Garden Hose

Deciding to plant a garden is the easy part. The planning process, however, may leave novice gardeners with more than a few questions.Now is the best time to start looking for answers. Even though the typical planting date in Maryland is after the last frost (around Mother's Day is often a good rule of thumb), you can actually begin to design your garden now.Kirsten Coffen, a landscape architect and owner of Garden Architecture in White Marsh, says the first step should be to figure out whether you want plants, flowers, vegetables, trees or shrubs.

Two elderly residents of a West Baltimore rowhouse died yesterday evening in an intense fire that consumed the interior of their home in the 2500 block of W. Fayette St. as a neighbor tried to fight the flames with a garden hose.A third resident, an elderly woman who suffered smoke inhalation, was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.The identities of the house's occupants were not released.Battalion Chief Hector L. Torres, a Fire Department spokesman, said the two-story brick house was filled with flames when firefighters arrived at 7: 17 p.m. The flames leaped out of the second-floor windows and jumped to the adjoining house to the east.

WASHING windows the usual way, with ladders, rags and buckets, is not my idea of recreation. But squirting them with water from a hose is. You get to pretend you're a fireman, drilling your target with a stream of water.Now thanks to a window- washing gizmo that you hook to your garden hose, you can spray your residence under the guise of performing a household chore.The gizmo is called Windex Outdoor. It is a jug of cleaning solution that attaches to a garden hose.We have some windows on the second floor of our house which, I suspect, haven't seen soap since some time after the Civil War, when the house was built.

A 14-year-old boy was arrested yesterday after a telephoned bomb threat was traced to his Glen Burnie residence, county police said.Police said the call was received at the 911 center in Millersville shortly before 9 a.m. from a boy who said bombs in three schools would go off in two hours. The caller did not specify which schools, police said.The boy, who was arrested at his home, confessed to making the call, police said. He was charged as a juvenile with making a false report of a bomb.

Egad, it's New Year's Day. Time to make a bushel of new gardening resolutions and post them on the refrigerator door. Item No. 1 concerns the icebox itself: I promise to shake the dirt off all vegetables before bringing them inside. Half of the soil in the back yard winds up in the lettuce crisper. My wife says she is tired of cleaning the refrigerator with a garden shovel.This is also the year that I promise to:* Grow flowers tall enough to hide the mailbox. If the postman can't find me, he can't leave any bills.

Dear Santa,Help! Here's the wish list of a desperate gardener. It's been a rough year for garden tools. Many of mine are battered or broken. Don't bother hauling this stuff down the chimney. Just drop these goodies in the garden and I'll use them directly.This is what I need:* A garden hoe. I know, I know -- every year I ask for a hoe, hoe, hoe. All of mine are chipped and bent from striking roots and rocks. Bring me Super Hoe, Santa -- one that even Mr. MacGregor couldn't wear out.* A pruning saw. This crescent-shaped tool is made to trim hard-to-reach branches.

Around the house* When eating steamed crabs or barbecued chicken, keep a supply of baby wipes nearby to clean hands.* Store coffee beans in an air-tight container in the freezer up to three months. Refrigerated beans can be stored from three to four weeks.* Paint ends of curtain rods with colorless nail polish. This will avoid snagging sheer curtains when threading them onto the rods.* Clean high chair. Take outside and wash off food spots with soapy sponge; rinse with garden hose.In the yard* Make a quick sand box for your toddler.

Usually on Valentine's Day, I do what most men do. I grit my teeth, pry open my wallet and shell out big bucks for a dozen roses -- flowers I could pick for free this summer.This year, however, I have other plans. Let others flock to the florist. I'm giving my wife something different tomorrow.Forget flowers, she's getting a gift that won't wilt next week. A gift she can savor all summer.She's getting a dozen wishes, not roses. Wishes for garden chores that I'll complete without complaint.

It's crazy to make New Year's resolutions for the garden.It's crazy because I can never remember them. Promises made in January, when the ground is frozen, are forgotten by March, when the garden thaws.My life is filled with empty promises. In years past, I have pledged to clean my tools regularly, give the garden a tuneup (soil test), and curb my spending on seeds. Ha! Broken vows, all.Some of my resolutions appear frivolous. Once I swore to capture a nematode, a tiny insect, and examine it under a microscope.

Lightning caused a fire that forced an Eldersburg family of four out of its home early Sunday, Deputy State Fire Marshal Allen Ward said yesterday.The fire, which was discovered shortly before 6 a.m., apparently started in the basement of the home after a severe thunderstorm passed through southern Carroll.Kenneth and Nancy Wanzer and their sons, Bradley, 16, and Douglas, 14, of the 5400 block of Emerald Drive, were awakened by frequent lightning about 5:35 a.m., Mr. Ward said.The family checked for a possible lightning strike and, finding none, returned to bed.Soon, the family again was awakened by a loud explosion in the basement of the house near the edge of Liberty Reservoir, found smoke coming from the laundry and workshop area and fled outside.