Tips

Miscanthus
When to plant: from the end of March to the end of June.
Where to plant: a sunny spot or a place in light shade.
This unpretentious perennial grass forms large bushes from 80 cm to 2 m high. The plant is particularly decorative due to its straight shoots, at the ends of which are fan-shaped brooms of spikelets from 10 to 30 cm long. There are about 40 varieties of Miscanthus. Its leaves can be coloured in different shades of green, and the fluffy ‘flowers’ are white, pink and golden. Depending on the species, it blooms from August to October.

To plant miscanthus on your plot, choose ready-made seedlings. Seeds in the open ground may simply not germinate. In regions with a cold climate, give preference to seedlings that are at least 2 years old. Younger specimens risk not taking root by autumn and poorly tolerate the first wintering.

For planting, dig a hole in the ground slightly larger than the volume of the pot with the plant, take the miscanthus out of the container, place it in the hole and fill the voids with fertile soil. Water the bush abundantly. With further care, make sure that the soil around the plant was always moist.

Sagebrush
Ornamental grasses: wattle
When to plant: in May or October-November.
Where to plant: a sunny spot.
This perennial grass forms neat bushes no more than a metre high. As a rule, its green leaves are twisted into a tube. Around May, it produces many inflorescences with fine hairs up to 2.5 cm in size. They form a luxuriant, weightless cap at the top of the bush and sway spectacularly at the slightest breeze. Flowering usually starts in May and lasts for about two months.

For planting, dig the soil on the plot half a spade’s bayonet and thoroughly level its surface with a rake. Place 3-4 seeds at a distance of 20 cm, sprinkle them with a 0.5 cm layer of soil and tamp it down with the palms of your hands. Moisten the seeds abundantly with water from a watering can with a nozzle-disperser. Sprouts will appear in about 4-5 days. After that, moisten the soil around the sprouts as the top layer dries out. The mature bushes tolerate drought and heat and only need watering if there is no rain for a long time.

Pages: 1 2

How to prolong the life of white socks
Care mistakes can cause socks to discolour, fade or rub off. A few tips can help keep them looking close to pristine for longer.

Wash often and immediately. It is better after each wear, then impurities will not have time to get into the fabric. Accordingly, it will be easier to remove stains.
Before washing, turn the socks face outwards. As a rule, traces of dirt remain there – it is better to target the stains.
Do not send them to the machine or basin together with coloured clothes. Otherwise, white socks can become coloured. When mixed washing is inevitable, you can put in the machine drum colour trap – a napkin impregnated with substances that attract pigments.
Check the composition of the fabric. The washing mode depends on it. For example, socks with wool in the composition is suitable for water at a temperature of no more than 35 degrees. If you give them a hot bath, they will shrink – you will have to throw them away or give them to your child. But cotton socks can easily withstand 60 degrees.
Put them in special bags if you wash them in the machine. This way you will protect your socks from rubbing against the relief of the drum, and the risk of lint or holes on the fabric will be lower.
Do not clog the machine to the limit. Otherwise it will be difficult to rinse your clothes – the detergent may remain on the fabric.
Put in the drum special balls for washing. Or small balls, such as tennis balls or dog balls. Washing will be a bit noisier this way, but also more effective: the balls will create extra friction and help the dirt to come off the fabric of the socks.
Do not dry in bright sunlight. Exposure to the rays can cause the socks to yellow.
Do not wear white socks with colourful shoes. Pay attention to the lining of your shoes or trainers. If it is bright or dark, it is better not to risk: it can be difficult to wash such stains.

Pages: 1 2

When to plant pumpkins in the open ground
Pumpkin loves warmth and at air temperatures below 14 degrees stops its growth. Therefore, you should not be in a hurry to plant seedlings in the beds. Wait until the soil warms up to 15 degrees, and the air – at least 20 degrees. In such conditions, plants will feel comfortable.

Orient yourself on the climatic features of your region, and also look in the weather forecast for the coming weeks. Usually in the south, pumpkins are moved to the beds from the middle of May, in the middle zone not earlier than the end of May – early June, in the north – closer to the middle of June.

How to choose a pumpkin for planting
Try to plant several varieties of pumpkins with different ripening dates at once to provide yourself with reserves before winter.

Decide on the variety
Pumpkins vary in maturity. For example, early-ripening ones are harvested about 80-90 days after sprouting. Fruits are not suitable for long-term storage, so it is better to eat them immediately. Medium-ripening ripen in about 90-110 days and are able to lie until the end of autumn. Late varieties ripen at least 110 days after the emergence of shoots, but they can keep fresh until winter.

The shape of the fruit can be rounded, flattened, pear-shaped or elongated, while the colour of the rind is not only the classic orange, but also yellow, creamy white and green.

Pages: 1 2

What the weevil looks like and what it is harmful to you
The weevil is a small beetle, only 3 mm long. Its body is coloured black and grey. The insect got its name thanks to its characteristic long trunk.

The pests overwinter in the top layer of soil and mulch and start their activity in spring, when the air warms up to about 13 degrees Celsius.

The weevil is most dangerous for strawberries and strawberries, but raspberries, blackberries and flower crops can also suffer from its mischief. Bugs can slightly damage leaves, but the main damage to plants they cause in the budding period, laying eggs in future flowers. The hatched larvae simply eat the buds from the inside, which leads to their desiccation. As a result, weevils interfere with the formation of ovaries and can leave you without a crop.
To detect the presence of pests in time, you need to regularly inspect strawberries and strawberries. It is best to treat strawberry bushes for weevils before the plant starts to produce flower stalks and form buds, so that the beetles do not have time to settle their offspring in them. However, you can also do this later – at all stages of vegetation, if the weevil has had time to attack the garden.

