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I am sure our garden, without any interference of the pests that could attack plants then gardening would be an easy matter. But all the time we must watch out for these little foes little in size, but tremendous in the havoc they make.

As human illness may often be prevented by healthful conditions, so pests may be kept away by strict garden cleanliness. Heaps of waste are lodging places for the breeding of insects. I do not think a compost pile will do the harm, but unkempt, uncared-for spots seem to invite trouble.

There are certain helps to keeping pests down. The constant stirring up of the soil by earthworms is an aid in keeping the soil open to air and water. Many of our common birds feed upon insects. The sparrows, robins, chickadees, meadow larks and orioles are all examples of birds who help in this way. Some insects feed on other and harmful insects. Some kinds of ladybugs do this good deed. The ichneumon-fly helps too. And toads are wonders in the number of insects they can consume at one meal. The toad deserves very kind treatment from all of us.

Each gardener should try to make her or his garden into a place attractive to birds and toads. A good birdhouse, grain sprinkled about in early spring, a water-place, are invitations for birds to stay a while in your garden. If you wish toads, fix things up for them too. During a hot summer day a toad likes to rest in the shade. By night he is ready to go forth to eat but not to kill, since toads prefer live food. How can one “fix up” for toads? Well, one thing to do is to prepare a retreat, quiet, dark and damp. A few stones of some size underneath the shade of a shrub with perhaps a carpeting of damp leaves, would appear very fine to a toad.

There are two general classes of insects known by the way they do their work. One kind gnaws at the plant really taking pieces of it into its system. This kind of insect has a mouth fitted to do this work. Grasshoppers and caterpillars are of this sort. The other kind sucks the juices from a plant. This, in some ways, is the worst sort. Plant lice belong here, as do mosquitoes, which prey on us. All the scale insects fasten themselves on plants, and suck out the life of the plants.

Now can we fight these chaps? The gnawing fellows may be caught with poison sprayed upon plants, which they take into their bodies with the plant. The Bordeaux mixture which is a poison sprayed upon plants for this purpose.

In the other case the only thing is to attack the insect direct. So certain insecticides, as they are called, are sprayed on the plant to fall upon the insect. They do a deadly work of attacking, in one way or another, the body of the insect.

Sometimes we are much troubled with underground insects at work. You have seen a garden covered with ant hills. Here is a remedy, but one of which you must be careful.

This question is constantly being asked, ‘How can I tell what insect is doing the destructive work?’ Well, you can tell partly by the work done, and partly by seeing the insect itself. This latter thing is not always so easy to accomplish. I had cutworms one season and never saw one. I saw only the work done. If stalks of tender plants are cut clean off be pretty sure the cutworm is abroad. What does he look like? Well, that is a hard question because his family is a large one. Should you see sometime a grayish striped caterpillar, you may know it is a cutworm. But because of its habit of resting in the ground during the day and working by night, it is difficult to catch sight of one. The cutworm is around early in the season ready to cut the flower stalks of the hyacinths. When the peas come on a bit later, he is ready for them. A very good way to block him off is to put paper collars, or tin ones, about the plants. These collars should be about an inch away from the plant.

Of course, plant lice are more common. Those we see are often green in colour. But they may be red, yellow or brown. Lice are easy enough to find since they are always clinging to their host. As sucking insects they have to cling close to a plant for food, and one is pretty sure to find them. But the biting insects do their work, and then go hide. That makes them much more difficult to deal with.

Rose slugs do great damage to the rose bushes. They eat out the body of the leaves, so that just the veining is left. They are soft-bodied, green above and yellow below.

A beetle, the striped beetle, attacks young melons and squash leaves. It eats the leaf by riddling out holes in it. This beetle, as its name implies, is striped. The back is black with yellow stripes running lengthwise.

Then there are the slugs, which are garden pests. The slug will devour almost any garden plant, whether it be a flower or a vegetable. They lay lots of eggs in old rubbish heaps. Do you see the good of cleaning up rubbish? The slugs do more harm in the garden than almost any other single insect pest. You can discover them in the following way. There is a trick for bringing them to the surface of the ground in the day time. You see they rest during the day below ground. So just water the soil in which the slugs are supposed to be. How are you to know where they are? They are quite likely to hide near the plants they are feeding on. So water the ground with some nice clean lime water. This will disturb them, and up they’ll poke to see what the matter is.

Beside these most common of pests, pests which attack many kinds of plants, there are special pests for special plants. Discouraging, is it not? Beans have pests of their own; so have potatoes and cabbages. In fact, the vegetable garden has many inhabitants. In the flower garden lice are very bothersome, the cutworm and the slug have a good time there, too, and ants often get very numerous as the season advances. But for real discouraging insect troubles the vegetable garden takes the prize. If we were going into fruit to any extent, perhaps the vegetable garden would have to resign in favour of the fruit garden.

A common pest in the vegetable garden is the tomato worm. This is a large yellowish or greenish striped worm. Its work is to eat into the young fruit.

A great, light green caterpillar is found on celery. This caterpillar may be told by the black bands, one on each ring or segment of its body.

