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By Hannah Johnsen Ask anyone what the most important aspect of a successful relationship is and you can bet your bottom dollar theyll fire back the word communication. But knowing the importance of communication and practising it are two different things. How long do you spend talking to your partner? For the average American couple four minutes a day is all the chat they can manage with their other half! Furthermore, it aint what you do so much as the way you do it meaningful communication involves more than bawling your mate out at every opportunity, or firing questions at them like a police officer. If you want to improve your love affair who doesnt? listen closely. Deep listening Talking with your partner is not just about honesty you also need to take the time and make the effort to hear what they are not saying. Listening for the emotions behind the words can make a world of difference particularly if your partner has a hard time expressing themselves in words. Try this exercise to take your relationship to new, deeper levels. 1. Arrange a session of active listening. If your partner shies away from psycho-babble terms, try and explain that you want to spend a little time 20 minutes or so getting to know each other better. 2. Make sure that your session will not be interrupted take the phone off the hook and do not eat or smoke during the 20 minutes. This encourages both partners to focus on each other, and be as present as possible. 3. Take turns to listen and speak. The listener should time the session, but try not to check the clock every minute! 4. The speaker has 20 minutes to say whatever they feel like saying. The listener must not interrupt ever, but should give the speaker their full attention. Theres no pressure to talk about certain subjects although you may want to avoid areas that you feel angry about. The speaker should avoid blaming statements or accusations instead, focus on what you are feeling. Even if the speaker does not talk, their time must not be interrupted and the full 20 minutes must be respected. Sitting in silence can be a meaningful communication too! 5. After 20 minutes, switch roles. The new speaker is not allowed to respond to what their partner has just said this can be saved until your next session of active listening. You may find this an eye-opening experience. Its not unusual to feel suddenly shy even if youve known your partner for years, deep listening provides a way to share very deep intimacy that may take you by surprise. Resist the temptation to fall into familiar arguments, and remember that this exercise should be carried out in an atmosphere of trust, respect and gentleness. Allow emotions to surface and dont be put off if your partner surprises you with their words you could find new aspects to your relationship you never knew existed! For more information about lingerie please have a look at this link Exotic Lingerie | Cheap Trashy Lingerie Hanana J is a writer for http://www.oasislingerie.com She has many intresting topics and ideas for all to read about. Check out more of her articles. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hannah_Johnsen http://EzineArticles.com/?Hey—Are-You-Listening?–Active-Listening-and-Other-Communication-Skills&id=201420 prescription drugs ambien free sample ambien where to buy order 10 ambien ambien buy online generic zolpidem tartrate sleep natural

By Charlie Taylor The old tale about a bride and groom receiving half a dozen toasters from well-meaning relatives on their wedding day has passed into 70s history. But, what to buy the modern couple? It’s a question that is guaranteed to drive their guests to near insanity. Toasters, bed linen, TVs, pots, pans and all the rest of the boring household necessities are fine but… let’s face it, they aren’t fun to buy, they aren’t fun to receive and they certainly aren’t going to increase in value! So, why not think of the unconventional? I’ve been involved in various businesses in Scotland over the years: weddings, restaurants, photography, writing, letting property are just a few. And this modern, multi-streaming lifestyle led me eventually to the simple world of buying and selling. We had a problem. We owned a small Highlands restaurant which could not possibly bring in enough money even if we worked every hour available and filled the place to bursting point night after night. So we thought: let’s sell things as well. We already had a good customer base, and so the challenge was to sell things to them in addition to the good quality food. We needed to ‘add value’ to their dining experience, and charge them for it. These were the criteria we set: 1 We refused to load profit onto the wine. We knew the profit margins on wine and knew that it was a common tactic of restaurants to charge customers through the nose for drink. And we knew how customers felt about this. They simply don’t like being ripped off! Neither do we. 2 The retail items would need to add to and improve the general ambience of the restaurant so ‘tat’ was out. 3 The items would have to sell themselves. We wouldn’t have the time to give customers the ‘hard sell’ while preparing and serving food and, besides, hard sell is not our style. We don’t feel comfortable with it. 4 The things would have to look good, feel good and be intrinsically interesting. 5 They would have to be accessible to customers, not locked away in drawers or cupboards. 