You have picked out your garden furniture.  Learned how to clean and care for it, and now begs the question, "Do I need garden furniture covers?"  To answer this question you will need to consider how often will your garden furniture be utilized?  How heavy is the garden furniture you have decided on?  How is easy is your garden furniture to move?  Is your garden furniture mobile or stationary?  Do you have storage space to put your garden furniture when it is not in use?  While answering these questions, you may decide that you want the added peace of mind of covering your furniture when it is not being utilized.  You may wish to forego the additional cleaning and care require after a good hard rain.  You may want to protect your garden furniture from flying objects when the winds start blowing things around.  If you have chosen lightweight garden furniture made from wicker, braided aluminum, or PVC, you may want to find a utility closet, or utility or garden shed, but then the additional effort of moving it from place to place may be too much.  If the garden furniture you have chosen is made from a heavier material such as iron, steel or wood, garden furniture covers would be a solution to your dilemma. In either case you may wish to opt for garden furniture covers as a matter of convenience.  No hauling or heavy duty lifting is required.   The cleaning and care of the garden furniture has been made easier by the use of a garden furniture cover.

The garden furniture covers are made from a thick gauge vinyl with a polyurethane lining. The thicker the gauge of vinyl the more durable the cover.  The vinyl exterior of the garden furniture cover protects your furniture from the rain and the snow. The polyurethane lining is treated to withstand water and wetness as well as protecting your garden furniture from nicks and scratches.  The garden furniture covers are made from woven fabric to allow for airflow.  This helps prevent mold and mildew forming on your garden furniture.  As to the winds ability to blow the cover off the garden furniture, the garden furniture covers are made with an elastic bottom edge or some are made with a draw string bottom with a durable lock to hold the garden furniture covers in place.

Most garden furniture cover companies also carry cushion storage. If you want to store the cushions separate from the frame of the furniture itself, this is a bonus to accompany your garden furniture covers.   The garden furniture covers come in several colors.  These colors do not distract from the beauty of your garden.  The colors are made to conform to the garden surroundings rather than be the focal point in your garden.

Now that the spring showers or summer rains are over and you are looking forward to the sunshine. You have the day selected for your planned family outing or a summer weekend outdoor party.  You uncover your garden furniture, fold and put away your garden furniture covers, do a light cleaning to your garden furniture and that part of the preparation for your party is done.  Ready and waiting for that special day!

After the landscaping of your garden, patio or lawn area is completed; you will want to start thinking about garden furniture which means you will be making a trip to your favorite home improvement store or large department store to see what is available. Garden furniture compliments the atmosphere and décor of the garden, patio or lawn setting of your backyard. The different of garden furniture you have to choose from will appeal to men and women alike.  The garden furniture of today is built for comfort and durability, as well as fashion and style.   You certainly want to match the garden furniture with the décor of your garden. Garden furniture will compliment the landscape of your backyard by turning your favorite backyard area into an outdoor dining room with a bar, or into a conversation pit that lends itself to stimulating as well as intimate conversations in front of a small roaring fire. Choosing garden furniture is like choosing living room furniture and /or dining room furniture for your home. Your proposed use of this area will directly impact the decision of the garden furniture you choose.  You may want to furnish an area with a living room setting for reading and relaxing or visiting with guests.  You may want to have a formal dining area for outdoor dinner parties or for those large family cook outs. A large enough area would allow you to do both. You will want to ensure that you and all of your guests are comfortable with out overcrowding your garden or patio area.

Garden furniture is made of an array of materials, such as teak, wicker, different metals and wood.  It can be elegant and comfortable. That is why ii is very important that you put a good deal of thought and consideration into your purchase.  You will want to consider the care that would go into your garden furniture.  Different materials require different types of care to maintain the look that you want to achieve.   All of the materials used in the making of garden furniture are made to with stand the elements of the outdoors.   Since you will want to keep them ever ready for your next get together with family and friends, the maintenance and care required to maintaining the condition of your garden furniture is very important.  Your garden furniture will be a very important asset to your home and you will want the look of your garden furniture to last for years to come.

You will want to consider the comfort of yourself and your guest when choosing your garden furniture.  Cushioned chairs, love seats, sofas, bench seats, swivel or slide rocking chairs, and loungers are just a few of the choices you will have to pick from.  Garden furniture also has sofas, love seats, settees, and bench seats, with and without backs, to choose from.  The small side tables will offer you and your guest a place to put your drinks and snack while giving you a spot to place a plant. Garden furniture comes in a wide variety of colors ensuring that you will be able to find the perfect color to add just the right amount of splash to your garden area. You can purchase garden furniture as a collection or just pick the matching pieces you need to accommodate your space.

