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Spring Home & Outdoors

By Evamarie Socha The Daily Item

MIFFLINBURG — A kitchen remodel is as unique as a customer’s desire for style, upgrade and functionality. But the common thread right now is color, particularly painted cabinets.

“Painted cabinetry is hot,” said Jason Romig, general manager at Leg-acy Building Products in Mifflinburg, which makes custom-order cabinets and kitchen storage. “Particu-larly whites, off whites and greys are really popu-lar right now.”

Home styling and remodeling are as subject to fashion trends as, well, fashion.

“As trends go, it cer-tainly is a fashion busi-ness,” Romig said, “by style and by fashion, and a lot of those trends are de-termined by consumers in terms of what is hot right now and what’s in vogue.”

As a manufacturer, it’s important to keep up with those trends, Romig said, “and we have an offering that marries up right now to that.” Legacy builds cabinets to order and what suits the homeown-ers needs and wants. He’s working with paint maker Sherman-Williams on de-veloping new paint colors based on what Legacy professionals see in the marketplace and customer feedback.

Beyond color, func-tionality, or better use of space and storage, is another customer favorite.

“If we can get the stor-age features in cabinetry today, the customer can make better and more ef-ficient use of space aside from obvious esthetics,” Romig said. “New colors and styles make it appeal-ing visually but a combi-nation” of color and stor-age takes it over the top.

Romig said the cost of a kitchen remodel really varies by the job “and how extravagant or not the customer wants to be.” Several pricing factors include kitchen size, mate-rials and what specifically the customer wants.

According to remodel-ing website HouseLogic.com, a professional cabi-net refacing for a typical 10-foot-by-12-foot kitchen starts at around $1,000 to $3,000 for laminate. Expect to pay $2,500 to $6,000 for real wood veneer. Costs can rise to $7,000 to $9,000 or more for a large project with high-quality wood ve-neer, more to take out the cabinets and replace them completely.

Another kitchen fix If a complete redo isn’t

in the budget, one good fix that will make a differ-ence are new countertops, Harley Fry, design and sales representative for Crestwood Kitchen Sup-ply Inc. of Muncy, said.

“You can add little things to cabinets, but when you look at a kitchen, you can’t replace just one cabinet,” he said. New countertops come

in a variety of materials, from Corian, Formica and acrylic to granite. Depending on the size of the kitchen and counter-top area, some new tops can be done for as little as $1,000, Fry said.

“There is no such thing as an average kitchen,” Fry said, noting that in new homes, kitchens are getting bigger. But in older homes, where kitch-ens tend to be smaller, the jobs can cost less.

Concrete countertops are a new, somewhat popular trend but Fry isn’t sold on the material yet, he said.

“The biggest concern I have is issue of staining,” he said. The concrete tops usually are polished smooth and have an epoxy top, but from what he’s heard, staining from regular use — imagine cuttings beets or spilling coffee or wine — is still an issue.

“You can save money with the product, but it’s also labor intensive,” Fry said of concrete.

Both Romig and Fry suggest contacting a kitchen professional for questions about needs and budget and what options are available.

Concrete and color taking over kitchens

Amanda August/The Daily Item

A sample kitchen in the showroom of Legacy Building Products in Mifflinburg.

Granite has long been a popular countertop mate-rial for homeowners look-ing to combine functional-ity with aesthetic appeal in their kitchens. But granite is no small investment, and homeowners looking to refurbish their kitchens should know there are a multitude of countertop materials available to those working on a budget or those who simply want to give their kitchens a dif-ferent look.

H Solid wood: Wood countertops create a warm, homey interior.

Butcher block counters are less expensive than granite and do not neces-sarily need to be ordered from a speciality retailer. But wood can stain and dent and can even burn when hot kitchenware is placed atop it. Regular application of oil can help homeowners maintain the appearance of their wood counters for years to come.

H Marble: Marble tends to be less expensive than

By Scott McGillivrayMetro Services

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Page F4 The Daily Item/The Weekly Item/The Danville News / Friday, April 17, 2015

Spring Home & Garden

are a number of steps a homeowner can take to en-sure a positive experience and a successful outcome, including:

1. Know your goal. Ask the question, “What is this renovation designed to accomplish? More func-tionality? Storage? Living space?” If a homeowner doesn’t know where they’re going with the renovation, chances are they’ll never get there.

2. Do your research. In most things, knowledge is power, and knowing what to expect, in advance, can keep expectations in check. Investigate options, budgets and timelines, and arrange financing in advance.

3. Hire professionals. Be sure that they are happy to work with you to meet your budget and achieve your vi-sion. Communicate clearly and often to ensure under-standing on both sides.

4. Opt for a general contractor and trades that are experienced, licensed and insured. Don’t hesitate to check credentials and references. Get recommen-dations from family, friends and colleagues who have had work done and were satisfied with the results.

5. Start with quality building materials. When it comes to home renova-tion and construction, the adage, “it’s what’s on the inside that counts” seems apt. While homeowners tend to get caught up in the aesthetics of a project, such as finishings and paint colors, the key to a success-ful renovation often lies in

what you won’t see. Invest-ing in quality behind your walls will ensure durabil-ity, comfort and safety for years to come.

6. Focus on the basics. This includes quality elec-trical, plumbing, HVAC, framing and drywall. Don’t underestimate the impor-tance of insulation - espe-cially in a basement reno-vation. Not all insulation is created equal. Opt for insulation that is fire-resis-tant, sound absorbent and resistant to mold, mildew, bacterial growth, and rot. In my renovations, I like to use products like Roxul’s Comfortbatt and Comfort-board IS to help achieve a more energy efficient home, buy you valuable time in the event of a fire and prevent moisture issues that can pose health risks and lead to costly repairs.

7. Develop a good plan. This includes preparing for the unexpected. Setting aside a 20 percent contin-gency fund will help bring you to the finish line when unanticipated issues creep up.