6 They would be the type of thing that would encourage a dinner party atmosphere between diners rather than put up communication barriers. In short, they would encourage conversation. 7 There would need to be a range of items, from the cheap to the expensive so we could not rely on one supplier. 8 We needed a regular and reliable supply of these items. 9 They needed to be cheap to buy and yet give us a healthy profit margin. 10 And finally, they needed to be things that we liked. How could we live with things we hated and how could we sell them to others? Unthinkable! And the answer to our problem after weeks and months of thinking? Second-hand books, antiques and collectables! We lined the restaurant with bookshelves and filled them with hard back literature. We filled every nook and cranny with curios. We hung things from walls and from beams and from every spare vertical surface. We even cleared out an old shed and packed it to the gunnels with interesting things. And all of them carried a price tag. And the result? Success beyond our wildest dreams! The customers loved it, they bought it by the barrowload (we sold barrows as well!) and we made handsome profits. And it was great fun. So, where did we buy all these items? At local auctions, that’s where. And we still go to them. They are addictive. And we still deal now and again even though we sold our restaurant last year. It’s on a smaller scale than before, admittedly, but that means we can be more selective. Silver and glassware, jewellery and genuine antiques - they are all there to be had as potential wedding presents. Monart glass, silver napkin rings, antique silver-topped wine and vinegar bottles are much more fun than a toaster and, if you buy wisely, you will be giving the lucky couple something that is both beautiful and a sound financial investment. Think valuable, think collectable! Don’t think toaster! Charlie Taylor is one of the founders of Highland Country Weddings Ltd, a Scottish weddings agency with an international dimension. Visit http://www.highlandcountryweddings.co.uk/gifts.htm for a free discussion about your wedding in Scotland including free, no-obligation quote. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charlie_Taylor http://EzineArticles.com/?Wedding-Gifts—Something-Old,-Nothing-New!&id=75394 online purchase soma order soma online delivery to texas buy soma watson buy soma cod

By Brenda H. Murphy If you happen to live in a location where there is a high level of lime, magnesium and calcium in your water supply, then you have what is referred to as hard water. And chances are that somewhere in your home, whether it is around a leaking tap, or in the tub where the water drips down the end, you have hard water stains. How you remove these stains, depends on where they are. Phosphoric acid is the base of most cleaners, and even average household bathroom cleaners will have about 6% of this in the content. That may not be enough for stubborn stains or build up, however. When you prefer not to use chemicals, you can first try soaking the area with white vinegar, and letting it set for half an hour. That should penetrate the residue enough that it can then be scrubbed or scraped off. If it doesn’t, you may need a cream cleaner if you have stains on acrylic surfaces, or a vitreous enamel cleaner for things like the toilet, sink or tub. If the build-up is on the metal surface of the tap or mountings, you can try scraping it with a razor blade after it has softened, but be careful of cutting yourself, and scratching the fixtures. Bleach can remove some stains, such as in the toilet, but should not be left there for long periods of time, as it can affect the shine of your enamel. Truly stubborn stains may need a commercial cleaner. However, if you have been trying other solutions first, be sure to rinse them away thoroughly, so there are no potentially harmful interactions between chemicals when you apply another cleaner. Visit http://www.LearnHowToRemove.com for a growing library of tips to remove those annoying messes in your life. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brenda_H._Murphy http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Remove-Hard-Water-Stains&id=92536 get phentermine without a prescription low cost phentermine no prescription phentermine with no prescription required phentermine online perscriptions

By Maurice Ramirez My father died a number of years ago. Our last years were strained and distant because when I became a single parent, he was quite vocal about the fact that my children would be better off if I concentrated on my career rather than changing my goals to raise them. By the time I have learned to understand and forgive, he was gone. For years after his death, I lamented two things: * The time I had wasted being angry with him, and* That he never saw me succeed; he never had a chance to be proud of me. These laments served for a long time as a drain on my emotional and relationship resilience. At times of adversity, when needs were dangerously close to exceeding resources, these laments would often tip the scales robbing me of the ability to stave off disaster. As time past, I learned that my father had spent his last years bragging about my accomplishments and how well I had raised my children. I discovered through those who knew my father far better than I that he was most proud of the fact that I had made a new life with a wonderful woman and built a family while