For your outdoor gatherings with dinner or lunch on the agenda, you will want to choose your garden furniture for the types of gathering you will be planning.  There are tables large enough to seat several people for dining purposes.  The round tables will seat four to six comfortably; where as the oblong with pull up chairs will seat ten to twelve comfortably for a more formal dining setting.  If you plan formal or informal adult entertaining you may need an outside bar to accommodate your guests.  You will find you will have several styles to choose from along with bar stools to compliment the bar.

With the wide range of bird feeders out on the market today, you probably have not given any thought at all to making your own homemade bird feeder. After all, with the sheer variety of different sizes, makes and models out there, there is no doubt that you can find one that will suffice for your needs.

However, there are many reasons why you and any other bird-watching aficionado for that matter, should seriously consider building a homemade bird feeder instead of going with any of the commercially available models.

For one thing, almost everyone has very specific size and space requirements for the various furniture and appliances that they have in their houses, and bird feeders are no exception. The wrong type of bird feeder or an oddly sized one can be enough to throw the most carefully designed garden or yard out of whack. If you have spent a considerable amount of money getting a professional to landscape your yard, it is all the more imperative that you have a bird feeder that enhances and accentuates the other elements. In this particular case, only a specially designed bird feeder will do.

One of the first decisions you will have to make is deciding what particular design of bird feeder you like. Some of the more popular ones are the Post Bird Feeder, which is ideal if you don’t have a tree to put your feeder on, the Hanging Bird Feeder, which is great for keeping any cats at bay, the Running Line Bird Feeder, which is a good choice if you want to avoid having to continually replenish the food supply, and the Ground Level Bird Feeder, which you should only consider if you are sure that you can provide a safe environment for any birds that will come to visit.

There are many plans for making homemade bird feeders all over the Web and if you are so inclined you would do well to check them out. Even if you are not confident enough in your woodworking skills to attempt the project on your own, they will at least give you a few ideas on the design that you want to go for and provide a starting point for whoever you will hire to construct the bird feeder for you. Remember: it’s your yard so don’t be afraid to let your imagination run free. As long as the birds have easy access to the food and it provides them a safe environment in which to frolic, your homemade bird feeder will surely be a smashing success!

Do you have any pictures of homemade birdfeeders to share?

As you read this article, you may already be the proud owner of a bird feeder that is regularly drawing a crowd of playful, feathered creatures in your yard. That would not at all be surprising as bird feeders are one of the best ways to liven up any property. Even a garden or yard that has been landscaped to perfection by a professional can be improved immeasurably by the addition of a tasteful and elegant bird feeder.

If you are still in the planning stage of purchasing one however, or if you are looking for one or two more–one cannot have too many bird feeders after all!  You may want to consider purchasing a wooden bird feeder.

Why should you go for a wooden bird feeder though instead of the popular ones that are typically made of plastic, glass or various types of metal? Well for one thing, unless you are willing to spend a lot of money on your next bird feeder, you will in all likelihood have to make do with one that is…er, less than stellar in the looks department. You will notice quickly that the offerings in the lower range of the price scale will not be as attractive, as well-constructed and simply not as appealing as other more expensive models. It is simply the nature of consumer products, and going for one that is more eye-catching will cost a lot more obviously.

Wooden bird feeders then provide an alternative that is not only quite affordable but looks good as well. In fact, looking through a listing of many different types of wooden bird feeders, you would be surprised at just how low-priced they are. This is all the more amazing when you realize that even the lowest-priced wooden bird feeders are a lot more visually attractive than even higher-priced commercial models.

If you are concerned about the durability of wooden bird feeders–as you well should be, considering that they will practically be spending the rest of their lives outdoors exposed to the elements–you need not worry yourself on that score. Virtually all the wooden bird feeders available today are constructed out of wood that has been treated to withstand the constant exposure. This will help ensure that any wooden bird feeder that you purchase will continue to provide your feathery friends with service–and you with viewing pleasure–for a good long time.

The widespread availability of many types of bird feeders on the market has largely made it unnecessary for many people to even consider building their own. After all, why should you bother with all the work and effort involved in creating one from scratch, when you can simply drive to your local pet supply store or click on your mouse a few times and almost instantly have one sitting in your yard?

Well as it turns out, there are quite a few good reasons for learning how to make bird feeders, not the least of which is the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that you and your kids can gain from undertaking such a project. This will also help kids learn more about birds and their habits as well as provide you with an opportunity to teach them about responsibility and caring for the surroundings.

Those should be enough reasons to convince you to take on this task, so let’s get started building a simple bird feeder!

