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Are you thinking of throwing a party in the near future, but are not sure whether to have a picnic in the park or a barbecue party at home? People do get pleasure from both kinds of party, although some may have a preference. One of the big differences between a picnic and a barbecue is often the food.

After all, you are usually allowed to have a barbecue and cook food in your own backyard, but there may be restrictions on cooking food on an open fire in a park or picnic site for fire safety purposes, so most people take pre-cooked meats and sandwiches.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of party, but we will begin by looking at the food aspect, as most parties centre around food. An advantage of having a picnic is that you will be able to muck in with your fellow revellers more, because you will have already cooked the chicken wings and legs and made the sandwiches the night before.

You will have bags of sausage rolls and small cakes and all you will have to do is put them out for people to help themselves. If you run out of sandwiches, people can do their own with the sliced bread that you will have brought just in case.

The disadvantages of a picnic are that you also have to tie your time up the day before making all the food and you will need transport to get there with your hampers, bottles, flasks, plates, beakers, tissues, flannels towels and whatever else you normally take with you. People may not even like your choice of sandwiches and if you let them make their own with what you provide, there could be a terrible mess. Your sandwiches could also curl up overnight of go off in the heat of the day or in the back of the car. This is a particular danger with pork, chicken and eggs.

You may have to put up a tent or rig up a shelter for those who can not stand strong sunlight. You may also have trouble with ants and wasps and the toilet amenities are often abysmal. Also if it begins to rain, you have little option but to pack up and depart for home or a pub

Barbecue food on the other hand is cooked there and then and cannot spoil. The only danger is under cooking, but it is not too difficult to get it right. There is not much likelihood of preparing vast quantities more than you require either as the chef will see when his food is not being taken away.

This is one of the disadvantages of barbecuing though, someone needs to stand there all day and cook, although this can be done in turns and there is usually a string of men willing to show off their expertise as a barbecue chef.

With a barbecue you have the advantage of cover if it rains and the toilets are better than in the park and if it gets chilly later on in the evening, you could use a patio heater to extend the party.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the outdoor heat lamp. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Technorati Tags: decks, entertainment, garden, happiness, hobbies, Landscaping, other, outdoors, party, patios, recreation, relaxation, retirement, self help, Uncategorized

Would it not be lovely, at the end of a hard day’s work or on your day off, to relax outdoors on your patio deck? It is a daydream that many people have. But it does not have to be only a dream.You could be actually doing it within a few of weeks. You can either make the deck or patio yourself, if you are useful with your hands or you can hire someone in.

The best thing to do is talk with your contractor about your plans about size and materials. If you want to have a go at making it yourself, take the dimensions to your local builders’ merchant and get them to give you a price. If you need it, they can normally recommend a contractor to you. This can be a good idea, even if it is only to get an idea about price.

There are also plenty of ’standard’ designs available too. You could get a few gardening magazines, you will be able to tell the ones you want by their titles. You could also look on the Internet. There is also designing software for this kind of project, it just depends what you want your input to be.

You could just hand the whole task over to your builder, if that is what you want. However, I would go for a drink with my wife and take paper and pens. Over a drink or two, I would encourage us both to make a few sketchy plans of what we would like. Then you can chat about and amalgamate the designs.

You also have to come to a decision whether you want a raised deck or one at ground level. A raised, wooden deck might help keep the snakes at bay, but a stone patio puts you right in the middle of your garden and flowers.

A consideration, depending on where you live, could be the use of patio heaters. If you think that you may have to use patio heating at various times of the year because of the weather, you might not want your patio deck made of wood. After spending time and money on your new patio deck, you will want to make use of it whether it is a bit chilly or not, which is where the heaters come in.

Furthermore, patio heaters are not that expensive any more and not that dear to run. If you add a mosquito trap and some lighting, you will have a pleasure to enjoy for the rest of your life.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with commercial patio heaters. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Technorati Tags: decks, entertainment, garden, happiness, hobbies, Landscaping, other, outdoors, patios, real estate, recreation, relaxation, retirement, self help, Uncategorized

If you own a restaurant, pub or any business using outdoor amenities in a temperate climate zone, then you will know that custom is likely to drop off when the weather gets cooler. You know that you would not sit outside shivering yourself, so you do not count on anyone else to do it. The only answer is to modify the outdoor ambient temperature to an acceptable level.

I have seen this done to astonishing effect in Prague in October when there were heavy snow storms. People wanted to sit outside and enjoy the snow storm as long as they were pretty warm. A person’s primary heat comes from the body and is kept in with decent clothing, but it is nice to have a patio heater near-by just to add a glow to your face and hands.