rebuilding my career. He had never told me any of this. Now I have adult children and I look at the resilience they draw from our relationship. Like my father, I brag daily about the accomplishments of each one of them. My daughter Victoria who has enjoyed success in every professional endeavor she has attempted from boutique sales (first sale totaled over $10,000) to bartender (nightly tips regularly exceed $300) to starting graduating from college 2 semesters early and soon to start her doctorate in education. In addition to work and school, Victoria is a belly dancer who donates her talent at local charity events. My younger daughter Tiffany has made a success of her part-time garage band, taking it from the amateur stages of local bars to the main stage at music festivals and charity events in only 18 months while maintaining excellent grades and working in the promotions department of a radio station. As if this were not enough, Tiffany makes time to help her cousin find his way back to school and to his family. My son Nicholas has just received his Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. While it is no mean feat to accomplish this while still in the 6th grade, he studies at the training school for the 5 time Florida state champion Tae Kwon Do team. Last week he was honored by being promoted to Instructor at this studio. Like his sisters, Nicholas also donates his talents on both his school and church choirs. My youngest child Christopher is the joy of the family. His contagious smile and never ending fountain of happiness and love brighten even the darkest day and ease the heaviest heart. It is impossible to look at him and not smile, then laugh and feel better. He is a straight A student and despite the fact that he is 3 years younger than Nicholas, will test for his Black Belt in just over one year. My loving wife Laura is my support in my dark hours, my trumpeter in my golden hours and my greatest fan at all hours. It is incredible how Laura can keep up with a household full of children, me and her own career as a prison doctor. For that matter, I dont know how she does her job at all! She is as amazing as she is beautiful. My mother Jean is a true force of nature. A nurse for over 30 years, a business woman who has run several businesses and the mother of 6/grandmother of 16, Mom is the matriarch who challenged each of her children to be better. She has always believes in me even when I didnt believe in myself; not because she is blinded by love, but because she sees in me what I could not greatness. In this the Year of Resilience; I write this not just to brag about my family, but to say: Thank You! Thank you for being the source of my strength, even though you think I am the source of yours. Thank you for being the light that pierces my darkness, even when you look to me to light your path. Thank you for being the port in my storm and the strong walls of my home so that I can shelter you when you need me. Thank you for being the greatest source of my emotional resilience and relationship resilience because without you I could not stave off disaster. I dont just write this because I need to say it; I wrote it because those I love need to see it. My father bragged to everyone about me except me. I never knew and I spent years wishing I had given him to be proud of me when he already was. I want those I love to know I am proud of them now. I want them to have the emotional resilience and relationship resilience that comes from this knowledge. I also write this so that everyone who reads this knows the power and importance of saying Thank You and Im Proud of You to the ones whom they hold dear. The gift of resilience is the only gift greater than love, because it comes from love. I write this so that you learn to give the gift of resilience. Dr. Maurice A. Ramirez is co-founder of Disaster Life Support of North America, Inc., a national provider of Disaster Preparation, Planning, Response and Recovery education. Through his consulting firm High Alert, LLC., he serves on expert panels for pandemic preparedness and healthcare surge planning with Congressional and Cabinet Members. Board certified in multiple medical specialties, Dr. Ramirez is Founding Chairperson of the American Board of Disaster Medicine and a Senior Physician-Federal Medical Officer for the Department of Homeland Security. Cited in 24 textbooks with numerous published articles, he is co-creator of C5RITICAL and author of Mastery Against Adversity. 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By Kadence Buchanan Whether their birthday is quickly approaching or Father and Mother Day are holidays you prefer to forget due to your inability to find something which can be a valuable present, a gift that you will craft yourself and will portray your own personal touch can go a long way into their hearts. Here are some easy craft ideas for those capable to open your computer and put it to work. - Personal Music Compilation: You have heard them one thousand times. That Frank Sinatra song they were dancing last Christmas is engraved on your brain and you are catching yourself singing the lyrics every time you see a couple that resembles them crossing the street. One of the most appreciated gifts you can easily construct is that of a music CD containing all their favorite songs. You can even create the CD cover and labels on your computer and your gift can have a personal touch that will make tears fall from their eyes