Lastly, the key to a successful renovation includes patience. Living in a construction zone — or alternately moving out while the work is done — can be stressful and trying. Keep your eyes on the prize. There’s nothing more rewarding than the end result, which can bring years of enjoyment and ul-timately add to your home’s bottom line.

n Scott McGillivray is an award-winning TV host, a full-time real estate investor, contractor, author, and educator. Follow him on Twitter @smcgillivray.

Tips to a successful remodelingTIPS, from Page F2

By Kim CookThe Associated Press

If you’ve lived with your kitchen for awhile, chances are you’ve got drawers full of stuff you rarely use and cupboards you just hate. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a well-organized kitchen that makes food prepara-tion a pleasure?

Some of the latest ideas and products for whipping a kitchen into shape:

H Divide and conquerKitchens function best

when divided into work zones, says Josee Berlin, an interior designer for Ikea USA. She cites three: stor-age (fridge/freezer/pantry), washing (sink/dishwasher) and cooking (oven/cook-top/microwave).

“Work zones give your kitchen a practical struc-ture. Placing them well is crucial to achieving an ergonomic work triangle, with a natural workflow and everything within reach,” Berlin says.

If you’re planning a new kitchen, place your oven and stove near sinks and worktops so you aren’t walking too far with hot pots and pans, she says. A worktop near pantry cabinets and fridge makes unpacking groceries easy.

If space is tight, consider a stainless-steel cart with lockable wheels for por-table storage and extra prep space.

H Cabinets and drawers

Experts suggest taking an inventory of your kitchen tools, and then outfitting cabinets and drawers so they work for you.

Use adjustable drawer dividers and shelf inserts at different depths.

The drawers in Ikea’s new Sektion kitchen system open fully, eliminating that awkward nowheresville at the back of many drawers. A new horizontal hinge design allows for additional slim storage in what was once dead space above the drawer — good for tools, towels and spices (the last of which should be kept in a cool dark space and not on or above the stove). A quiet-close mechanism and optional LED lights make the system handy for middle-of-the-night cookie raids. (www.ikea.com)

H Tools and gadgetsYou don’t need a lot of

stuff, says Craig Norton, director of operations at the Prince George Hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

“Buying a pot and pan for every dish is a mistake. One good large Dutch oven, one sauti pan, one 4-quart saucepan, one omelet/crepe pan, one cast-iron pan and that’s it,” he advises. He stores lids on the door to free up shelf space.

If you’re a baker, consider consolidating those com-ponents. “I put all baking

ingredients in one bin — flour, sugar, baking soda, etc. — and just haul it out when making something,” Norton says. Invest in a slab of cool marble to make pastry rolling easy.

“Gadgets are the biggest waste of space — egg slic-ers, green bean cutters, all that stuff. Just use a knife,” laughs Norton.

However, if you’re a proud collector of small tools, consider a rolling mechanic’s tool cart with shallow drawers that can be tucked in a closet when not in use.

To hold knives, BASE4’s KnifeDock is a slim-profile slab of magnetized walnut, bamboo or acacia wood. (www.ebase4.com )

H Space savers

House Beautiful’s editor in chief, Sophie Donelson,

likes OXO’s stackable Greensaver containers, which have carbon filters in the lid to reduce spoilage. But her favorite small space storage solutions are from Joseph Joseph.

“Just about everything they make either folds, col-lapses or nests to save room in the drawer. I wanted to toss all my existing tools and start fresh when I saw these,” she says.

Measuring cups, a whisk and nesting utensils are part of the colorful collection. (www.josephjoseph.com )

Some experts suggest checking out restaurant supply houses for high-quality, affordable items. Commercial-kitchen-grade, stainless-steel pans come in a variety of squares and rectangles that you can stack to save space.

If your kitchen’s a work-

horse, don’t worry about keeping it “showroom ready.” Your food proces-sor, scale, utensils and blender should be right out where you need them.

Norton likes to keep a lazy Susan next to the stove with olive oil, a dish of salt and a pepper grinder.

Hanging rails with “S” shaped hooks provide extra storage without taking up real estate. Sturdy racks can hold pots and pans, plates, utensils, sieves and even a small herb garden.

Ikea’s Rimforsa wall system combines steel rails and hooks with bamboo containers. Elfa’s bonded-steel no-tools wall and rack system turns a door into a handy pantry. (www.con-tainerstore.com )

Liberate even more space by using zipper plastic bags and stacking containers for things like tea bags, pet treats and dried foods, elim-inating bulky packaging.

And for those items you use only a couple of times a year?

Norton advises getting them out of the kitchen altogether. “Put the turkey roaster in the basement with the tree ornaments,” he says.

Tricks, tools for organizing kitchen

The Associated Press

This photo provided by IKEA shows IKEA’s new Sektion system that hangs draw-ers horizontally in the cabinet frame rather than vertically, so there’s room for an additional drawer or two.

n

“Gadgets are the biggest waste of space — egg slicers, green bean

cutters, all that stuff. Just use a knife.”

— Craig Norton, director of operations at the Prince George Hotel

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Spring Home & Outdoors

granite without sacrificing aesthetic appeal. However, marble is softer and more porous than granite, so it can stain and be etched. Diligence in wiping away spills, routine sealing and a gentle touch is neces-sary for those who choose marble countertops.

H Soapstone: This is a natural stone composed mainly of mineral talc that gives the stone its smooth feel. Soapstone ranges from black to gray but can sometimes have a green shade to it. Other materials in the stone can produce veining. Although softer than granite, soapstone is still high-density and will hold up well. It’s impervi-ous to stains and bacteria, and exposure to chemicals will not damage it.

H Quartz: Quartz is

a manufactured product made of stone aggregate and polymers compressed under high pressure. It has the look of natural stone but requires less work to maintain. Quartz has consistent colors and pat-terns and is a nonporous material, so it will not need routine sealing and reseal-ing.

