For anyone with a home facing east or west, it’s very important to consider the trajectory of the daily flight of the sun at different times throughout the year.  Why is that?  For the simple reason that the sun has a predictable tendency to make its daily path across the southerly sky during the winter, as opposed to a more overhead arc during the peak of summer.   How that affects the amount of sunlight your yard gets on each side of your home is something that everyone should be aware of before picking out and spending what could be a costly amount of money on trees, plants, and shrubs, only to see them wither from not enough light, or too much.

It’s not enough to only consider the growing zone you reside in for the purposes of picking the right plants.  Neither is it enough of an excuse to stock up at the local nursery because the spring planting season has arrived.  If you’ve lived in your home long enough, you’ve most likely become greatly accustomed to the amount of sunlight each area of your yard receives.  Well, have heart new homeowners; because keeping a few key things in mind will help keep you from making costly plant purchases as well.

First and foremost, you need to always read the information tag that accompanies, or should accompany every plant you see for sale.  If you can’t find one, make a point to ask one of the nursery employees what the plant is and what they know about its water needs, growth habit, soil needs, and of course, its sunlight needs.  If there is any doubt or hesitancy in their response, you probably should move on to a tagged plant, or even a new nursery if you’re finding  a common lack of help or information to rely on, and research more about the plant you like, if it’s important to you.

The next thing to consider, is what locations in your yard would be good candidates for your new plant.  Think of how the new plant will compliment, contrast, or simply fit in with the theme of your garden.    Then, take mental notes on whether or not the new plant’s needs for water, soil, and growth as you’ve read on the tag will be met in those locations.

Finally, consider the amount of sunlight your new plant will receive throughout various times of the year.  Not just the time of the year you happen to be purchasing the plant.  If you have an east facing home, always remember that the north side of your home during the winter will receive very little if any direct sunlight due to the southerly arc of the sun, while its south side soaks up all the rays.  So, if you’ve fallen in love with Rosemary, Geraniums, or any other plants that need full sun year round, you should forget about planting or placing them on the north side of your home.  At the same time, you’ll want to avoid buying shade loving plants for the winter shaded north side of your home,  because they will soon enough discover the hot wrath of the summer sun come June and July.

Keep in mind however, there are a lot of determining factors on whether or not a plant grows well in a designated location in your yard, such as soil quality, excessive wind that can dry out a plant, and insects just to name a few.  To sum it up for the purposes of sunlight though, get to know how much sun your home gets on all sides, north, south, east, and west, to help you in picking out the right plants for your yard.

About the Author: Linda Johnson is a degreed and experienced crafter and interior/exterior decorating specialist, with years of experience helping friends, family, and clients solve their decorating and craft needs. Linda and her contributing writers invite you to submit your own great ideas for free, and also find tons more craft ideas and landscape decorating projects like this with photos to try yourself.

The idea of using pop cans to heat a home may sound a little strange at first, but a company in Canada has proved the idea makes great sense. Cansolair Inc. has used aluminum cans in it’s solar panels for over 10 years now, and they’ve even won awards for their design.

Why Pop Cans?

The company’s heaters, made with recycled aluminum cans, are not only cheaper than other types, but have proven to be very efficient as well. The company reports exponential growth over the past few years.

The Cansolair solar panel is about 4 ft. wide by 8 ft. tall. It can produce up to 10,000 BTUs per hour and raise the temperature of the air passing through it by 50F or more. It includes a fan to push the air through the cans which increases it’s efficiency.

How They Work

The heaters are normally installed on the outside walls of a building, and of course, in a location that gets a lot of sun. While they won’t help you much on a cloudy day, they can make a big difference in your heating bill on cold sunny days.

The idea is to draw air from near the floor of any room in a building, and pass it through the solar panel, which contains several columns of cans. The air is then returned to the same room near the ceiling and at up to 50F higher temperature. The cans are stacked and have large holes cut in both ends to allow the air to pass inside them while the outside of the cans is getting hot from the sun.

Thin-walled aluminum, which is what the cans are made of, has good thermal conductivity, making it an excellent material for transferring solar heat to the air as it flows past the cans. Flat black paint on the outside of the cans aids in the process by absorbing the sun’s heat more quickly.

Excellent Project For Do-It-Yourselfers

Cansolair has the facilities and materials to produce sophisticated units on a large scale, but the basic concept is simple enough that virtually anyone can build their own with readily available materials.

Frank Gombik of Ontario, Canada made one to heat his workshop in the winter, and Daniel Strohl of Vermont constructed one to heat his garage.

Daniel noted that the south wall of his garage was receiving a lot of sunshine, but the temperature inside was still cold. He constructed a simple free-standing heater, containing 45 aluminum cans. He used a vacuum cleaner hose to pipe to and from the garage.

Frank had two goals in mind – he wanted to heat his workshop and also replace the old double-door entry leading into it from the outside. His heater included a total of 176 cans and some special temperature sensing equipment to measure the system’s efficiency.

Constructing this type of solar heater is well within the skills of the average handyman. The pop cans are free and the other materials inexpensive. This project has the double advantage of free solar energy and conserving our natural resources, not to mention the free heat in the winter!

About the author: John Horning has a website devoted to solar-power for the home. Learn more about building a solar-powered heater out of recycled cans on his website, www.DIY-Solar-Power.net