as they open the wrapping paper. Add a romantic photograph of them on the cover, put their theme song first and last, arrange the music according to their pleasing, and think of a good song that they do not know but will love when hearing. Improvise as much as you can and you will be glad you did. - A Box Full of Memories: Last summer they have decided to visit Spain, but their tickets, photographs, beach shells, and museum passes have been inside a bag since then. Surprise them with a “Box from Spain.” Arrange their favorite photographs and create on your computer a collage that will cover the sides of the box. Print and place the year and their favorite Spanish phrase, which they have been using since, on top. Place the tickets and passes on a transparency paper and glue them inside the box, organize the box according to days or places, and try to create the box you would like to receive. Give them a chance to travel back in time and smile to your ingenuity. - A Photograph Album: The photographs they have been eager to take every summer are scattered around or placed in boxes that nobody has time to open up and see anymore. Visit your local art or bookstore and purchase a couple of albums that can host most of the pictures you know they cherish. Arrange the pictures in chronological order or just grab them from the box and place them in the album while adding your own comments or imaginary dialogues. You can also create the album yourself on your computer and bind the pages together with string and ribbon. Embellish the photograph albums with your own taste, like black and white copies of photographs and experience how it feels to have something truly valuable given to them. - A Card Box: They are always searching those small pieces of paper with those old recipes or sports scores on them, which seem to have disappeared since you remember yourself. They are always complaining and thinking they are now really old and incompetent for not remembering where they have placed their favorite cards the last time they used them. Save them the trouble of trying to locate their “valuable” pieces of paper and create a box which can have a title and display their favorite colors. Add some paper labels inside and give them the chance to feel organized and prepared when the time to use them again comes. Creating the perfect gift for dad and mom is not that difficult. It needs some imagination and time to invest. We know you got both; you know it too. Good luck and happy crafting times! Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including Home, Family, and Home Improvement Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kadence_Buchanan http://EzineArticles.com/?Make-Your-Own-Dad-or-Mom-Gifts&id=316713 buy prescription tramadol without no prescription saturday delivery tramadol buy tramadol by check online pharmacy ultram

By Rebecca White Whether you want to plant an herb garden for culinary purposes or to use as medicinal healing. You need to know how to first begin to plant your garden. You need to decide if you want to do a small container garden or find a small piece of land in your yard to till up and use for your herb garden. When deciding to do a container garden you need to find a nice part sun and part shade area to place your container in. Container gardening also allows you to bring in your herb garden during bad storms and not worry about your plants drowning should you get hit by a bad rain storm. Container Gardening: Go to your local home garden store and look at the variety of containers, have your list of herbs that you want to plant so you know about how many containers you may need. When I use to do container gardening I would place about 4-5 herbs in one container at one time I had 6 containers, hence why I now use a space in my yard for my garden. Container gardening is great if you are just starting out or if you cannot plant in your yard or you live in an apartment. Be sure to purchase planting soil for your containers as using soil from your yard is not porous enough to use in containers. I was just at our local garden store this spring and saw that they do sell organic planting soil, I have not used it but the bag stated that it was better for growing herbs and vegetables as there was no fertilizer in the planting soil. You do not want to use chemicals in your herb or vegetable garden as you will be eating these plants. Once you have purchased your containers, soil and herbs you need to plant them as soon as possible as the soil the plants are planted in dry out quickly. You want to place the plants about 6 inches apart so depending on the size of your container will depend on how many herbs you plant in each container. Place the gardening soil in the container then place the plants still in their containers on the soil to determine how you want to plant them. Use a sturdy shovel to dig about an inch or two deep into the soil and gently take the herb plant out of its container. Be sure to gently separate the roots before planting. Place a small amount of water into the hole and place the herb into the hole. Be sure to cover all the roots so none are showing. Then water again gently. Once all your containers are planted set them out where you have already pre-determined you want them to be. Be sure to water your herb garden, to check if they need water test the soil if it feels dry water, if its still moist check it again the next day. Yard Garden: Take a walk around your