How and how to treat strawberries against weevils
The best time to fight bugs is early morning. Usually in these hours weevils are motionless ‘resting’ on the surface of the leaves to dry from dew. In addition, when spraying solutions, you will avoid burns on the plants as the sun will not be shining brightly yet. Don’t forget to look at the weather forecast and make sure that it won’t rain in the next 24 hours.

By the way, chasing away black beetles is not that difficult. As a rule, only one treatment is required for chemical and biological preparations. Inspect the bed after using any of the treatments, and if the pests are still on the plants, do it again.

Here’s what you can use to treat strawberries for weevils.

1. Naphtha alcohol
This remedy can be sprayed on strawberries before budding and during flowering and fruiting.

Dissolve 2 tablespoons of ammonia (10%) in 10 litres of water. Pour the mixture into a sprayer or a container with a sprayer and generously irrigate the bushes, as well as go over the soil around the strawberries.

2- Boric acid
Pharmacy powder can also be used at all stages of strawberry development. Spraying at budding and flowering stages helps to kill weevils and at the same time increases the number of ovaries and makes the berries sweeter.

Dissolve 2 g of boric acid in 10 litres of water. Thoroughly spray strawberries with the prepared mixture, and do not forget to treat the soil in the bed.

Pages: 1 2

What magnesium is and why you should drink it
Magnesium is a mineral that is involved in energy production, nervous system function, blood pressure regulation and blood glucose control.

There are approximately 25 mg of magnesium present in the human body, about 50-60% of which is in the bones. Most of the rest is in soft tissues. The blood accounts for very little – less than 1%.

The daily intake of the mineral depends on sex and age. For example, a man of 19-30 years is recommended to receive 400 mg per day, and a woman – 310 mg. At the same time, the experts of the Examine portal believe that more than half of adults do not get the required dose from products, because their diet is low in magnesium-rich foods.

Lack of the mineral is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis. But, as a rule, you buy magnesium for sleep, and also to get rid of anxiety and stress.

Do magnesium supplements really help to normalise sleep?
Magnesium is thought to work as an antagonist of N-methyl-D-aspartate and gamma-aminobutyric acid, which helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle and thus promotes a healthy night’s rest. And there’s also some evidence that a deficiency of the mineral may be linked to sleep disorders.

A small study involving elderly people suffering from insomnia found that magnesium supplementation reduced the time it took to fall asleep by 17 minutes compared to a placebo. But at the same time, the supplement had no effect on the quality of night’s rest.

In another study, subjects were people with restless legs syndrome. Magnesium supplementation helped them reduce the symptoms of the condition and the number of nighttime awakenings. Due to this, the participants started sleeping better.

So, the mineral may be effective, but mostly for people with movement disorders. But to understand whether magnesium for sleep will help those who suffer due to other causes is not yet clear. More research is needed here.

Who actually needs magnesium supplements
Magnesium intake is considered effective for people who are at risk of deficiency of the mineral. This can happen due to several conditions:

Gastrointestinal diseases,
type 2 diabetes,
alcohol dependence,
old age.
Taking magnesium may also be beneficial for those who suffer from hypertension. The mineral is likely to lower blood pressure.

Who definitely should not take magnesium supplements
You should refuse to take it if you were once already allergic to preparations with the mineral. Also, supplements can harm if a person has kidney disease. Means can lead to an excess of magnesium in the blood. Because of this, unwanted side effects will appear.

Why you should not prescribe magnesium supplements on your own
Despite the fact that preparations with magnesium can be bought without a prescription, you should not drink them without a doctor’s prescription. There are several reasons for this.

Magnesium can cause allergies and side effects
A person who has started taking the supplement may experience allergy symptoms: hives, itching, swelling of the face and throat. In such a case, an ambulance should be called immediately.

You should stop taking the supplement if side effects appear:

nausea,
vomiting,
rapid or slow heartbeat,
dizziness,
fainting,
tingling or redness under the skin.
Magnesium may also cause diarrhoea, upset stomach or abdominal bloating.

It is not known how magnesium affects pregnant women and babies
Women who are planning to become pregnant or are already preparing to become a mother should not take the supplement without consulting a doctor. The fact is that there is no data that would show how magnesium will affect the development of the child.

It is also unclear whether the mineral from supplements gets into breast milk and whether it is harmful to the baby. Therefore, if you are going to drink magnesium during lactation, you should also warn your doctor in advance.

The mineral interacts with some medications
The artificial version of magnesium can affect the work of some medications. To understand whether it is possible to drink the supplement together with the drug, only a doctor can. Therefore, it is worth telling the specialist if you are taking antibiotics, as well as medications for osteoporosis:

penicillamine,
tetracycline,
doxycycline
minocycline,
ciprofloxacin,
levofloxacin,
lomefloxacin,
moxifloxacin,
norfloxacin,
ofloxacin,
alendronate,
ibandronate,
risedronate,
tiludronate.
Magnesium is available in different forms
Magnesium oxide, citrate and chloride are found in the composition of supplements. The absorption of different forms differs. Only a doctor can determine which one the patient needs.

Pages: 1 2