What you will need:
    birdseed
    a dowel or small wooden rod
    a pair of scissors
    thin wires about 2 feet long
    nails for punching holes
    a gallon milk jug

Here is the procedure:

Wash the milk jug thoroughly to ensure that any traces of milk are gone completely.

Put the cap back on and place the jug on a solid working surface

With a sharp knife, cut two large holes on the front and back sides of the jug. Make the holes about 3 to 4 inches in diameter and cut them about 2 or 3 inches from the bottom. This is where your birds will be feeding. It is important to make sure that any birdseed you place in the feeder will not spill out of these holes.

Using the nail, punch two smaller holes, one under each larger hole. Push the dowel through one of these smaller holes and out the other, so that they provide a perch for the birds.

Again using the nail, punch two holes in the neck of the milk jug and run the wire through them making a sort of loop. This is where you will be hanging the feeder from a suitable branch.

Fill the feeder with birdseed–black oil sunflower seeds work the best

Sit back and wait for the birds to drop by!
 

Ground bird feeders…at first it seems like a bad idea all around, doesn’t it? After all, who in his or her right mind would place a bird feeder right in harm’s way, within easy reach of cats, dogs and a host of other predators and dangerous elements? It defeats the very purpose of birds being able to fly up and out of danger. It is downright inhumane and all that. But is it really?

As it turns out there are a number of good reasons for using a ground bird feeders, and the most important one is that they allow a greater number of birds access to the food that you provide.

Because of their intended location, ground bird feeders admittedly put the birds at a slight disadvantage when it comes to predators and rodents who compete with them for food. For this reason, theses types of bird feeders are more suited to areas where there are no cats present and where you are reasonably sure that there is no large squirrel population around either.

One of the advantages of ground bird feeders is that they allow ground-feeding birds to feed in a setting that is more natural to them. Of course smaller perch feeding birds will be slightly out of their element, but given a safe enough environment that is free from predators, virtually any type of bird will soon learn to be comfortable around your feeder.

Being on the ground, it is also much easier for you to replenish the food stores of your ground bird feeders. This may not seem like such a big deal, but in today’s fast paced world where every minute counts, it is good to know that you do not have to spend any more time than is necessary in making sure that your bird feeder is able to keep your feathered friends happy.

This ground location also makes it easier for you to clean your bird feeder. Hygiene is always a primary concern when it comes to keeping birds healthy, and even if they are not really your pets (more like favored guests) you would like to make sure that they remain as healthy as they can possibly be wouldn’t you?

So you see, there are some distinct advantages that ground bird feeders can provide. With a little careful thought and planning as to where exactly you will put it, you’ll see that the benefits of ground bird feeders aren’t just for the birds!

 The picture of the ground bird feeder comes from Backyard Birds and Discovery Center.

Bird feeders come in a wide array of shapes and sizes, from the simple to the complex, from the strictly functional to the somewhat whimsical. One type that has stood the test of time however, is the platform bird feeder. This particular design is a marvel in simplicity, and in truth not many people really need any more than that. It is a design that has worked–very well, we might add–for a countless number of years, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

One of the reasons why platform bird feeders are so effective is that they provide an ideal feeding set up for the greatest variety of birds. Large birds will obviously not be comfortable in feeders with perches designed for smaller birds, and many other birds will have very specific preferences when it comes to feeders. A platform bird feeder however, by virtue of its simple design, provides a wide open and flat feeding surface that virtually all types of birds will be comfortable in. From small perching birds to bigger birds that are accustomed to feeding off the ground, you can say that one size of platform bird feeder fits all!

Platform bird feeders can also be used to serve up a greater variety of food than other bird feeder designs. From birdseeds to fruit, from nuts to suet–even bakery goods–there is nothing that a platform bird feeder can’t handle.

So you see, it is not only the ability to handle a wide variety of foods but the ability to accommodate a wide range of birds that makes platform bird feeders the most versatile type of bird feeder around.

As simple as the basic design of a platform bird feeder is, there are actually slightly different versions available. There is the basic platform bird feeder, which is simply a platform suspended off a hanging cord, then there is the fly through platform bird feeder, which follows the same design as the basic platform bird feeder but incorporates a roof on top. This design provides any visiting birds some temporary respite from the sun or slight rain showers.

As your interest in feeding birds grows, so too will your needs when it comes to bird feeders. You may eventually find yourself exploring more complex types of bird feeders in the future. One thing is certain though, no matter where this hobby takes you, you will always have a place for a platform bird feeder in your yard.