H Glass: Glass counter-tops are back-painted, so homeowners can order just about any color they want. Glass will be tempered, so it is safe and heat-resistant. Glass can scratch, though, so it is not as impervious as other materials.

H Concrete: Concrete is another material that can be colored to match hom-eowners’ whims. Concrete is relatively inexpensive compared to other coun-tertop materials, but it can crack or chip.

While granite is a popu-lar countertop material, homeowners who want something new have many

additional options at their disposal.

Considering alternatives to graniteGRANITE, from Page F2

By Ed Del Grande Tribune News Service

Q: Hi Ed, I have an older tub and shower unit with problems. First, the rusted chrome valve trim, tub spout and handle all need to be replaced. Second, the tub drain lever does not work and water will not stay in the tub. Third, the showerhead is full of water deposits and the flow is weak. I don’t know where to start and I’m ready to give up. But, before I call my plumber, is there some legwork I can do to lower

the cost of this job? — Mary, Rhode Island

A: Wow, I can address many tub/shower problems with this one question. Even if you’re working with a plumber, you can do some research and have the major parts at the job site, ready for the plumber. This may save some money.

First, you need to get the make and model of your mixing valve and see if trim parts are still available. Calling the factory help line of the valve manufacturer can help with this quest. If

parts are not available, the entire valve may have to be replaced.

Second, the tub trip waste drain assembly is a separate unit and most plumbing supply houses should carry a replacement unit to fit your tub. Take a photo of your drain assem-bly with you to the supply house.

Finally, for an easy showerhead choice, visit a home center that features a hands-on shower display area. You should be able to help lower labor costs, so

don’t throw in the towel just yet on your repair projects.

n Master Contractor/Plumber Ed Del Grande is known internationally as the author of the book “Ed Del Grande’s House Call,“ the host of TV and Internet shows, and a LEED green associate. Visit eddelgrande.com or write eadelgcs.com. Always consult local contractors and codes. or write eadelgcs.com. Always consult local contractors and codes.

Plumber: Research to save on tub/shower issues

2 steps to family-friendly design considerationsBy Mary Carol Garrity Tribune News Service

Parents of young children often ask me if it’s possible to have a beautifully deco-rated home and to have children at the same time. The answer is a resound-ing YES! Here are the two steps I follow when design-ing spaces that are both kid-friendly and lovely to look at:

1. Make the areas within reach kid-tough.

H Forgiving fabricsWhat areas of your home

are your kids hardest on? Usually, it’s the upholstered furniture. Lived-on spots fall victim to everyday wear, like peanut butter and jelly handprints, juice spills, dirty shoes or worse.

No matter how vigilant you are about protecting your kid’s favorite seat in the house, chances are you

are going to lose the battle. So, get smart and cover your furniture in textiles

that can handle the wear and tear.

There are lots of options

today in upholstery fabric that can handle just about anything your kids can dish

out. We often recommend families use outdoor fabric on their furniture and ac-cent pillows because it’s stain-resistant and cleans up easily.

H Opt for ottomanWhen we design rooms

for young families or grand-parents, we almost always include an ottoman used as a coffee table, instead of a coffee table made of wood or glass - materials that can hurt kids or be hurt by kids. If an accident happens on an ottoman, like a craft project turns into a perma-nent Sharpie stain or a snip in the fabric, you can easily have these pieces recovered with just a few yards of fabric.

The soft, cushy ottomans add to the style statement

in your room because you can cover them in a wide array of fabrics, like a peppy floral or a bold geometric.

2. Add beauty in the out-of-reach areas.

H Walls with artworkLots of young moms

bemoan the fact they can’t have breakable accents out on their coffee table or end tables. There will be a time for that. But right now, you can infuse your rooms with style by covering the walls with gorgeous artwork. People often overlook artwork when decorating their homes, but I don’t think a space feels finished

Photo provided

Danville Primary School first grade students got help from Danville High School students decorating the school for Halloween last year.

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Page F6 The Daily Item/The Weekly Item/The Danville News / Friday, April 17, 2015

Spring Home & Outdoors

until there is an interesting assortment of art on the walls.

Up where little hands can’t disturb it, artwork is an ideal way to bring your family’s personality to life in your spaces.

It allows you to add

color and pattern, a vari-ety of textures and lots of interest.

H Accents up highJust because you have

little hands exploring every inch of your home doesn’t mean you can’t have breakable and beautiful accents in your decor.

You just need to put your pretties up high, where you can enjoy them but they won’t get broken.

H Window treatments

Like artwork, window treatments allow you to put color and pattern in a room, but in a spot that can’t be disturbed by young children.

2 steps to family-friendly designKeys to clean curtains, drapesBy Lisa FlamThe Associated Press

Window treatments should be cleaned once or twice a year, experts say, and the best method varies by material. Some can be refreshed in the washer or cleaned with a vacuum, while others may require a pro.

Start by reading the care tag or directions that came with the product: Some items are dry clean only. If the instructions are unavailable, experts offer general guidelines:

Most curtains that are lined or made of silk likely require dry cleaning.

Curtains that are not lined or insulated usually can be washed by machine, in a short, gentle cycle with cool water. Those made of a poly-cotton blend can usually go in a medium-

heat dryer, but 100 percent cotton curtains should be line-dried to prevent shrinkage.

Curtains and roller shades that are insulated with a bonded layer that keeps out the cold can be machine washed in a short, gentle cycle in cool water and line dried. If the insulated sides touch each other while drying, they can peel off and ruin the curtain.

Sheer and lace curtains should be washed by machine in a short, gentle cycle with cold water and line dried adding that both can be touched up with light ironing. Once sheers get in the high heat of a dryer, wrinkles become permanent, she said.

After curtains come down for cleaning, dust the rod before hanging them back up.

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The Daily Item/The Weekly Item/The Danville News / Friday, April 17, 2015 Page F7

Spring Home & Outdoors

By Adrian HigginsThe Washington Post

The sudden appearance of spring has me scrambling to attend to chores that should have been done by now.

