fifty years later I now have five guava trees growing in my own yard, all grown from seed. I also have many other fruit trees, all of them homegrown ones.

Fruit From Cuttings
Some fruit is so easy to propagate I always wonder why everyone doesn’t try it. Grapes, figs, mulberries, and pomegranates are all easy to grow from directly-stuck cuttings. I cut off a piece of dormant wood, 12-18 inches long, and I bury almost all of it in the ground where I want it to grow. I leave at least one good bud above ground. Sometimes to insure a better take, I’ll stick five or six such cuttings in the same spot. If they all grow, then the next winter I dig up the extra ones and give them to friends. I use cutting wood that grew last year and find that wood that is about pencil thickness or somewhat thicker roots the best.
I recently accidentally discovered a way to get plum wood to root for me. I used a long whip of plum branch (dormant wood) as a stake in a one gallon pot of some fancy gold heart ivy. To my surprise the plum wood rooted and started to grow the next spring. I now do this on purpose, using plum wood that is from last year’s vigorous growth. I select plum whips 2 to 3 foot long, with no branching on them, and stick each one all the way down into the center of a gallon pot of some well-rooted perennial flowers or herbs. A surprising number of these plums grow, and since they are “on their own root,” they don’t need to be budded or grafted. Try it.

From Seed
I have a spot in my backyard next to my compost heap, and here I toss any and all old pits from plums, apricots, peaches, and nectarines. I toss apple and pear seeds in here too. At the end of the summer I shake an inch or so of old compost over the area and see what grows. Since I do this every year, I always have a ready supply of seedlings each year.
In the winter months, or in the very early spring months if you live in a zone 4-7 area, dig up some of these year-old seedlings, bare root, and pot them up one to each one gallon pot. I use a 50-50 mix of potting soil and garden dirt.
I then water the pots, set the potted seedling on a table, clip off most of the top, leaving 4-6 inches of trunk above ground, and then cleft graft the seedling. Cleft grafting is, I think, the easiest method and it works well with apricot, peach, plum, nectarine, quince, apples and pears. I use a thin bladed knife and tap it (tapping the back of the knife blade with a small hammer or a piece of wood) directly into the center of the cut seedling, going down only about one inch. I cut scion wood (whatever you want to convert your seedling to) that is from last year’s growth. I like to use scion wood that has a diameter that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the seedling I’m going to graft it to. The grafts, or scions, should be about 3 to 4 inches long and each should have several good, dormant buds. The scions can be cut to shape with a sharp pocketknife. Try to get your scions cut smoothly, with a gradual taper.
The scions are then tapped into place in the split seedling (the rootstock), making sure that the cambiums of both scion and rootstock match on at least one side. The cambium is the thin green layer of wood that is just inside the outer bark. To keep your work from drying out, cover the entire finished graft with a thick coating of grafting tar or grafting wax. I also put a dab of the tar or wax directly on the exposed cut tip of the scion. Be careful as you do this, not to knock the scion out of contact with the rootstock cambium.
Now, unless a kid, bird, or a cat bangs into this graft and knocks the scion askew, if you did it right, come springtime the scion will sprout and grow. Voila! You’ve got a grafted fruit tree.
You can graft peach onto almond, apricot, plum, peach or nectarine rootstock, and visa versa. For sandy soils peach or nectarine make the best rootstocks, but for heavy clay soils, plum is by far the best. Apples can be grafted on apple seedlings, as can pears. Pear can also be grafted on apple stock. If so inclined, scion wood from quince can also be grafted onto apple or pear. An apple or pear grafted onto a quince rootstock will be a dwarfed tree. If your soil is clay, a pear rootstock grows best. If sandy or loamy, apple is preferred.
I grow these new fruit trees on in the gallon pots for a year, making sure to cut off any sucker wood that arises from below the graft. Keep them well fertilized and watered and they will often grow 3-5 feet in one summer’s time. The next year either plant them or give them away to friends.
If you have a potted fruit tree seedling where the graft fails to take, simply cut off the unsuccessful grafted part. You can re-graft it the next dormant season. If you have year old seedlings left in the ground that you won’t get around to digging and grafting, consider chopping them off just above the ground in the late fall. The next spring these seedlings will grow up with multiple trunks. The next winter dig your second-year seedlings with multiple trunks, thin them back to the strongest 2 or 3 stems, and then cleft graft each of the stems to something different. I have made many three-in-one trees this way, part plum, part apricot, and part nectarine. These make extra nice presents. You can of course just as easily graft each branch to a different cultivar of the same species, such as three different kinds of plum on the same rootstock. A tree like this is often very fruitful, since it will cross-pollinate itself.

Budding
Just a little here on budding. In zones 3-8 most budding is done in May,. June or early July. The easiest method is shield budding. A T cut is made on the rootstock stem, cutting through the outer bark and the cambium, down to the hardwood.. Next you cut a thin, shield-shaped slice of wood (from scion wood of the cultivar you wish to bud), containing one dormant bud. This shield will be about 3/4th of an inch long. This bud is then inserted in the T cut under the bark of the seedling rootstock. I use thin, clear plastic tie tape to wrap the bud up tightly. I will sometimes cut a tiny slice in the middle of the tape and wrap the tape over the tip of the bud itself, which should just peak out of the sliced portion of the tape. The tape serves to keep the bud in close contact with the rootstock and also to keep the bud graft from drying out.
Keep an eye on the budded stem for several weeks and by then if the bud and the shield are still plump and green, consider it a take. Cut off the rest of the stem half an inch above the new bud graft, and this will force the new bud.
Budding is not quite as easy to do as grafting, at least not at first. It has several advantages though. You can bud when the weather is nice and if the bud doesn’t take, you can try it all over again in a different spot. Budding is easiest on thicker rootstocks.
I find that for me I have the best luck budding roses, apples, pears and apricots. Plums can be a little trickier. Cherries, by the way, are considerably more difficult to graft and bud than are the other stone fruits.
If you are lucky enough to know an old gardener who knows how to graft, ask him or her to show you how to cut your scions. A little practice always helps as does a sharp knife. There are many books with drawings of cleft grafts and these too can be used as guides. It may sound a tad snobby, but once you can graft your own fruit trees, you join a rather select group. Almost all gardeners know what grafting is, but not that many actually know how to do it right.
One last thought: cleft grafting is also easy to do on existing dormant fruit trees. There is no reason you can’t graft some different varieties on each of your trees. I have an apple tree with about a dozen kinds of apples on it and a pear tree that has five kinds of pear, plus quince and apple growing on it. I also have almonds growing on one branch of a plum tree, four kinds of plums on another tree, and both plum and nectarine on the apricot tree in my front yard. I have five kinds of roses budded on the climbing rose that grows on my front porch. I guess my plants are all mixed up, but then, what can you expect from an old guava thief?

Tom Ogren is the author of Allergy-Free Gardening, and, Safe Sex in the Garden, both by Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, California.

About the Author

Tom Ogren’s newest book, 2004, is, What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing the Perfect Lawn, from Time Warner Books.

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