Having a bird feeder in your yard is one of the best things you can do to liven up your surroundings. The sight of birds frolicking about while feeding on the treats that you have laid out for them can bring a feeling of joy and exuberance to almost anyone. If a bird feeder in your yard is enough to produce this effect, think of how much more enjoyable it would be to have a window bird feeder wherein you could enjoy this spectacle anytime you wished!

Window bird feeders provide you and your family an ideal way to watch birds up close as they go about their activities and you don’t even have to get up from your favorite chair to do it! Because of this convenience, window bird feeders make great gifts for a friend or a family member who is bedridden. In addition, the therapeutic powers of the sight of a busy window bird feeder can surely work wonders in speeding up the recovery process.

Another advantage is that you do not have to go very far in order to refill the feeding bottle or to replenish their stock of birdseed or suet, which is a definite bonus for those who are too busy to care for a pet.

There are many types of window bird feeders currently available and it can be confusing to decide which one to go for. Ultimately however, you should make sure that what you buy fits onto your window properly.

One thing that you should look out for are birds flying into your glass windows. This is a common enough occurrence that can unfortunately cause them severe injuries, and in some cases, even death. One of the ways by which you can avoid this is by simply relocating your window bird feeder a few inches toward the side of your window. It is the transparency of the glass in your window that causes them to become confused and with only the painted wall of the side of the house in front of them, hopefully there will be no more confusion in the future.

If you have recently installed a window bird feeder and are somewhat discouraged about the lack of birds that frequent it, have some patience. Remember: birds can be somewhat picky and finicky creatures, so it may take awhile for them to get used to this new food source and be confident enough to visit it on a regular basis. Just keep it clean and well stocked and in no time at all, be prepared for more feathery friends than you can handle!

That was then and this is now however, and as spoiled as we are for choices when it comes to bird feeders, this abundance only serves to make this hobby more enjoyable, more fulfilling and ultimately more rewarding.

Today you can take your pick from any of the more utilitarian bird feeders around…or you can opt for one of the more decorative and unique bird feeders.

While there is certainly nothing wrong with the simpler bird feeder designs available–like the classic and ever-popular platform bird feeder for example–a decorative bird feeder will greatly increase the beauty and charm of whatever location you place it in. Even a garden or yard that is already a study in landscaping perfection will benefit immensely from a more striking bird feeder design.

Bird feeders that are slightly off the beaten path come in various designs–some of them classic and elegant and some of them whimsical and charming. Depending on how far you are willing to go, you may also consider bird feeders that are almost borderline outlandish! All of these are only indications of the rich imagination of bird lovers and serve to announce their uniqueness and individuality to the world.

Some of the more popular decorative bird feeders base their designs on actual houses. They may be as simple as a log cabin or they can be as ornate as Greco-roman architecture. One of the more striking ones we’ve seen is built out of wrought iron in the form of a gazebo.

Other decorative bird feeders are almost comparable to art pieces in their intricacy and style. In fact, there are those that can actually stand as sculptures in their own right, making them functional art in the truest sense of the word.

With the wealth of decorative bird feeders to be had out there, there is simply no reason why you shouldn’t have one that is as practical as it is beautiful to behold!

Thankfully there is a way to recapture some of the magic of those bygone times and that is with wild bird feeders. Having a ready supply food around is one of the best ways to entice birds to frequent your yard, and wild bird feeders are the most effective and cost efficient ways to do just that.

Wild bird feeders come in a wide array of sizes, shapes, colors and designs and you can hardly go wrong with choosing any of the commonly available models. So how do you choose which particular type of wild bird feeder to go for?

One of the most important considerations for any beginning bird feeder owner is the type of bird that you wish to attract. Seed feeders–which are by far the most familiar type of wild bird feeder around–will attract the common songbirds such as cardinals, chickadees and finches. These types of feeders can vary in design from the simplest feeding tray type setups to more elaborate ones with latching feeding mechanisms.

Naturally if you want to attract a specific type of bird–such as a hummingbird or an oriole for example–you will want to purchase a wild bird feeder that is designed specifically with their needs in mind.

Another important consideration when purchasing a wild bird feeder is the material. Feeders made of plastic have been increasingly popular in recent years and for good reason: they are extremely durable and they are generally very inexpensive. Be aware though that they tend to discolor when exposed to sunlight for prolonged periods, and they are harder to keep sanitary.

Glass models would be an ideal alternative given those considerations, but they are not without their own disadvantages. They are prone to breakage for one thing, and if they fall from a height–which is where wild bird feeders are typically installed–there is a risk of glass shards flying around when it shatters.

In any event, most commonly available wild bird feeders present very good value for the money and you will surely enjoy the color and life that they will bring to your yard!