The lawn is showing signs of life, but I have yet to get the mower ready for the season, a task that includes sharpening the blades on a grinding wheel. Poppy seeds that I should have scattered in winter are still in their packets, so I’ll have to wait and sow them next fall for blooming the fol-lowing May.

All those clay pots that should be scrubbed, steril-ized and ready to go are still stacked in the shed, caked in old mud and fertil-izer salts.

These deficits are mere trifles, however, compared with the one job that gives credence to T.S. Eliot’s idea that April is the cruelest month.

I refer to the periodic draining and cleaning of the fishpond. This should be done every couple of years, but I usually wait twice as long as that because it’s a task whose anticipation could easily keep you up at night.

It’s essentially two days of messing about in bone-chilling water, fretting about the survival of your fish and dealing with gunk.

But I can speak of this with some detachment, be-cause I undertook the task a year ago.

This spring, the pond preparation is relatively easy and will consist of cleaning one submerged filter and two others that are outside the pond, and extracting four pots of mud containing the remnants of last season’s tropical water-lilies. They will receive new ones in May.

Let’s cut to the chase. Are ponds a lot of work? At times, yes, even when they are designed to mini-mize problems with water clarity and health. Are they worth it? They are; they bring a unique vitality to the garden.

After a few false starts, I decided to go big with the filtration system in the belief that it was better to over-engineer than not. The result is a large green box beside the pond, with one chamber for physical filtration and the second for biological control.

In the latter, bacteria simply arrive to munch on toxic ammonia to make a kinder nitrate.

The whole shebang, in-cluding a fountain, is run by a strong pump that moves many hundreds of gallons per hour. (The pond con-tains 2,500 gallons, which is considered mid-size as

Prepare your pond nowSpring cleaning before anyone sees the pads

garden ponds go.)In spite of the robust

filtration system, time takes a toll: The pond gets mucky from accumulated fish waste and the decay of fallen holly blossoms, dead algae and more.

You can’t get rid of all this, nor of the string algae on the sides of the pond, without draining it — hence last year’s spring cleaning.

Catching the crittersOne of the most time-

consuming aspects of the job is catching dozens of goldfish, four large koi and, because every life is pre-cious, the tiniest mosquito fish that have multiplied over the years.

They are black, hard to see, and as small and wriggly as worms. The fish spend the weekend in two large trash cans of pond water full of aquarium aerators. We are all relieved when it is over.

At the same time I replaced the ailing pump, whose high cost was tem-pered by the fact that it was supposed to run for seven years but lasted twice as long.

The excitement of having a fresh pump and a clean pond was also tempered by the fact that I would still be

looking at the green filtra-tion box. The pond techni-cian said modern filtration boxes are much smaller than mine, but if I wanted one I’d also have to retrofit a skimmer to the side of the pond as well as an ultravio-let light assembly. That isn’t going to happen.

A landscape architect friend suggested I move the box to behind the stone wall that forms a backdrop to the pond, a measure that would require threading three pipes through the wall. I might just replace the three boxwood bushes in front of the box with big-ger ones.

Life is too short to wait for boxwood. But it isn’t too short to think about getting this year’s aquatic flora in the works, particularly the waterlilies.

Lily reliefHardy lilies are lovely

and need less elbow room than tropicals — a consid-eration for small ponds — but the tropical lilies bloom day and night until the autumn, are thick with fra-grance and bring a sense of exotic luxury to the clammy weeks of summer.

The presence of waterlil-ies has been brought into vivid relief with the release of four new postage stamps

The Washington Post

The author’s backyard pond as it looks now, ready to receive fresh waterlilies for the season ahead.

The Washington Post

The pond in the midst of last year’s Herculean clean-ing effort.

n

It’s essentially two days of messing about in bone-chilling water, fretting about the survival of your fish and

dealing with gunk.

— Adrian Higgins, pond owner

n

depicting lilies in various hues: blush, magenta, violet and white.

They were photographed by Cindy Dyer, a photogra-pher and graphic designer from Alexandria, Va., at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Northeast Washington.

The knack to a good waterlily photo, she told me, is to capture the bloom either on an overcast day or in the shade, using a piece of photographer’s kit called a portable light diffuser.

In the past, she has grown a waterlily in her own small backyard pond.

“We have frogs,” she said. “Right now, it needs cleaning.”

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Page G2 The Daily Item/The Weekly Item/The Danville News / Friday, April 17, 2015

Spring Home & Outdoors

By Evamarie SochaThe Daily Item

NORTHUMBERLAND — Want crystal clear pool water this summer? Take off that cover and roll up your sleeves, because the time to act is now.

That’s the advice of Josh Bergeron, a retail sales manager at Strong Pools and Spas in Northumberland, for those Valley residents who own an above-ground pool.

“The sooner you start, the cleaner your water will be,” he said, because the cooler temperatures at the mo-ment will keep algae from growing; algae likes its water warm.

“If you open (the pool) early in the spring, the algae isn’t growing. The water isn’t green, so you don’t use as many chemicals to get roll-ing,” Bergeron said. “It’s less of a headache and substan-tially easier” to care for the water.

Now, of course, the pool water is cold owing to the long and unforgiving winter. Dealing with a pool, and its cost and labor intensity, is likely the last thing anyone

wants to do. And Bergeron gets that.

“Most people procrasti-nate,” he said. “They don’t see the value of getting started now.” But the benefit really outweighs the time and expense in less cost and chemicals to get that water

clear. Every person is differ-ent, but there are lesser costs if you start sooner.”

Also, if time is of the es-sence, there are businesses that will come and do all that work for you, Bergeron said.

Some basics that pool

owners everywhere should do to get ready for Memorial Day weekend are remove the winter cover. hook up the pump and filter and top off the water. Turn on all machines to get the water circulating as well as to see how the machines are work-

ing. Next, start up chemical systems, such as a chlorine regiment, depending on what generally you use.

