SPRING HOME IMPROVEMENTD2 SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013 THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH

By HEATHER JOHNSON

hjohnson@nptelegraph.com

Experts say one of themost important improve-ments people should maketo their homes can’t beseen. That’s the improve-ment of indoor air quality.

“Spring is the perfecttime to consider them —right before air condition-ers start running,” saidBrian Lusk, owner ofLusk Heating and Air Con-ditioning in North Platte.

According to the U.S.Environmental ProtectionAgency, breathing contam-inants can put people atrisk for health problemssuch as sore eyes, burningin the nose and throat,headaches and fatigue.Other pollutants cause orworsen allergies, respira-tory illnesses, heart dis-ease, cancer and other se-rious long-term condi-tions.

“People actually bringmost of the contaminantsinto the house,” Lusk said.“When new carpet or fur-niture is put in, the chemi-cals on those things canstay in the home for a longtime.”

He said houses are beingbuilt more airtight for en-ergy efficiency, which alsomakes it easy for pollu-tants to build up.

“Tighter built homesdon’t have a lot of air ex-change,” Lusk said.

According to the EPA,installing a cleaner is oneof the best ways to im-prove air quality in ahome. There are a wide va-riety of types and sizes onthe market.

“Some purifiers are free-standing,” Lusk said.“They are available in thebig box stores and aren’toverly expensive. Thedrawback is they only doone room.”

He said the whole-housemodels cost more, but alsodo a better job. The stan-dard electronic cleanersuse wires to negativelycharge air particles, whichthen stick to a positivelycharged collection cell.When the cell gets dirty, itcan be washed in a dish-washer or bathtub.

Lusk said some of thenewer varieties are capa-ble of doing more thanjust pulling dust out of theair. The Bryant Perfect AirPurifier is a good example.It also captures and killsdangerous bacteria, virus-es and mold.

“I’m a firm believer init,” Lusk said. “We had akid who had really badasthma. We installed thepurifier and redid someductwork and he was able

to get off one of his medi-cines as a result. It’s alsogood for those with low im-mune systems.”

The Bryant model isn’tcheap. Lusk said it typical-ly costs $1,350-$1,500. Thefilters, which have to be re-placed on average everynine months to a year, are$140 each. The cleaner isinstalled in the furnaceand air conditioner ductsystem.

Lusk said the key to thelong-term performance ofany purifier is propermaintenance. If filtersaren’t changed oftenenough they can becomeclogged with dirt and di-minish airflow.

Lower quality cleaners,such as the standard one-inch thick filters, also tendto allow dust to build up onheat exchangers, coolingcoils and other equipment.The dust works as an insu-lator and keeps heat frombeing transferred as effi-ciently as it should be —the result can be expen-sive.

“When blowers get dirtyand air slows down, moreenergy has to be runthrough them to heat orcool the house,” Lusk said.“That’s why higher quali-ty filtration systems actu-ally save people money onutility bills.”

CCCCllll eeeeaaaannnn aaaa iiii rrrr hhhheeee llll ppppssss wwwwiiii tttthhhh hhhheeeeaaaa llll tttthhhhyyyy llll iiiivvvviiiinnnnggggAir cleaners � a benefit to health, wallets

According to the Environmental Protection Agency:

n Levels of indoor pollutants can be two to five times higher than outdoorsn Most people spend 90 percent of their adult lives insiden 99 percent of the particles in the air remain airborne because they are so smalln Household dust is present even in clean homesn Household dust can contain mold spores, bacteria, viruses, animal dander andother debris n 50 million people in the U.S. suffer from allergiesn Allergic disease is the fifth leading cause of chronic disease among all agesn The average person inhales about 2,300 gallons of air per day Brian Lusk changes an air filter on April 4. He said air purifiers not only help improve

indoor air quality, but they can also save money on utility bills.

Heather Johnson / The North Platte Telegraph

Repairing an old fence, or building newBy ANDREW BOTTRELL

abottrell@nptelegraph.com

During the spring,many homeowners spruceup their fences, or teardown old fences and buildnew ones.