If you have a business that only opens when it is warm enough, then you have an expensive business and these days expensive businesses do not last long. You need to wring every last cent out of your business real estate and if that means putting patio heaters in, then that is what you ought to do.

Patio heaters come in a range of guises, but they are not that expensive to buy. Sometimes you can rent them too. Most of these outdoor heaters run on bottles of propane or butane gas, but there are mains gas varieties too. There are also electric ones, but they tend to be costly to run, unless you can generate your own electricity.

I think that the best two types are the box type where the gas canister goes inside the apparatus and the heat is directed at foot to knee height and the street lantern style, where the heat comes down from about seven or eight feet in height. The gas cylinder also fits inside these models lowering their centre of gravity and making them more difficult to unintentionally knock over.

These heaters are very safe although patrons should be advised to exercise care if they have young children with them. A standard heater will keep up to two tables and eight people warm enough to enjoy themselves even while it is snowing.

The hire of a few of these patio heaters or even their purchase will soon be off-set by your augmented custom, especially if your competitors are not using them. My wife and I will never forget our time in Prague, when it was snowing, drinking coffee and eating cake outside, watching people go by while we were as warm as toast due to the restaurateur’s prudence in providing patio heaters.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the propane outdoor heater. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Technorati Tags: decks, entertainment, garden, happiness, hobbies, Landscaping, other, outdoors, patios, real estate, recreation, relaxation, retirement, self help, Uncategorized

If you have more than a small town garden, then landscaping your garden will probably be one of your considerations. If you have just acquired the property, or you think that it is time for a garden make-over, there are methods of going about it. The easiest technique of going about planning a garden, is to first take a good look at the landscape of your garden. This can be difficult if the garden is established and in full bloom.

Therefore, it can be better to delay until autumn or winter, so that you can see the true lie of the land. You could make a plan of the garden on graph paper and take a lot of photos too. Identify the photos on the back of them and relate them to the grid on your graph paper. There may be bumps and hollows, potholes, rocky areas and even a marsh or a pond to deal with.

These are probably natural features and if you want to alter them, you will have to tackle the fundamental cause. The feature is only the symptom. Like freckles or spots! If you look at the state of affairs in this way, it makes planning simpler.

For example, a rocky patch probably means that the Earth is throwing rocks up gradually and if you want to clean it up, you will be picking up rocks for the rest of your life. Similarly, if your wet patch is the result of natural drainage from higher ground, you will have to drain it and put in permanent drainage, because it is not going to stop raining for you.

So, you can either work with nature or you will be working against it for the rest of your life. Either that or paying someone else to do it for you. Another point is that the wildlife that uses your area does so because of how it is. If you change the landscape, your current range of wildlife might move on or just die. A lot depends on how much land we are talking about, but in general, I would say that the larger the plot, the more you should leave it alone.

On the other hand, you can put in features more easily than remove them. For instance, if you have an area with poor soil, you could enrich it with fertilizer or put a pond there. Shade and existing fences or sheds should also be marked on your graph paper, although being man-made, these are simpler to do away with or modify.

Next you should decide what type of garden you want, within the constraints of the existing landscape, how much work you are willing to put into it and how much money you want to spend on it. Improving the natural elements of the land is the simplest way of landscaping your garden.

If you have a marshy area, why not put a low wall around it and turn it into a pond? If you have a rocky patch, why not collect up the stones and create a rockery? If you have a few trees, try growing wisteria, honeysuckle or vines through them.

If you are in the shade, buy flowers that prefer the shade and vice-versa. It is a effort to go against nature and unless you have a good cause to do it, it is not really worthwhile. Then build a patio or deck and sit outside and enjoy all the landscaping that you have saved yourself in your garden.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with outdoor heat lamp. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Technorati Tags: decks, entertainment, garden, happiness, herbs, hobbies, Landscaping, other, outdoors, patios, recreation, relaxation, retirement, self help, Uncategorized

Every professional chef and every household cook recognizes the importance of fresh herbs to their culinary creations. No diner would quarrel over this either. However, whether you buy your herbs fresh or dried, there are problems. When you buy fresh, you usually have to buy more than you require and they are comparatively expensive, whereas, if you buy them dried, they could be old and dried herbs lose their strength over time.

Why then is it that most home cooks use fresh or dried herbs from the supermarket? Ease, probably. We lead busy lives and it is easier to get a few boxes of dried herbs at the supermarket along with your groceries than it is to grow your own.