Take a walk about the pool and evaluate the struc-ture. Look inside, too, at the lining. Any kinks, major damage to walls, tears,

those will need fast repair, Bergeron said.

Any questions? Check with the pool manufacturer or installer for specific prob-lems — then go buy a bath-ing suit because Memorial Day weekend is only about a month away.

Want easier pool prep? The time to start is now!

Amanda August/The Daily Item

Workers tend to the Milton Community Pool at Brown Avenue Park last spring.

By Katherine RossThe Associated Press

From the biggest botani-cal gardens to the smallest backyard plots and ter-races, there’s a movement underway to make gardens work harder for the envi-ronment.

“It’s no longer enough for a garden to just look pretty. Every garden needs to do more and every garden matters,” said Douglas Tallamy, a professor in the department of entomology and wildlife ecology at the University of Delaware.

Because of global warm-ing and habitat destruc-tion, he said, “today, gardens need to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators and manage water. It’s a lot to ask, but it doesn’t have to look messy and it may be the key to our survival.”

For many people who aren’t sure what they can do about climate change, home gardens provide an opportunity to make a palpable difference.

That sense of purpose is creating a change in garden aesthetics, with a more natural look and more em-phasis on drought-tolerant and wildlife-friendly plants.

“It’s one of the few things an individual can do to mit-

igate climate change. The cumulative impact on the environment is huge, plus it’s easy, affordable and fun,” said Ann Savageau, who ripped out most of her lawn in drought-parched Davis, California, a year ago and replanted with des-ert grasses and other native plants.

“The increase we’ve seen in pollinators, butterflies and birds at our house is really exciting, and we

reduced our water usage by two thirds,” she said.

Whereas there used to be enough land for wildlife and humans to exist sepa-rately, it’s become essential that we share habitats, Tal-lamy and Rick Darke argue in their book, “The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden” (Tim-

ber Press, 2014). “Unless we share our

space with nature, the plants on which bees, cat-erpillars, butterflies, birds and other wildlife depend will not survive,” Tallamy said.

Earth-friendly gardens consist mostly of native spe-cies, on which local wildlife depends, experts say.

“Gardening for wildlife, especially birds, is re-ally the hot thing now in horticulture and gardening. The trend is toward natu-ralistic garden design, with native plants. It’s a High Line kind of a look,” said Kristin Schleiter, associate vice president for outdoor gardens and senior curator at the New York Botanical Garden.

The High Line, the New York City park and garden which runs along a strip of old elevated track, “does symbolize a newer aesthetic in purposeful, natural-ized gardening,” said Tom Smarr, its director of horti-culture.

About half the plants are natives and the other half are self-seeded species, which require relatively

Gardener’s guide to helping the planet

The Associated Press

This photo provided by Timber Press shows a cat-erpillar feeding on swallowtail eggs on a pipevine in the book, “The Living Landscape,” (Timber Press) by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy.

By Lee ReichThe Associated Press

Occasional warm, spring-like breezes and longer hours of sunlight kindle an urge in me to plant toma-toes, starting them indoors, of course.

After all, the sooner the seeds are up and growing, the sooner I’ll sink my teeth into a garden-ripe tomato, right?

Not necessarily. Earlier planting leads to

better harvests only when tomato seedlings have con-sistent, near-perfect grow-ing conditions. Even with

a greenhouse, such condi-tions are not easily created. And the earlier tomatoes are planted, the harder it is to give them what they need.

H Slow and steady The ideal tomato seed-

ling (also called a “trans-plant” or “start”) plods along, growing steadily, making a seamless transi-tion to the outdoors when transplant time finally comes. Consistently moist soil and regular feeding, both easily provided, are

How to time your tomatoes just right

The Associated Press

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The Daily Item / Friday, April 17, 2015 Page G3

Spring Home & Outdoors

little maintenance and water. “There’s way more forgiveness and durability about it,” he said.

“A lot of people have to-tally been inspired by the wild look and have tried it on their own at home,” Smarr said.

A few specific ways that home gardeners can go easy on the planet:

H Plant an oak treeOaks sequester lots of

carbon, have enormous root systems that help manage water and, accord-ing to Tallamy and Darke, are fantastic at supporting wildlife. “There are 557 species of caterpillars in the Mid-Atlantic states, and they’re all bird food. The birds eat all the cat-erpillars to support their young, so you don’t need to worry about defolia-tion.”

H Feed the pollinators

Tallamy warns that with-out pollinators, 80 percent to 90 percent of all plants would be lost, and that gardeners should focus on plants that feed the estimated 4,000 species of native bees. Pollinator-friendly gardens feature a sequence of native flower-ing plants, so that from April through Septem-ber something’s always blooming. Mountain mint, sunflowers, native holly, sweet pepper bush and goldenrod are all great for pollinators, Tallamy said. Further west, blazing star and milkweed are good choices. Schleiter said that early spring can be especially tough for bees. For early bloomers, she recommends Lyndera, a native bush with great fall color, and also dogwood.

H Minimize non-natives

“Around 92 percent of our suburban lots are lawn, and that’s the worst you can do,” Tal-lamy said, adding that concrete seems to be our “default landscaping” and ornamental Asian plant varieties have little to of-fer native wildlife.

“In the typical Ameri-can yard, 80 percent of the plants are from China. That’s not a functioning eco-system,” he said.

Even apartment dwell-ers can help, by planting native species on roofs and terraces.

Schleiter said: “Really think about the amount of chemical that’s put on our lawns. If you’re not using all of your lawn, just let the grass grow out and maybe put in some native perennials. It all adds up.”

H Avoid pesticides“If you’re planting a

garden for bees and but-terflies, don’t use pesti-cides that will kill bees and butterflies,” warned Schleiter. “It sounds obvi-ous, but people do it all the time. You have to be extra sure that when you buy a plant at the nursery, it hasn’t been sprayed with any pesticides. Nurseries do it a lot and you need to be extremely careful.”