But if you live inside thecity limits of North Platte,you might not know youneed a permit.

You can apply for a per-mit at City Hall, 211 W.Third St., and will need asite plan, a legal descrip-tion and will have to fillout an application. Thecost of a fence permit inNorth Platte is $25.

In general, fences inNorth Platte can’t be tallerthan 72 inches in the backyard, and 48 inches in thefront yard of residentialhomes, however there areother stipulations.

The city allows masonrywalls, ornamental ironfences, woven wire fences,wood and plastic fencesand hedges in the city lim-its. The city does not allowbarbed wire fences, exceptin agriculturally-zonedland. No electric fencesare allowed by city ordi-nance, either.

The city requires thatall fences be on privateproperty, and not on publicright-of-ways. To find outwhere the public right-of-way is at your property,you can visit City Hall orask the permit depart-ment. Establishing wherethat city right-of-way is, ispart of the permit process.

Fence permits and in-spections are required be-fore construction begins.

Those who live on cor-ners have to take extracare when constructing afence or building a hedge.The city requires extraroom on sight lines fromstreets, with set backs of25 feet from the corner oneach side at four-way in-tersections. Alley ap-proaches have similar re-quirements.

Also, fences on cornerlots cannot exceed 36 inch-es in height, so that thefence doesn’t hinder thevision of drivers.

Also beware of wherefire hydrants are. The cityrequires a three-foot clear-ance around fire hydrantsfor any fences.

The city’s permit de-partment has lots of pam-

phlets and guides to helpfirst-time fence buildersout. If you have questions

you can contact permitclerk Michelle Ragle atCity Hall at 308-535-6724.

Basic city regulations:

The city of North Platte asks several things of peoplewho wish to build fences or hedges.n Most importantly, all fences, walls and hedges:1) Must be placed on private property2) May not be placed or project over into a publicright-of-wayn Responsibilities of the property owner:1) Know where property lines are located2) Obtain a fence permit prior to the construction ofa fence3) Fence inspections are required before construc-tion

—Source: City of North Platte

Courtesy photo

Sprucing up an old fence or building a new one some-times requires a permit from the city.

By DIANE WETZELdwetzel@nptelegraph.com

For those who have yardand garden spruce up ontheir spring-cleaning list,we talked to a local expertfor some suggestions onhow to get started.

Jay Turnbull has ownedand operated TurnbullLandscaping in NorthPlatte for the past 20years. Recently, Turnbullsat down between projects

to talk about lawn and gar-den care.

There is a prevailingtheory that grass shouldbe cut very short at thefirst mowing of the sea-son.

“People think they needto mow the grass shorterin the spring and again inthe fall,” Turnbull said.“That’s not a good idea.The grass plant is two-thirds leaf and the rest isstem. If you mow it short,

you stress the plant. Wewill have another freezeyet this year and that willreally stress the stems.Mow your grass the sameheight you always dowhen you mow in thespring.”

Turnbull said it’s nottoo soon to turn on the wa-ter,

Water the lawn andplants once a week for atleast an hour to really givethem a good soaking.

“It’s always better to doquality watering thanquantity,” he said. “Thatmeans it’s better to watera lot once a week ratherthan water a little severaltimes a week.”

Soaking will encouragedeep rooting in all plants,he said.

It’s also time to begincleaning out flowerbedsand shrubs.

“Now is a good time toclean out woody shrubber-

ing plants,” Turnbull said.“Any plant that dropsleaves should be thinnedout by at least one-third.When new growth comesin, you will have a new,fresh plant.”

Clean out perennialflowerbeds to prepare forspring plants, and consid-er recycling the debris in-stead of tossing it into adumpster.

“Just rake it all out ontothe lawn and run the lawn-

mower over it and rake itback onto the flower bed,”he said. “It will benefit theplants by putting foodback into the bed. You cangenerate about half themulch you need fromthose clippings. Just addgood wood chip mulch andleave it all on the surface.”

The mulch will helphold in moisture and keepweeds down by cutting outlight and will continue tofeed the plants.

