Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

Any fabric that is treated with a product like 3M Scotch-guard will be more resistant to stains. These products are all either Teflon or silicone based and will prevent liquid from penetrating the fabric as quickly. For instance, if grape juice is spilt, it will sort of ball up on the surface of the sofa, allowing you to blot it clean. BUT, if the juice (or other spill) gets rubbed in, it will get through the fabric treatment to some extent. These treatments are all guaranteed for 3-5 years which is nice, but remember, the guaranties do not cover dry dirt, so if your stepson fell in the garden and got some earth on his pants, that can transfer to the sofa and stain, or at least leave a dirty section that will require cleaning.

The other thing to consider is that certain fabrics are more washable and take better to spot cleaning than others. Chenille tend to be fussy for spot cleaning, satin-like fabrics tend to exaggerate any dirt marks… Brushed denims (available in at least 20 colours) and cottons tend to do well in homes with children because, like jeans, they wash amazingly. Ultra-suedes also have the reputation of being easy to clean and not showing wear-and-tear as quick as some. Ultra-suede come in many qualities though, so if that’s what you were thinking of, compare before purchasing — a good ultra-suede has a fairly thick lining on the back of it and very little stretch to it. Good luck!

GardenersCardiff answers:

Go to your local library and get a few gardening books. Identify the plants already there (some of the “weeds” may be perennials). Next measure your yard and flower bed, draw a scale model on graph paper and locate all the existing shrubs and flowers on the paper.

Now decide which plants you want to keep or move, which to give away and where you will place the path and plant the new grass. Remember that grass needs full sun, the previous owners may have located the flower bed where it is because of shade from trees that made grass hard to grow.

If you want to give away or relocate any plants, you should dig them in the early fall, not now. If you are going to kill the plants you can do so now. Cut down the shrubs and paint the cut wood with Round-up, if you simply dig them and leave any roots behind they will resprout. Also kill the weeds with Round -Up, same reason.

You likely will need to add topsoil if you want to grow grass. Get a truckload delivered and spread it over the bed once the weeds and shrubs are dead and you have removed the dead shrub stumps (can do that about 2-3 weeks after applying Round Up). You can seed grass or lay sod.

Give some carefull thought to your path. Pavers in grass are difficult to mow around, it will be better to create a stone/gravel pathway with pavers laid in it or a brick path wih edging. Either way you will need to dig a 6″ trench for the path, line with landscape fabric, and fill with compacted stone dust. Then place pavers or bricks and fill in the gaps with sand or pea gravel.

GardenersCardiff answers:

It shortened the war by giving the allies Bridges closer to the UK and coastal ports and once the USA built the road from Ostend to antwerp made it easier to supply the armies I was stationed At Weeze in germany near the Nijwegen Bridge and the drive was from the base to the Ferry was only 5 hrs and that was in in the early fifties so i would say once the Nijwegen bridge was captured Intact and we were driving tanks across it a truck convoy across the channel and the drive to Germany in less than 24 hrs

of course in the fifties we were not being shot at and the Trip was base to Ostend 5 hrs ostend to Dover 4 hrs and the drive to london 2 hrs

and operation Marked Garden only failed to capture the Bridge at Arnheim 13 Km from from Nijwegen we did capture 4 of the 5 main bridges but Arnheim was Crucial to the Total success

and even most historians said it was about an 85% success but sorry to say did not end the war in 1944