Guide to helping the planet

n

“In the typical American yard,

80 percent of the plants are from

China. That’s not a functioning eco-

system.”

— Douglas Tallamy

n

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Page G4 The Daily Item/The Weekly/The Danville / Friday, April 17, 2015

Spring Home & Outdoors

By Daniel GasteigerFor The Daily Item

Two long-range weather fore-casting services predict above

average temperatures until June! Early warming gives bold gardeners a month or more head start.

I hate losing plants to frost, so

I’m not bold. I always urge caution in the

spring, and most years it pays off. Frost as late as May 26 has

taught me not to put summer veg-

etables in the garden until June 1. No problem! There are dozens of tasks to

keep a gardener busy until the danger of frost passes:

Seven things every gardener can do right now

Following conventional wisdom, gardeners in the Susquehanna Valley should have planted peas 26 days ago on Saint Patrick’s Day.

Snow had barely melted off my garden by then, and it was way too wet to be mucking about. With the past week’s rain, it may still be too wet to work a garden (more on moisture below), but as soon as you can, get the cool-weather crops planted.

Peas, lettuce, spinach, radishes, and kale are among plants that sprout when soil is cold.

Even young plants withstand mild frost, and summer heat shuts down pea, lettuce, and spinach plants — so it’s important to start them soon.

2. PRUNE SOME FRUIT TREES

Daily Item file photo

Ken Dries, of Dries Orchards, works on fruit trees on his farm in Augustaville.

Amazingly, it’s not too late to prune. My fruit trees show no sign of breaking dormancy, so I’ve finally started prun-ing (I couldn’t get myself to do it during the miserable March we had this year). If you’re not confident about pruning, at least attend to a few simple goals:

1. Remove dead wood. If bark is split or coming off, or twigs are dry and shriveled, the wood needs to go. Leaving dead wood in place provides easy access for insects, fungus, and

microbes that can damage the tree.2. Simplify the tree by removing com-

peting branches. If two or more branches are growing into the same space, cut out all but one. Crowding blocks sun-light, promotes the growth of mold and lichens, and can reduce fruit-production.

3. Shorten or remove spindly and an-noyingly long or low-hanging branches. Long, thin branches can’t support fruit and may bend to the ground and break later in the season.

You might not enter your garden while soil is wet but weeds aren’t so consider-ate. As soil warms, more weeds grow and grow faster.

Stop the weeds by mulching. Use autumn leaves, moldy hay, straw, your neighbor’s lawn clippings, compost, manure, or even that expensive pine bark mulch from a garden center. Even if you

have none of that, cover your garden bed with cardboard or old newspapers and water it down to keep things in place.

The goal is to smother whatever weeds are growing, and to prevent new weed sprouts from getting to sunlight. You can peel back the mulch when you’re ready to plant, but you’ll reduce future arguments with weeds by applying mulch now.

Daniel Gasteiger/For The Daily Item

Piles of manure and mulch stand ready at the East Snyder Community Garden near Selinsgrove.

1. ’TIS THE SEASON FOR MULCHING

3. PLANT COOL-WEATHER CROPS

Photo provided

Peas — just like lettuce, spinach, radishes and kale — are considered cool-weather crops and thrive when soil is cold. Young sprouts can even with-stand a light frost.

Photo provided

Kale sprouts are heartier than many people think.

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The Daily Item/The Weekly Item/The Danville News / Friday, April 17, 2015 Page G5

Spring Home & Outdoors

Wait, what? I argue it’s better to let your soil dry out than it is to get cool weather crops planted. Walking in a wet garden compresses soil, squeezing out air and reducing its useful-ness to plants. Even if you garden in raised beds and can work them without walking on them, simply digging in wet soil squeezes out air. With all the clay in our area, compressed wet soil may dry into bricks adequate for building a pizza oven.

If you have doubts, dig a small test hole. Does soil stick to the shovel? It’s too wet. Can you squeeze water out of a handful of soil? It’s too wet. Can you squeeze the soil into a cohesive ball? It’s too wet. Ideally, don’t work your garden until soil is only slightly damp; it should tend to crumble rather than stick to itself.

4. Stay Off yOur SOil —

DOn’t Dig

What broke last season? Have some of your garden stakes passed their prime?

Will you need twine or wire or tools to handle new or more things you’re growing this year? New plant cages or trel-lises? It can feel like gardening to shop for things you’ll need. Visit local garden centers and see what’s new. Some displays may inspire you to try things you’ve never grown — or to grow things in new ways.

Be cautious about buying live plants for your garden at this time. Perennials that have put out leaves in a greenhouse probably shouldn’t go in your garden until all danger of frost has passed.

However, if you find dormant fruit trees, brambles, strawber-ries, and other perennials, you can safely plant them out-doors.

In fact, they’ll appreciate it; it’s way less traumatic for them to wake up in your garden than it is for them to wake up in a container and then get trans-planted.

7. take inventOry — gO ShOpping

Perennial herbs can be especially messy in

spring: last year’s growth might have died and dried up, leaving a mass of branches that will interfere with this year’s growth.

My tarragon, oregano

and marjoram are my greatest offenders, and this season most of my above-ground mint died. Use garden scissors to cut off the dead stems.

For herbs such as sage,

rosemary, thyme, and lav-ender, be selective; often dead-looking branches are still healthy and will eventually produce new growth.

5. Clean up perennialS

Daniel Gasteiger/For The Daily Item

Trimming back old herb stalks — like this oregano — is a good way to let the new growth work its way through.

If you grew veggies and herbs in containers last season, collect the con-tainers and empty them into a large bin (I use an ancient kid’s wading pool).

Then mix in compost to revitalize the soil so it’s ready to fill containers for this year’s veggies and herbs.

6. COlleCt anD revitalize COntainer SOil Daniel Gasteiger/For The Daily Item

An onion sprout peeks out of the garden. On-ion sets can readily be found at local garden supply stores now.