Not that it is difficult to grow your own herbs and even spices, but you have to purchase the seeds, plant them and remember to water them. You can minimize the problem of trying to remember to water them very easily, by growing your herbs in a window box or in trays on your patio or deck, so that you notice them every time you take a break on your patio. You will also remember to bring them in if frost looks likely.

If you have children, growing herbs and spices in window boxes or trays can be a good induction to gardening for them. Herbs take very little looking after really, just needing watering every day. They are pretty tough and fertilizer is not necessary as most herbs have a fairly short life. Maybe only a month or two in some cases. Others last a lot longer.

First come to a decision how many varieties you want to cultivate. How much room do you have for instance? The best way to start is look in your cupboard and see which herbs you use most frequently. Are any of them seeds? You could have a try at sowing these. Look them up in a book or on the Internet.

Sometimes it is better to soak the seeds first before planting them, others do not need this treatment. Second, which herbs have you read about that you would like to use but never seem to have in the house? Try planting those too.

If all that does not sound like fun, then you can buy small herb plants in the garden nurseries. Most of them stock the most common herbs in Spring. Whichever way you go, read up on how to cultivate the herbs you have selected. I promise you, it will not be a long read, as they really do take care of themselves except for the watering. if you buy seeds rather than seedlings, all the details you need will be on the seed packet and such packets are very cheap to buy.

The benefits of having your own herb garden are diverse, but you will be teaching gardening to your kids or grandkids, you will have fresh herbs for cooking and you will have beautiful aromas wafting around your patio or deck.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with outdoor heat lamp. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Technorati Tags: decks, entertainment, garden, happiness, herbs, hobbies, Landscaping, other, outdoors, patios, recreation, relaxation, retirement, self help, Uncategorized

The three most essential components of any barbecue party are the guests, the weather and the food. I can not make suggestions about your friends and family, you are on your own there, but I hope you will find my suggestions for the other two fronts practical.

An impromptu party in the garden is great and often the best parties are the ones that just happen off the cuff, but if you want something a little more formal or more impressive then you have to organize. The first step is to pick a date far enough in the future for most people to be unlikely to have a previous engagement, but not so far that they might forget about your barbecue party.

Depending on where you live of course, try to pick a date when it is unlikely to be cool or wet. This is hard in places like the UK, but may be simpler where you live. If the party goes on into the night it may get cool anyway and you could hire a few gas patio heaters in advance just in case. You could also have a sunshade or sheltered seating area in case of blazing sunshine or a light shower.

These days a lot of people are vegetarian and you will have to plan in advance for them and other dieters, if they make up a sizable number of your guests. You could send out RSVP invitations and ask your guests to make known any special dietary demands. I am not really suggesting that you have to cater to everybody, but if you have a lot of Jews or Arabs coming you will need to provide an alternative to pork chops and of course there are other minorities too.

In fact, you may have to do some investigation into the religions of the people coming to your barbecue party, because often cooking utensils may not have touched pork of meat or shellfish. Most people of the guests with these dietary needs will have been in this situation before and will appreciate if you go some way to providing an alternative.

For this reason, you will need to get your RSVP cards back at least a week before your barbecue party and do a bit of research on the telephone or the Internet. Then start making up the barbecue side dishes. These should include baked or and boiled jacket potatoes and potato salad, baked beans, egg quarters and coleslaw along with pickles, relish, onions, chutneys tomato and curry sauces (hot and not so hot), as most people will eat them. These can be prepared a few days in advance and kept in Tupperware containers in the fridge. Bread in the form of buns is also essential so that people can make sandwiches.

It is imperative for a polished act, to have your party area fully prepared before your guests turn up. it is a good idea to set the music system up in the garden shed or the garage to save it from any sudden shower. Provide plenty of tissues for wiping greasy fingers and plenty of receptacles for the debris. Finger bowls with lemon water would be a good idea for this purpose too.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the propane outdoor heater. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Technorati Tags: decks, entertainment, garden, happiness, hobbies, Landscaping, other, outdoors, patios, real estate, recreation, relaxation, retirement, self help, Uncategorized

There are several varieties of gas lantern. They are chiefly used to produce light when you do not have a battery light or access to an electrical socket. In fact, they are most frequently used for emergency situations, when the power goes out at home, when you are camping or sitting in the garden later in the evening. They offer much more light than most torches and they are handy because you can stand them on a table, carry them, or hang them up.

There are quite a few models of gas lantern. However, they differ not only in design, but also in the type of fuel they burn. Some people like the old fashioned style kerosene or paraffin lamps. They like the design, the historical facet and possibly even the smell.