SPRING HOME IMPROVEMENT SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013 D3THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH

PPPPrrrreeeevvvveeeennnntttt iiii nnnngggg ggggaaaarrrrddddeeeennnn aaaannnndddd llll aaaawwwwnnnn ppppeeeessss tttt ssssThe first step to controlling moles, gophers is identifying themBy HEATHER JOHNSON

hjohnson@nptelegraph.com

Experts say if there’sone thing that can ruin thelook of a yard or garden,it’s mounds of dirt left be-hind by burrowing ro-dents. Getting rid of thecreatures can be a chal-lenge.

“We had a lot of molesaround North Platte lastyear,” said Dave Boxler, en-tomology extension educa-tor. “Their abundance goeshand-in-hand with theirfood source. We’ve alsohad high populations ofwhite grubs.”

Boxler said moles love toeat grubs. The inverte-brates represent the larvalstage of the masked chafer,otherwise known as theJune bug. Boxler recom-mended applying a preven-tative treatment such asMerit Insecticide to lawnsbetween mid-June and ear-ly July to curb the grubs.

According to Boxler, theproduct is available atmost lawn and garden cen-ters and is often used bylawn care professionals.He said it’s safe to usearound children and pets,but not in the garden.

“In the gardens I woulduse a Sevin bait,” Boxlersaid. “Sometimes rototill-ing will also kill the lar-vae.”

Chad Richardson, dis-

trict supervisor for theU.S. Department of Agri-culture, said moles aren’talways the culprits behindunsightly yard holes.Sometimes, pocket go-phers cause the problem.

“A lot of people don’tknow the difference be-tween them,” Richardsonsaid. “When they call us,the first thing we ask themto do is describe the dam-age and the diggings. Iden-tifying the animal is thefirst step toward solvingthe problem.”

According to the USDA,moles live in the seclusionof underground burrowsand rarely surface. Whenthey do, it’s often by acci-dent. Moles make theirdens in high, dry spots, butprefer to hunt inverte-brates in soil that is shad-ed, moist and cool. Theycreate a system of shallowtunnels to those huntinggrounds.

Richardson said the tun-nel systems are the biggestgiveaway that moles in-habit a lawn. That’s be-cause moles ridge up thesurface of the soil, makingtheir trails easy to follow.

“When people step onthe ground in areas wherethere are tunnels, it willgive way,” Richardsonsaid.

Moles leave volcano-shaped hills made up ofclods of soil at the en-

trance to their passage-ways. They may be two to24 inches tall.

In contrast, Richardsonsaid pocket gophers leavemounds up to two-feet indiameter. They are gener-ally kidney-shaped andmade of finely sifted soil.Gopher mounds also tendto be built in a line.

Richardson said pocketgophers tend to be a ruralpest because they prefersandy conditions and feedon roots — especially thoseon alfalfa. He said keepinga clean yard void of weeds

with long root systemscould help control go-phers.

According to Richard-

son, most farm and ranchstores also offer traps tocontrol both kinds ofpests. Information about

setting the traps and aboutthe rodents in general isavailable by calling theUSDA at (402) 434-2340.

Courtesy photos

Courtesy photo

Experts say reducing pop-ulations of white grubs,such as this one, could alsodecrease the number ofmoles in yards. Moles andpocket gophers are the twoprimary rodents in LincolnCounty responsible for dig-ging up yards.

Above: Moles such as thisone can wreak havoc inyards and gardens. Expertssay decreasing their foodsupply, primarily whitegrubs, could make a differ-ence.

Left: Pocket gophers seemto cause destruction wher-ever they go. Experts saythe best way to get rid ofthem is to trap them.

Early spring lawn and garden care made easy

As the spring seasoncontinues, consider put-ting in a compost pile tohelp eliminate waste andperk up gardens.

“Composting is certain-ly worthwhile,” Turnbullsaid. “Everybody proba-bly has a little cornerwhere they can put upsome chicken wire andmake a basic compostingpile. All you need is aplace to receive stuff thatreceives oxygen.”