yard to see where you want to plant your herb garden. Determine how big you want the garden to be. Till the ground. You can do this either by using a hoe or by using a tiller. I do recommend a tiller as I have done both and after using a hoe my back hurt, but if you have no choice a hoe will do just as well. Now you need to get on your hands and knees, I purchased a nice knee pad so that my knees didn’t hurt kneeling in the dirt. You need to pick out all the huge chunks of grass, you can also take a garden rake and rake out all the tilled grass and weeds. Once you have that done take your herbs and place them in the spot you want to plant them. Remember to read the tags so you know just how far to place them apart so that they have room to grow. When you are ready to plant be sure to have these items on hand to make the job easier: Hand shovel a container of water a knee pad your herbs a notebook to write down where each herb is and what day you planted it When you are planting the herbs be sure to plant them about 1-2 inches deep and add water to the hole before adding the herb. Be sure to gently break apart the roots and gently place the herb in the hole. Now take the dirt and cover all of the roots. Gently water again, the herbs will be in shock at first and may look droopy but don’t worry they will spring back. Since your herb garden is in the ground you will need to be sure to be on the lookout for pests and be sure to check them daily to see if they need water. Some insects are good for your plants for example ladybugs, praying mantis and bees. Everyday write down in your notebook what you have done to your garden. Do research on your herbs and see how you can use them. Don’t worry if at first your garden does not do well, once you learn how your soil is and the best places to grow your herbs it will become second nature. Good luck with your herb garden. Rebecca White is a mother to 3 boys ages 12, 10 and 4. She loves to grow herbs for cooking and medicinal uses. Rebecca owns http://www.medicinalherbguide.com where you can find many more tips and great articles on owning your own medicinal herb garden. 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By Jeff Lakie Buying furniture can be very expensive. After all, next to your house and your car, furniture is one of the priciest things in your home. So any time you can save money, you should! Here are some tips to buying furniture inexpensively. Look in the Yellow Pages for a furniture wholesaler or a liquidation or discount store. Often, their furniture is as good as the kind you will get in a retail outlet, but usually cheaper because of a minor flaw (and usually you won’t notice that flaw!). You can also buy from a furniture warehouse where the salespeople are paid by commission. Using a number of purchasing tactics you can often get it at a better deal. For example, if you buy a couch, but would really like to own a couch and a chair, ask if you could get a deal if you buy both. Another good way to save money when you’re buying furniture is to go in toward the end of the month. Most retail companies operate on a month by month basis, measuring sales, running promotions, and introducing or winding up furniture lines on a monthly basis. At the end of the month, furniture companies may be closing out a line of furniture they are no longer looking to stock. They may be willing to give you a great deal if it’s the last one in the store and they don’t want it taking up any more room. As well, since salespeople are often paid by commission or given sales bonuses, at the end of the month they may be looking to put themselves over the top to be eligible for a reward or to make enough money to pay for the mortgage. You can take advantage of this eagerness to make a sale by showing that you want to buy, but you need a deal. Many large furniture warehouse companies offer an in-store credit card and will give you a discount if you apply for the card when you purchase their furniture. Use this to your advantage: apply for the card, buy the furniture, get a discount, and pay off the card the next day with the money you’re going to spend in your furniture anyway. Another money-saving option is to buy used furniture and get it reupholstered or refinished by a carpenter. Often, the cost of the furniture plus the finishing will still be cheaper than buying new furniture, and you may even be happier with the result since you are able to be more specific in the kind of furniture you’re looking for. Jeff Lakie is the founder of Furniture Information a website providing information on Furniture Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeff_Lakie http://EzineArticles.com/?Save-Money-on-Furniture&id=78411 buy cheap sibutramine buy reductil uk online meridia reductil sibutramine

