Tuesday, October 28, 2014

How to Choose a Mulch for Your Organic/Vegetable Garden?

Mulch is a ground cover to the plants which gives various benefits if you use it for vegetable garden. But, it depends on the type of mulch that you choose for your garden. The type of mulch that you choose for your organic garden will depend on the crop, soil type, weather conditions, etc. So, here we have listed few types of mulch by taking the above measures into consideration. Read through this article and know the type of mulch that suits your vegetable garden.

Based on the type of the crop: Vegetable garden consists of various types of plants and the growing conditions of the each plant varies. Some plants like tomatoes, peppers etc. requires plastic mulch and some cool weather crops require paper mulch, straw etc. So, it is suggested to group the similar types of plants that requires the same type of mulch and perform mulching. If you want to perform the mulching for your entire garden grouping and mulching the similar types is the good idea though it is expensive thought.

Based on weather conditions: The type of the mulch that you choose will also depend on the weather conditions that you are living. For ex, if you are in hot area avoid plastic because, it may burn for more heat and affects the plants. So for such areas, use the cool mulch like shredded leaves. It is recommended to change the type of mulch used for your vegetable garden depending on the weather changes, so that you can protect your plants from various affects.

Based on the type of the soil: Before selecting the mulch check the conditions of the soil, because most of the vegetable gardens doesn't require too much moisture and heavy soil because, they are not able to grow in such conditions. So, better avoid using the mulch that is of thick and moisture-retentive and use plastic. But, if you are growing the plants in the soil that is dry and sandy better use the moisturized mulch.

There are various types of mulch like plastic, straw, shredded leaves, crushed stone, gravel, landscape fabrics etc. Along with this you should also check the factors of the mulch that you are choosing i.e., whether it is cool, hot, water resistant, etc. So, based on the above things you need to select the right type of mulch for your vegetable plants. Right mulch brings several advantages to your plants growth. This is how you need to choose the mulch for your vegetable garden.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Characteristics of Services Brakes and Different Types of Service Brakes Used in Vehicles

Brakes of an automobile play an important role in controlling and protecting the vehicle from unwanted shocks because of bad roads or things/people coming in front while in motion. In this article let us discus the service brakes and their characteristics and also different types of service brakes. First, we will discuss what do service brake mean.

The service brake in an automobile is the primary braking system. These brakes are typically operated by foot. A part from service brakes there are parking and emergency brakes are also used in modern automobile.

Characteristics of service brakes
Most common characteristics of a service brake systems that can be found in modern automobiles are as follows

Friction
  • Friction is the most common configuration in a service brakes. one of two components are equipped to create friction
  • Brake shoes or brake pads, these are used in the friction based braking system.
  • Both Brake shoes and brake pads,include a rotating device with a stationary pad and rotating wear surface.
Pumping
  • In this type of brakes a pump in equipped within the system and uses piston motor to cut off the fuel supply to the vehicle.
  • This process leads to internal pumping losses to the engine, which results in causes braking.
Electromagnetic
  • In this type of brake, an electric motor is used, which is built-in with the vehicle.
  • This type of braking system used in many hybrid vehicles for regenerative brakes.
  • Some vehicles will have a generator with an internal short circuit called a secondary retarder brake.
Different variety of braking systems are found in a vehicle, depending on its use, size and weight.

Types of service brakes used in vehicles
There are different types of brake systems found in a vehicle. For example, modern passenger cars use an anti-lock brake system, whereas semi-trucks and trailers use an air brake system.

Now lets us discuss about the different types of brakes used in a vehicle. Some of the Types of service brakes are as follows,

Disc brakes
  • It's a friction type braking system.
  • It consists of a brake disc/rotor a brake pad which is fixed to the a device called caliper to slow the rotation of the vehicle’s wheels.
  • Brake pads are pushed against the brake’s rotor with a set of calipers.
Drum brakes
  • It's also one of the types of friction braking system.
  • It consists of brake shoes and brake drums to stop or slow the rotation of the wheel
  • A set of shoes or pads are presses against a brake drum.
Single-circuit Hydraulic Brakes
  • It's a hydraulic type braking system.
  • It consists of a master cylinder fed by a hydraulic brake fluid and connected by a system of brake lines and rubber fittings attached to wheel cylinders.
  • Each wheel has opposing pistons drum brake.
  • Hydraulic pressure is produced to push the piston and these hydraulic pressure forces the brake pads into wheel cylinder.
Brake-by-wire
  • It consists of a system of electronic wires.
  • When a brake pedal is pushed, they measures the electrical resistance and sends signals to the vehicles computer also known as Electronic Control Unit, which calculates the applied force and applies it to the hydraulic pump system.
Anti lock Braking System (ABS)
  • An electrical control unit, hydraulic actuator and individual wheel speed sensors that work together to prevent brakes from locking up when they are “slammed on” by rapidly pumping brakes when a potential “lockup” is detected.
  • Each wheel is controlled individually to maintain traction.
Power brake booster
  • In this system a vacuum power naturally produced in an engine to amplify the force applied by the driver’s foot to stop even heavy vehicles.
Air brakes
  • In this system, air is used instead of hydraulic fluid to activate a standard disc or drum brake.
  • We can see this type of brakes usually in buses, trucks and trailers.
Advanced emergency braking system (AEBS)
  • It's an autonomous safety system that has sensors to monitor a vehicle’s nearness of other vehicles and automatically applies emergency brake to avoid collision
Brake systems, whether it's air, hydraulics or computer, are equipped for safety. These are some of the brakes used in a vehicle.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Natural Looking Water Fountain in Your Garden Landscape

Fountain requires very less maintenance unlike waterfall or fountain and it also adds beauty to your landscape. So are you planning for a fountain in your garden? Then this article will help you in making your garden landscape beautiful with fountain.

Choosing the fountain
There are various types of fountains available, whether it may be for backyard or frontyard. Some of the fountains that you can use for outdoor garden theme or landscape are ceramic planter fountain, stone assembled fountain, plant pots water fountain, etc. They come in various sizes, colors, materials and shapes. Some are made out of natural materials and some are of artificial. If you want to enhance the earthy look of your garden you can go for a stone fountain.

Make it a focal point
Once you purchase the fountain make it as the central piece in your garden landscape to attract the butterflies and birds. Gardens having the focal point enhances the look of the landscape.

Decorate the fountain bed with stones and water plants
Add stones to your fountain bed to give it a natural look. Collect or gather the natural gravel stones of various colors and sizes and gather them around your fountain. Stones give natural appearance if they are placed around the recirculating fountain.

Lighten-up the fountain
Lights make your fountain more beautiful at the night time. Various colors of lights can be placed near the fountain. Water flowing out of the fountain appears in the color which you used for lighting. For your stylish garden lights give smart look.

Benefits of fountain in a garden
Fountains not only adds beauty to your garden, but the soothing sound of the fountain makes stress relief to the people, purifies the air and reduces the air pollution, drinking sources for pets or birds, etc. So, get set your fountain and enjoy its benefits making your landscape beautiful.