By Barbara DamroschSpecial to The Washington Post

Looking for redness in your culinary delights? Con-sider using beets. I thought about dishes I might make with the bumper beet crop in our root cellar. Borscht, of course, and while we’re in Russia how about beet kvaas, a traditional fermented drink? Wellnessmama.com has a recipe that ferments in just two days if you add whey or sauerkraut juice.

My pink applesauce is not made with pink-fleshed ap-ples (wonderful as those are if you happen to find or grow them). A small piece of beet has been cooked in with the fruit, just enough to give it an appetizing tint. Beets are full of antioxidants and probiot-ics, and stealth beet cookery is a good way to feed them to reluctant eaters.

Beauty and the beets

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Spring Home & Outdoors

By Adrian HigginsThe Washington Post

Originally from East Asia, crape myrtles have become much more widely planted in recent decades thanks to the development of varieties that are hardier and more disease-resistant.

Their appeal is obvious: Crape myrtles are one of the few woody plants to bloom with gusto during hot, hu-mid summer months. They have good fall leaf color, and in types where the bark is exposed, the trunks can be spectacular and provide

display year-round. Many of these new varieties were de-veloped at the U.S. National Arboretum. In addition to having space to grow, crape myrtles prefer a sunny loca-tion and free-draining soil.

If you don’t have room for the popular large tree forms that grow between 20 and 30 feet high, such as Natchez, Miami and Choctaw, choose smaller hybrids that typically reach to between 12 and 15 feet. Thus, you won’t have to resort to crape murder. These include Yuma (lavender), Sioux (dark pink); Acoma (white) or Lipan (near-white

The quest for a daintier crape myrtlebark). If you have room for a tree to reach 20 feet in matu-rity, consider Tuskegee (dark rose) Potomac (medium pink) or Catawba (purple).

Young crape myrtles are raised in containers with several discrete stems. After planting, they benefit from pruning to clean up con-gested and crossing branches and to bring out the trunk structure. Alternatively, you can get a single-stemmed plant that will develop into a main trunk with branching — these are typically harder to find. Even if you are get-ting someone else to plant them for you, it is worth going to a garden center or retail nursery to pick out individual specimens to get the form you want.

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Crape myrtles also grow as medium to large shrubs, and although they are deciduous these varieties work well for screening, for informal hedges or as a single accent plant in small urban gardens. The arboretum has released a number of such hybrids including Cheyenne (red), Hopi (pink), Tonto (fuchsia) and Zuni (lavender).

Dwarf varieties grow be-tween 2 and 5 feet and can be used as edging plants for paths and patios, or mixed with sun-loving perennials and grasses for a summer garden. These include the miniature, pink-flowering Pocomoke; Berry Dazzle (magenta) and Cherry Daz-zle (red).

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The Daily Item/The Weekly Item/The Danville News / Friday, April 17, 2015 Page G7

Spring Home & Outdoors

part of this prescription. Keep tabs on your water-ing by periodically poking your finger or an electronic water meter down into the potting soil, or by lifting the container to check its weight.

There are a couple of ways to feed your seed-lings. One is to add soluble fertilizer to the water; use a fertilizer formulated for this purpose and follow the instructions, because too much fertilizer can be as harmful as too little. Fish emulsion is a good, soluble organic fertilizer.

An even easier way to feed is to mix into the potting soil some insoluble fertilizer that slowly but steadily releases nutrients. No need for high-tech, “slow release” fertilizers here, although they will do the trick. My potting mix includes one-quarter, by volume, compost, and this, along with a smidgen of soybean meal, steadily feeds my potted plants in sync with their needs. Cot-tonseed meal, alfalfa meal and feather meal are other organic, slow-release fer-tilizers that can be added to a potting mix.

H Pot onTo avoid any hesita-

tion in the plants’ growth, they need to be shifted to larger pots as they grow. Don’t start those tiny seedlings in large pots, because they’ll just sulk in a large volume of wet soil. Ideally, repot whenever plants grow taller than one-half to two-thirds the height of their container. Like watering and feeding, repotting is not difficult, but does demand atten-tion. The only problem is all the window space that lots of large pots even-tually gobble up, even moreso the earlier seeds are sown.

So much for the easy part of keeping tomato seedlings that were planted early growing happily. The plants also need abundant light and relatively cool tempera-tures — ideally around 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and this is a combination not easy to provide on a win-dowsill or, without care, in a greenhouse. A sunny window in a cool room is ideal.

Artificial light is an-other option. Use a

fluorescent light and keep adjusting its height so it’s within inches of the plant. Many seedlings can bask under a double fixture of two 4-foot-long fluores-cent bulbs. The light from an incandescent bulb isn’t the right spectrum, and the heat the bulbs give off if hanging close above the plant will scorch the leaves.

H Little stress is goodOne more thing a to-

mato seedling needs for good growth is stress. It sounds harsh, but a bit of stress indoors prepares the plants for buffet-ing wind, pelting rain, bright sunlight and cooler temperatures (early in the season, at least) outdoors. What’s more, stress can, to some degree, make up for insufficient light and too much heat. Brush your hands over the leaves or shake the plants one or two times a day and they’ll develop into stocky, dark green youngsters.

Then, a gradual in-troduction to outdoor conditions is beneficial. “Harden” the plants for a week by setting them out-doors in a spot protected from the full brunt of wind and sun before plant-ing them in the garden. Bring them indoors if frost threatens.

Don’t let anxiety over “perfect growing condi-tions” keep you from growing your own tomato seedlings. Doing so gives you the choice of the tasti-est varieties. (I suggest Sungold, Belgian Giant, Rose, Brandywine, Amish Paste and Carmello.) Also, tomatoes are forgiv-ing plants. The worst-case scenarios for early sown plants given less than ideal growing conditions is an early crop that peters out, or a delayed first crop fol-lowed by tomatoes right up until frost.