Turnbull suggests cre-ating a cylinder out ofchicken wire, clipping theedges closed so it can beopened to turn the mate-rial for a basic compostpile.

“My recommendationwould be to set up four4X4 wood posts and wrapthem with chicken wire,”he said. “Use the clips soyou can get in and turn itevery two weeks.”

According to OrganicGardening, to begin acompost pile, you will

need carbon rich “brown”material such as fallleaves, straw, dead flowersfrom the garden andshredded newspaper,along with nitrogen rich“green material, such asgrass clippings, plant-based kitchen waste likevegetable peelings andfruit rinds (No meatscraps), and a shovelful ortwo of garden soil.

In a place that is at leastthree feet long by threefeet wide, spread a layerseveral inches thick ofcoarse, dry “brown” ma-terial, such as the straw,cornstalks or leaveswhere you want to buildthe pile. Top that with sev-eral inches of the “green”stuff. Add a thin layer ofsoil and another layer of“brown.” Moisten thethree layers.

Continue layering untilthe pile is three feet high.Don’t worry if it takes a

while to get there, justkeep adding to it.

“There are variousrecipes for compost, but Ido recommend adding acouple inches of dirt forevery six inches of com-post,” Turnbull said. “Itgives it a bit of weight.”

Take care when addinggrass clippings, he noted,saying that they can packdown and block oxygen.

“Mulched leaves arethe best,” he said. “Re-member what happens ina forest. The leaves falland decompose and feedthe trees.”

Gather all your clip-pings from flowerbedsand gardens and run overthem with a lawnmowerto cut into smaller piecesto put on the compost pile.

“If you remember tokeep the compost moistand to turn it every twoweeks, you will have apretty good product with-in three months,” Turn-bull said.

Composting 101

SPRING HOME IMPROVEMENTD4 SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013 THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH

PPPPllllaaaannnntttteeeerrrrssss:::: ‘‘‘‘TTTThhhhrrrr iiii llll llll eeeerrrr ssss ,,,, ffff iiii llll llll eeeerrrr ssss &&&& cccchhhh iiii llll llll eeeerrrr ssss ’’’’

By ANDREW BOTTRELL

abottrell@nptelegraph.com

Planters are a good wayto spruce up your gardenand add depth. A plantercan also brighten up anempty space in the house oradd color to your yard.

When designing yourplanter, Penny Billingsley,owner of Garden GloveGarden Center and Land-scaping in North Platte,said to remember “thrillers,fillers and chillers.”

That means to layer yourplanter depending on itssetting, with taller items,

such as ornamental grassesin the center of a planterthat will be seen from all di-rections, or at the back of aplanter against a wall.

Depending on the envi-ronment your planter is in,you then design downwardsto medium sized plants andsmaller plants towards theedges.

“If it’s viewed from allsides, you want the tallplants in the middle andthen you’d plant your small-er plants around it,” shesaid.

For example, she said youmight have an ornamental

grass at the center of aplanter and then decoratearound it with petuniasaround the outside.

The most importantthing, however, as you go todesign your planter iswhether the planter will bein a shaded environment, orin a sun-filled environment.

“If you put a plant thatlikes full shade [in a sunnylocation], it will burn up,”she said. “If they are in ahouse type setting wherethey aren’t getting any sun,I’d use a shade-loving plant.I would not put any sun lov-ing plant in an area thatwould be enclosed, becausethey won’t bloom. Theyneed the sun to bloom.”

In terms of color,Billingsley said you can’t gowrong, and though she

might recommend certaincolors to go with others, it’sreally up to your taste.

“Colors on the oppositeside of the color wheel [gowell together],” she said.“Really, it’s what people like.There aren’t any reallywrong color combinations. Ihave customers who don’tlike red, and won’t put redin their planters.”

She said there are obvi-ous color combinations thatdo go together such as yel-low and blue or yellow andpurple. Some basic colors,like yellow and white, willmatch up with almost anyother color of flower. In gen-eral, colors from the oppo-site end of the color wheelgo together the best.