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By Eric Patterson When many think back on their life, there are certain memories that come to mind. These memories are often important days or moments. For many, their wedding day is considered one of the most memorable days in their life. If you expect your wedding day to be the same, you may want to document it with photographs. To do this, you will want to examine all of your photography options. If you are planning a Las Vegas wedding, you will find that you have an unlimited number of Las Vegas wedding photography options. Those options may include, but should not be limited to, a professional wedding photographer, an individual who has a passion for photography, or someone that you know. Before making a final decision, when it comes to your wedding photographs, you are encouraged to examine the advantages and disadvantages of each Las Vegas wedding photography option. If given the opportunity, most couples would prefer to work with a professional wedding photographer. Professional Las Vegas wedding photographers are highly sought after, often due to the work that they produce. Most professional Las Vegas wedding photographers have high-tech equipment and the knowledge and experience needed to create the best pictures around. The only problem with using the services of a professional photographer is their cost. For many, the cost of a professional photographer is too much to afford. If you are looking for professional results, but you do not have the finances to pay for them, you may want to examine hiring the services of an individual who has a passion for photography. While these types of individuals may not have their own photography business, many have experience in taking professional looking photographs. You will likely find that many have top of the line equipment and the skills that you are looking for. While their work may not be as professional as an experienced photographer, you will often find their fees more affordable. In addition to an individual who has a passion for photography or runs their own business, you have one more Las Vegas wedding photography option. That option involves having someone that you know take your wedding pictures. This person is likely to be a close friend or relative. Having someone that you know take your wedding pictures is a cheap way to document your memorable day. The only problem is that the pictures may not turn out as well as you wanted. Without the proper equipment and experience, you wedding pictures may turn out plain or ordinary, at best. Whichever Las Vegas wedding photography option you select, it is likely that your wedding day will still be memorable. No matter how your wedding pictures turn out, you can still cherish them. But, why not have professional wedding pictures, especially when it is so easy to obtain them? Eric Patterson is a writer for Consultants Galore where you can find expert information regarding Las Vegas wedding photography and other relevant resources. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Patterson http://EzineArticles.com/?Las-Vegas-Wedding-Photography:-Your-Options&id=284204 incest fiction online story adult incest phone sex mom incest incest fprums

By Michael McGroarty Keeping your landscape plantings, flower beds, and nursery crops free of weeds is a battle, but if you approach it with a strategic plan, you will prevail. In order to develop a plan, you first must understand how weeds work, and what kind of weeds you are dealing with. Basically weeds grow either from seed, or they reproduce from their roots. As the roots grow outward from the parent plant, new plants sprout up from the lateral roots, creating more parent plants and the process continues and the weeds thrive. Weeds that tend to reproduce from the root are usually more difficult to control. Weed control facts? Weeds are plants, and they function just like the desirable plants in your yard. They need water, sunlight, and nutrition to survive. Of these three key survival needs, the easiest one for a gardener to eliminate is sunlight. Through proper mulching you can eliminate the sunlight. But first, lets look at the steps you should go through before you mulch, then well discuss the best mulching techniques to use. In order for your weed control efforts to be truly effective, you should do everything in your power to make your gardens as weed free as possible before you plant or mulch. There are a couple of ways you can go about this, either organically or with chemicals. I dont like using chemicals, but I do use them for weed control, and I use them for pest control when necessary. Ill discuss organic control first. The first thing you should do is remove all unwanted vegetation from your planting area. Using a hoe, spade or other digging device, undercut the roots and remove the undesirable plants, roots and all. Then you should work the soil by rototilling or turning the soil by hand. Once worked, let the soil sit for four days or so, and work it again. Keep doing this over and over as long as time permits. This process serves two purposes. It brings the roots that were left in the soil close to the surface so they can be dried by the sun, which will make them non-viable, and it disturbs the weed seeds that have started to germinate, which makes them non-viable as well. The longer you continue this process the more weeds you are eliminating from your garden. Weed control facts? Depending on the time of the year, there are a few billion weed seeds drifting through the air at any given time, so to think that you can eventually rid a garden of weed seed is false thinking, but at least this process is effective for the remaining roots, which are the most difficult to control. With that process complete, go ahead and plant your garden. When youre done planting you can either mulch the bed, or keep turning the soil on a weekly basis to keep it free of weeds. Most people opt to mulch. Not only does mulch help to control the weeds, but if you select a natural mulch it also adds organic matter to the soil which makes for better gardening results down the