Blame those first warm breezes of spring for our tendency to sow tomato seeds indoors too early. The time to transplant tomato seedlings outdoors is a week after the aver-age date of the last killing frost in your area (the date is available from your lo-cal Cooperative Extension office). The time needed to grow a reasonably sized seedling is about six weeks, so count back from that last frost date and hold back sowing seeds indoors until about then.

How to time tomatoes just right

By Melissa RayworthThe Associated Press

After a long winter, the pastel colors of spring look pretty appeal-ing right now. Cheerful pastel pinks, yellows, greens and blues can seriously brighten up a room.

Decorating with these potentially too-sweet shades can be tricky, but worth it.

“Pastels get a bad rap for being super-girly, sometimes being kind of ‘80s, and for even skewing baby-ish. But they don’t have to be any of those things if you apply them in fresh ways,” says designer Brian Patrick Flynn, founder of Flynnside Out Pro-ductions.

“Pastels are like Sandra Bullock or a little black dress. They are always going to be in fashion and will remain classic for the masses. I say, use pastels however, whenever, and just be sure to put your own spin on them.”

Here, Flynn and two other inte-rior designers — Betsy Burnham of Burnham Design in Los Angeles and Toronto-based designer Meredith Heron — offer advice on making spring pastels work in your home.

H Consider your lightThe natural light in a room impacts

how a pastel color actually appears, says Heron. East-facing windows bring a cool, blue light during the day, while west-facing windows bring in a redder light in the afternoon and at sunset. Heron says south-facing win-dows tend to offer a yellower light.

“My rule of thumb is to avoid the pastels that correspond to the direc-tion of the light,” she says. “So no pinks in a western-facing room or they will look like something out of an antacid commercial.”

Likewise, avoid pastel yellow in a south-facing room and blue in an east-facing one.

H Shop cautiouslyThe names of paint swatches can

tell you a lot. “If something has ‘baby’ in front of it — baby blue, baby pink — be careful,” says Burnham. You’re safer “if you see ‘pale blue.’ The inter-pretation can be all kinds of things, from periwinkle to a gray-blue.”

If you’re drawn to a true baby pink or baby blue on a swatch, consider go-ing with a slight variation on it. Often, on one paint-swatch card you’ll find four or five variations on the same color, some very saturated and others with more gray mixed in. Consider picking one of the grayer, less satu-rated shades.

It’s useful to look through design magazines for inspiration, but Burn-ham notes that what looks great in a photo might not in real life. That’s especially true if the photo depicts a “show house” designed to highlight a designer’s talent, rather than a home that people actually live in.

H Little goes a long way“One pastel is really great,” Burn-

ham says. “It stands out and shines on its own.” But the effect is lost when you bring in additional pastels; you don’t want the room to feel like a bas-ket of Easter eggs.

If you’re having trouble choosing just one shade, Flynn suggests blue: “Robin’s egg blue is probably the most iconic pastel used for interiors,” he says. “Believe it or not, robin’s egg is almost like a neutral. It works with almost any color in the spectrum. I like putting a transitional spin on it by layering it upon itself in different shades and tints. It creates a classic,

timeless look that’s applicable to all ages, styles and both genders.”

Once you’ve chosen your pastel, it’s safest to bring the color in gently through an accent piece, such as a lampshade or artwork. Or paint your walls a white or gray shade that has just a dash of your favorite pastel mixed in.

“I always warn clients that pas-tel shades can get about 20 percent brighter when you paint them on a wall, so opting for something that ap-pears to be a white with a hint of color is often your best bet,” says Heron. “I think people often choose colors that are too literal — too bright, too satu-rated, when just a dash will do you. If you want to dabble in pastels, start with a grayed series and then ease your way into something a bit brighter. Layers are always the key.”

The safest way to layer a pastel is by mixing in neutral colors like taupe, Burnham says, and organic materials like natural wood.

H Get the edge

In spaces where Flynn uses pas-tels, he says, “I’m all about adding a ton of edgy elements to make the overall look fresh and anything but sweet. My biggest tip is to balance the Easter tones with street art or modern furnishings, which create excellent tension between the soft sweetness and whatever elements are used to give it more of a masculine, urban or fresh edge.”

Heron often does the same, using animal prints, say, or art deco furni-ture to “include some bold statement.”

Her goal: “to inject a little bit of ‘ugly’ into a room, to keep it from be-ing overly saccharine. ... Ugly makes a room look and feel lived in, like it has evolved over time.”

Ask a designer: Decorate with pastels

TIME, from Page G2

The Associated Press

In a space dominated by whites, grays and brown towns, adding a splash of pastel color can really add a new accent.

By Kim CookThe Associated Press

NEW YORK — Curves have been all over the fash-ion and celebrity magazines, and are finding their way into design and dicor too.

“They’re sensuous and inviting,” New York designer Barry Goralnick said at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show, held here last weekend (March 19-22). “Curved sofas that bring people closer together; rounded dining tables that are easier for conversa-tion; round cocktail tables that are cozy and forgiv-

ing to shins. Arcs, circles, boat shapes — all kinds of curves.”

Examples of the trend included Matt Hutton’s wal-nut or cherry coffee table, a group of connecting circles. The Portland, Maine, furni-ture designer calls the table, which is available in three sizes, “Crop Circles.” (www.studio24b.com )

Aaron Scott, a New York furniture and light-ing designer who hails from Oregon, blends his affec-tion for Pacific Northwest topography with an interest in geometry and the engi-

neered form. His curvy, oiled-oak pen-

dant lamp somehow man-aged to evoke a tree burl and a ship’s propeller; at once organic and mechanical. The same was true of a round table lamp crafted of layers of bleached wood circles,

with cutouts to reveal the light beneath.

A sleek circle of glass was perched on a sinuous wood base that looked like a weathered, waxed whale ver-tebra, and the juxtaposition made for a piece that was as much sculpture as furniture.

Curve appeal: Round is in at home design show

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Page G8 The Daily Item / Friday, April 17, 2015