The squash bug may be told by its brown body, which is long and slender, and by the disagreeable odour from it when killed. The potato bug is another fellow to look out for. It is a beetle with yellow and black stripes down its crusty back. The little green cabbage worm is a perfect nuisance. It is a small caterpillar and smaller than the tomato worm. These are perhaps the most common of garden pests by name.

Though not for anything complex masonry paint a pool (concrete, concrete or stucco), we must take certain factors into account so that the paint is more durable and hold all the property throughout the year.

Surface Preparation in New Pools
If the pool is new should be expected, since the completion of its construction, a couple of months before their first coats of paint, because the moisture and salt emerges is detrimental to the layers of material.
After this curing time should be sanded or browsed with a steel bristle brush to remove impurities and hard grains of construction, rinsing with diluted hydrochloric acid in water at a ratio of 1 x 9 parts, or muriatic acid diluted in 1 x 4 parts water. After rinsing with abundant clean water and allow to dry completely, 24 to 48 hours is the painting.

Surface Preparation with Previous Hand in Swimming Pools
If you have embedded in its walls remains of moss and algae should be removed with diluted bleach, a part of this water by 9. Pay more attention to the water level height or level flotation and corners. Remove dust or loose paint layers with a palette knife and sandpaper, rinse with dilute acid in water in the same proportions as for a new pool. After rinsing with plenty of pure water should be left to dry one or two days until completely dry to begin applying the paint. The cracks or fissures can be sealed with mastic elastomeric material submersible or some similar characteristics. Strongly advises against using any funds or fasteners, and besides, the paint is applied must be compatible with the previous one, preferably of the same features.

Painting Time
The paint can be applied to water or chlorinated rubber, paints a very good adhesion and waterproof to protect, give new life and color. The tools you need for your application are just ball and roller. The work must be done in the shade, to avoid prejudicing the proper drying of the paint and its adhesion. It is recommended to paint in the evening or night, at a temperature between 10 and 25 ° C, in dry and windless.

After applying two or three hands, respecting the corresponding drying times, as directed by the material, should be allowed to dry between one to two weeks for your filling. It is advisable to paint once a season, to maintain the color and firmness, which not only affected by sunlight and water, but also by chemicals commonly used in water purification. Remove all paint every six repainted, and start over, so that the layer is not too thick and start to crack.

The spots usually occur on the walls or ceilings by humidity or some other temporary source can be removed easily. If moisture persists and causes a defect in construction, water pipes broken or leaking, should be treated and disposed of prior to these treatments, otherwise make no sense. Mainly we find, mildew stains and yellow stains of moisture. Following the application of paint re-emerge if we use a plastic paint or latex water.

Remove mildew spots
Then, to remove mildew we do with bleach or diluted bleach water at a rate of 1 per 10 parts water. We went over with a damp cloth until clear and rinse with water. Once dry you can proceed to paint the wall. Remember to be careful with the mold, but if the removed dry, try not to suck since fungi are often detrimental to health.

Remove stains humidity
The yellow spots are usually penetrated the wall and the more rebellious mildew stains, and can not be removed with a damp cloth. One trick is to paint with painter’s Wood Fund, diluted in about 30% with turpentine, with a brush a review for stains and scratches are not. Once dry, after a few hours, you can paint with acrylic paint to water. The spots can not pass through oil paint, and to be white, matte finish is ideal for applying any type on it. You can use acrylic paint anti-fungal to prevent their recurrence.

In the absence of paint, prepare the new color will not be identical to the previous, making it impossible to review the details that we have been. If we prepared the same color, but with different brand will surely be a change of tone. If the paint on, we lose money, and though we keep, we do not often use. The water-based paint is usually decay over time. and oil as synthetic enamels and varnishes dry.

As the calculations
To begin, measure the surface to be painted by multiplying the height by the width or base to obtain the square footage of each wall or flat paint. This rectangular surfaces, for example:

2.5m high x 4m = 10m2 surface base

Triangular wall or roof slope with a strong measure to half its height and multiply by the meter base. For example: 4-meter wall base with a side of 2 meters and a 4-meter

Basic 4m x 3m = 12m2 surface height

After the calculation of the areas we need to know when it yields the paint we use. In all packaging indicates an estimated yield per liter by hand. Keep in mind that a quality paint more than an economic yield. Moreover, the surface is very much in the paint rough walls can pay half or less than indicated on the package. Remember that the application of fixative sealant or similar material increases performance.

Usually the pay wall paintings:
- 10 m2 per liter with quality paints
- 6 to 4 m2 per liter in rough and textured finishes
- 5 m2 per liter economic paintings
- 12 m2 per liter of synthetic enamels

Once the paint surface calculated by adding all partial areas of all walls, divided by the redeeming of painting, and multiply it by the number of hands. For example:

(Wall 40m2 / 10m2 of output per liter) x the number of hands needed

(40 / 10) x 2 = 8 gallons of paint

Discount is not recommended because doors and windows should always be some paint left over, if performance turns out to be smaller than the package indicates, besides the greater absorption of the wall during the first hand with respect to the following.