Their benefits are that the fuel is low-priced and easy to find. However, their disadvantages are that they smell and are very dangerous if tipped over. The storage of surplus paraffin or kerosene is also a serious hazard, should a fire break out.

If you want one of these old style kerosene lanterns, they are widely available at camping, army surplus and hardware suppliers. If you are going to use them for emergency lighting, it is best to have four or five on hand, clean and ready to fill.

The wicks should be trimmed and the glass clean. Keep them in plastic bags to stop dust building up on them. Keep one already filled with kerosene so that you can fill the others by its light. It is safer and less wasteful this way.

However, the modern equivalent of the kerosene lantern is the propane gas lantern. Propane gas lanterns burn with a very clean flame, which is also quite hot, so it does warm up its immediate surroundings, maybe to a distance of a foot or two. Therefore, it can keep faces warm on a cool evening in the garden.

Propane gas lanterns are fueled by gas canisters. They come in various sizes from quite small to large, but the gas does burn for a long time. The small canisters are best for emergency use and the larger ones for use on camping trips or in the garden. They are fairly inexpensive, are clean to burn, provide some heat, are light weight and are very safe.

On the safety side of things, it is obviously very important that you follow the manufacturer’s directions when using any kind of gas lantern, because they are all a potential fire hazard, especially when camping in a wood.

Make yourself acquainted with the operation of the lantern you make your mind up to use before you need to use it. The gas lantern may get hot so be careful with it and get used to lighting it in the daylight so that you know what you are doing, when you need the gas lantern for real. One last tip, if you are taking a propane gas lantern on a camping holiday, take enough canisters with you. The merchant should be able to tell you how many hours they will last for the use you are going to put them to.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the propane outdoor heater. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Technorati Tags: decks, entertainment, garden, happiness, hobbies, Landscaping, other, outdoors, patios, real estate, recreation, relaxation, retirement, self help, Uncategorized

Oak is one of the best woods to use for patio garden furniture. It is local to most Western countries and, being a hardwood, can endure the weather, if treated properly. It is very durable and, so long as you maintain it, it will give you enjoyment and comfort on your garden patio for decades to come.

Oak is certainly not inexpensive, but if you bear in mind that it will last for ten to twenty years, whereas plastic and metal may last two to four years, it does not work out a bad deal over the long term and during that time span, you will have been sitting on garden furniture that is the bee’s knees in every way.

Just a point of interest here that will give you more range when you are buying your hardwood garden furniture, oak and cherry wood share many of the same characteristics as far as garden patio furniture is concerned.

The patterns of whorls and rings in the timber is truly beautiful, so in order to maintain the stocks of these trees, please make sure that your patio furniture comes from a replenishable source.

Make sure you follow the maker’s recommendations as far as maintenance is concerned. This will prolong the life of your hardwood furniture, ensuring that you will get extra life – up to twice as much – life out of your hardwood garden furniture.

The maker or craftsman will probably deliver your furniture primed and stained and maybe varnished too. If you get raw timber furniture, the maker is probably leaving your options open. The least you should do is rub an oil into it.

Ask at your decorators’ merchants or timber merchants which is the best. You could also stain it and varnish it. Ask to see examples before you go ahead, but it has to be done at least once a year anyway, so you can change strategy when it wears off.

This grade of furniture will be seen often at commercial venues, because it is so hard wearing and long lasting, if properly looked after. You should let commercial sense guide you and follow suit, if you can afford it. If you cannot afford a full set of hardwood garden patio furniture all in one go, why not buy one or two pieces of furniture a year?

Once you have your furniture in situ, you can start thinking about accessories. The most common accessories are lighting, power points, mosquito zappers, sun shades and patio heaters. You will notice that restaurants and pubs with a patio will use patio heaters when the weather gets cooler.They have to do this, otherwise customers would vanish.

You can learn from this for your back garden. Get yourself a patio heater so that you can get pleasure from your garden patio in comfort every month of the year. Add a few extra plants and a few nocturnal blossoming plants. Put in a small pond with a fountain and some fish. Complete the whole picture with a few spotlights pointing at your favourite features and hang up a mosquito trap. This way you will get the most out of your oak or cherry wood garden patio furniture.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with commercial patio heaters. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Technorati Tags: decks, entertainment, garden, happiness, hobbies, Landscaping, other, outdoors, patios, real estate, recreation, relaxation, retirement, self help, Uncategorized

If you have a lovely patio or deck or a beautiful garden, then you have to have good patio furniture in order to enjoy it. There is no finer end to a busy day than sitting outside on the patio with a drink and a newspaper or a book. I like to sit in the garden after the sun has waned a little, but before the mosquitoes come out for a few hours reading a book.