road. Before mulching you can spread newspaper (7-9 layers thick) over the soil and place the mulch over top of that. The newspaper will block the sunlight from reaching the surface of the soil and help to keep weed growth to a minimum. The newspaper will eventually decompose, and not permanently alter the make up of your garden. Paper grocery bags also work well, so the next time you hear, Paper or Plastic?, youll know how to answer. What about black plastic, or the weed barrier fabric sold at garden centers? I dont like either and Ill tell you why. For one, neither one of them ever go away, and the make up of your garden is forever altered until you physically remove them, which is a real pain in the butt. Weed control facts? Plastic is no good for the soil because soil needs to breath. Plastic blocks the transfer of water and oxygen, and eventually your soil will suffer, as will your garden. Its all right to use plastic in a vegetable garden as long as you remove it at the end of the season and give the soil a chance to breath. Weed barrier fabrics allow the soil to breath, but what happens is that when you mulch over top of the fabric, which you should because the fabric is ugly, the mulch decomposes and becomes topsoil. Weeds love topsoil, and they will grow like crazy in it. Only problem is, they are growing on top of the fabric, and you are stuck with a ton of problems, like a weedy garden, and a major job of trying to remove the fabric that is now firmly anchored in place because the weeds have rooted through it. Weed fabric is also porous enough that if an area becomes exposed to the sunlight, enough light will peek through and weeds below the fabric will grow, pushing their way through the fabric. I dont like the stuff. Ive removed miles of it from landscapes for other people because it did not work as they had expected. Weed control facts? Controlling weeds with chemicals is fairly easy, and very effective if done properly. I know that many people dont approve of chemical weed controls, but millions of people use them, so I might as well tell you how to get the most effect using them. There are two types of chemical weed controls, post-emergent, and pre-emergent. In a nutshell, a post-emergent herbicide kills weeds that are actively growing. A pre-emergent prevents weed seeds from germinating. Of the post- emergent herbicides there are both selective and non-selective herbicides. A selective herbicide is like the herbicides that are in weed-and-feed type lawn fertilizers. The herbicide will kill broad leaf weeds in your lawn, but it doesnt harm the grass. One of the most popular non-selective herbicides is Round-up, it pretty much kills any plant it touches. Rule number one. Read the labels and follow the safety precautions!!! Round-up is very effective if used properly, but first you must understand how it works. Round-up must be sprayed on the foliage of the plant, where it is absorbed, then translocated to the root system where it then kills the plant. It takes about 72 hours for the translocation process to completely take place, so you dont want to disturb the plant at all for at least 72 hours after it has been sprayed. After 72 hours you can dig, chop, rototill, and pretty much do as you please because the herbicide has been translocated throughout the plant. The manufacture claims that Round-up does not have any residual effect, which means that you can safely plant in an area where Round-up has been used. However, I would not use it in a vegetable garden without researching further. No residual effect also means that Round-up has no effect whatsoever on weed seeds, so there is absolutely no benefit to spraying the soil. Only spray the foliage of the weeds you want to kill. Be careful of over spray drifting to your desirable plants. To prevent spray drift I adjust the nozzle of my sprayer so that the spray droplets are larger and heavier, and less likely to be carried by the wind. I also keep the pressure in the tank lower by only pumping the tank a minimum number of strokes. Just enough to deliver the spray. Buy a sprayer that you can use as a dedicated sprayer for Round-up only. Never use a sprayer that you have used for herbicides for any other purpose. Once you have sprayed the weeds, waited 72 hours and then removed them, you can go ahead and plant. Mulching is recommended as described above. To keep weed seeds from germinating you can apply a pre-emergent herbicide. Depending on the brand, some of them are applied over top of the mulch, and some are applied to the soil before the mulch is applied. A pre-emergent herbicide creates a vapor barrier at the soil level that stops weed seed germination, and can be very effective at keeping your gardens weed free. They usually only last about 5 or 6 months and need to be re-applied. Visit a full service garden center and seek the advice of a qualified professional to select the pre-emergent herbicide that will best meet your needs. Never use a pre-emergent herbicide in your vegetable garden, and be careful around areas where you intend to sow grass seed. If you spill a little in an area where you intend to plant grass, the grass will not grow. They really do work. Thats what I know about weed control. Read this article several times. Your success depends on getting the sequence of events correct. Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his excellent gardening newsletter. 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