“If they are trying to cre-ate a more relaxed planter,

they would stay with blues,pinks, the softer colors,”Billingsley said. “If they

want something that’s excit-ing, then you do your bright[colors].”

Tips for planting in a container:Spring has sprung. Thinking about veggie and herb gardening but don’t have a yard or live in an urban area? No worries. You canstill join in and grow your own veggies and herbs in containers on a deck, patio, or balcony and reap a hefty harvest of fresh foodfor your dinner table. Plant breeders know that after taste, home gardeners want a high yield in a small space, so they’ve developedvarieties that can grow in a small area, and even flourish in containers. Here’s 6 simple steps to get you started.n Time-saving transplants — When you’re ready to begin potting up vegetables and herbs, opt for transplants — seedlings thathave already been started — rather than starting from seed. Transplants will buy you lots of time because they’re six weeks or olderwhen you put them in the pot, and you’ll begin harvesting much sooner too. Bonnie Plants offers a wide variety of veggie and herbtransplants, (many are compact varieties perfect for containers) available at garden retailers nationwide and grown near you.n Use a premium quality potting mix. Don’t skimp here. A quality mix holds moisture but drains well; giving plant roots the perfectbalance of air, moisture, and stability to grow a great harvest. Read bag labels to look for quality ingredients like: aged (composted)bark, perlite, lime or dolomite, and sometimes moisture-holding crystals. Quality potting mix stays fluffy all season long. It does notcontain actual dirt that would compact with frequent watering.n Pick the right pot. It should be affordable to buy and fill, but large enough to accommodate your plants as they mature. Almostanything can serve as a container — flower pots, pails, buckets, wire baskets, washtubs, window planters, even large food cans.Larger veggies, like tomatoes and eggplants, will need a larger container, at least 5 gallons for each plant. When in doubt, bigger isalways better, the plants will look better and last longer because the roots will have more room to grow. Be sure the pot has adrainage hole in the bottom. And consider color: Dark colored containers will absorb heat that could possible damage the plantroots. If you must use dark colored pots, try painting them a lighter color.n Feed your plants. Even if your potting mix came with fertilizer already mixed in, you may need to feed your plants. Some pottingmixes include just enough fertilizer to give plants a charge when they’re starting. Mixes designed to feed for several months run outsooner in hot weather with frequent watering. Add timed-release granules or try a soluble fertilizer such as the “little green jug” ofBonnie Plant Food for quick results. It’s organic in nature, environmentally friendly, an excellent food source for beneficial organ-isms in the soil and helps support healthy soil and overall plant growth. One jug of concentrate makes 64 gallons of product.n Put pots in a sunny spot. At least 6-8 hours is best. The sun drives energy for production and for making sugars, acids, and othercompounds responsible for the fullest flavor. Make sure pots on a deck or porch get enough sunlight and move them to a sunnyspot if shade encroaches. Without sun, the fruits will not ripen and the plants will be stressed. n Water regularly. Vegetables are at least 90% water. To produce well, they may need daily watering in hot weather since you can’talways rely on rain. Water plants at soil level and be sure to water before the sun goes down, leaves will need to dry before nightfall.

—Source: www.bonnieplants.com

What to plant:Be on the look-out for key wordslike: bush, compact, patio, baby,dwarf and space saver in theirname, they’ll be a good bet. Justbecause a plant is bred to besmall doesn’t mean the fruits willbe small or the yield will be less. n All herbs. Any herb does well ina pot.n All greens. Collards, lettuce,mustard, Swiss chard and othersare perfect for pots. You can mixthem with flowers for an orna-mental touch. Lettuces yield asurprising amount. Pick only theouter leaves to keep the harvestgoing.n Eggplant and peppers of alltypes make pretty summer pots.n Varieties like Husky CherryRed, Patio, Bush Early Girl, BushGoliath, and Better Bush are es-pecially easy to manage in con-tainers.n Squash and zucchini work inlarge pots such as half barrels.

—Source: www.bonnieplants.com

Brighten up an empty space,add some color to your yard

Courtesy photo

Color and spacing add depth to a yard as shown in thisphoto.