There are many different styles of patio furniture to choose from that range from classic to modern. There is also a full range of choice in that there are chairs, loungers, swinging sofas, tables, outdoor fridges, barbecue sets and patio heaters amongst other things. A full set need not cost more than $1,000, but you can start with a table and two chairs and build up your patio furniture set step by step.

The many choices you have when looking for patio furniture are the style and the material it is made from. Most patio furniture stays outside all day and all night in any weather, so it important to get furniture that is well-made and weather-proof. All weather furniture is usually made from plastic-coated steel, wicker, massive wood or moulded plastic.

Whatever you choose, make sure that the guarantee makes your choice worth the money. For example, I mean, if the furniture costs $200, and has a 12 month warranty, then you should be prepared to pay $4 a week for your investment and everything else is a bonus.

Another tip is to buy your patio furniture from a respectable manufacturer or a trustworthy retailer, unless it is massive timber furniture in which case you will want a reliable local craftsman. It depends where you live of course, but any patio furniture is going to have a hard time of it and it will stay outside sometimes no matter what your intentions are now.

Standard plastic patio furniture is pretty good and will stand up to all but the coldest of weather, which can make it become brittle. Prolonged exposure to high temperatures can have the same effect on cheap plastic chairs. White is the usual colour, but there are others. Make sure that you buy something that will take your weight, especially if you are a bit on the heavy side. I have had legs of plastic chairs go on me, but luckily I was on grass both times. On concrete or near the edge of raised decking could be very serious.

Once you have selected your patio table, chairs and possibly loungers, there are one or two other things that I think are essential to allowing the full enjoyment of your patio deck. For example, if you want to use your outdoor furniture in the evening you may find it chilly or you may be troubled by insects.

This need not be a problem. You can get a patio heater for quite a reasonable price. A gas patio heater will keep up to eight people lovely and warm. To complete your patio furniture set, you might want a mosquito trap of some kind.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with commercial patio heaters. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Technorati Tags: decks, entertainment, garden, happiness, hobbies, Landscaping, other, outdoors, patios, real estate, recreation, relaxation, retirement, self help, Uncategorized

If you have converted your garage into a workshop or home office, you are sure to need heating in one form or another. This is because most garages are not built to the same standards of insulation as the main residential building. However, that need not present a difficulty. You may even have the opposite problem during the summer, as garages often do not have windows, or at least large ones, either.

Ventilation could be another matter that you will have to cope with, but we will come to that later. If you have a plentiful supply of dead wood, you could set up a pot-bellied stove, but you will have to vent the flue outside. This is very easily done, since most garage walls are only one brick or block thick. However, if they do not burn correctly, there can be a smell, which you may find disagreeable.

Or you could use a paraffin/kerosene heater. They are cheap to buy and are readily portable. These heaters do not necessarily have to have a flue. They are easy to turn on as many of them have an electric starter. Some also have a thermostat to control the temperature. They can be a hazard if there are children around as they can be tipped over. However, for most people, the glitch would be the smell given off.

You could use an electric hot air heater. They are quite cheap to buy, are easily portable and do not require a flue, but they can create a very dry atmosphere and are costly to run.

One of the most common choices these days is a gas heater. There are many different types of gas heater, but most run on butane or propane. Most of the models are fairly inexpensive. The main advantage of a gas heater is that they give consistent heat, are fairly cheap to run and are portable. Or at least many of them are.

You could have one built in, but it is scarcely worth it, unless you are using gas that needs to be vented. Propane gas heaters also come with or without thermostatic controls. A propane heater could also double as a patio or deck heater on cool evenings.

These gas heaters come in two forms: vented and unvented. The unvented models are the portable ones. They use the air from the room and the vented models have a flue that vents straight out of the garage. The slight disadvantage of the unvented model is that you have to keep the room airy at all times.

Therefore, if you choose a portable, unvented propane heater, you must leave a window partly open in order to allow the exchange of air and these heaters can be used as patio or deck heaters during the spring and autumn/fall. However, the vented gas heaters are fixed and have a flue attached, so they cannot be taken outside. Furthermore, if you decide on a vented model, you would be better off getting a professional in to install it for you by the book.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the propane outdoor heater. If you are interested in patio heaters too, please click through to Residential Patio Heaters.

Technorati Tags: decks, entertainment, garden, happiness, hobbies, Landscaping, other, outdoors, patios, real estate, recreation, relaxation, retirement, self help, Uncategorized