[July 19, 2011] Oklahoma home and garden calendar and briefs Tweet Jul 18, 2011 (The Oklahoman - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- CALENDAR For more information, call the phone number or use the email address provided. To submit items, call Melissa Howell at 475-3770 or send email to [email protected]. Please submit items at least 10 days before publication. Meetings Late Bloomers Garden Club, noon Tuesday, Will Rogers Garden Exhibition Center, 3400 NW 36. Potluck lunch followed by program on National Geographic's "The Food Ark." Meeting includes a seed exchange. OK Organic Gardening Association, 7 p.m. Friday, Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City Horticulture Center, 400 N Portland. Program is on fall gardening. Green table at 6:30 p.m. Visitors welcome. 831-1488. OKC Hosta Club, 7 p.m. Thursday, July 28, Will Rogers Garden Exhibition Center, 3400 NW 36. Program is "It's a Small World After All -- Mini Hostas." Visitors welcome. 330-2925. Central Oklahoma Beekeepers' Association, 7 p.m. Thursday, July 28, Oklahoma County Extension Center, 930 N Portland. Visitors welcome. Workshops Caring for your Lawn and Garden seminar, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday Cleveland County Extension Center, Room C, 601 E Robinson, Norman. Cleveland County extension horticulturist Tracey Payton will address common problems in the landscape or garden. This is a free, public event. Register by Wednesday, July 20. 321-4774. Community garden workshop, 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday, Oklahoma County Extension Center, 930 N Portland. 713-1125. "Square-foot gardening" demonstration with emphasis on fall gardening, hosted by the Cleveland County Master Gardener Association, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 30, in Room C at the northwest corner of the Norman Farm Market building at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds, 615 E Robinson, Norman. 321-4774. Fall gardening workshop, 1:30 to 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, Oklahoma County Extension Center, 930 N Portland. 713-1125. ON THE SHELF Book advocates eco-smart gardening Gardens aren't always green in terms of being environmentally sensitive. Gardens and the tools and products used to maintain them can waste water, gobble resources, contribute to pollution and harm wildlife. Garden designer and sustainability advocate Alice Bowe helps readers create landscapes that are easy on the Earth with her new book, "High-Impact Low-Carbon Gardening." Bowe's book teaches the principles of sustainable landscaping and helps readers put them to work in their own yards. Photos in the book provide examples of those principles in action, so readers can see how beautiful green gardening can be. "High-Impact Low-Carbon Gardening" is published by Timber Press and sells for $24.95 in softcover. McClatchy-Tribune WHAT'S NEW Kit gives countertops a concrete veneer Your tired countertops can get the look of concrete with the EZ Top resurfacing system. The concrete overlay can be used on most countertop materials, including plastic laminate, tile, marble and granite. It goes on in multiple thin coats and is designed for use by professionals or do-it-yourselfers. The product comes in white or gray and can be tinted with a colorant you order separately or stained after it's installed. EZ Top can be ordered from the Stamp Store, (888) 848-0059. A 6-gallon kit covers 60 square feet and regularly costs $99. Shipping is extra. McClatchy-Tribune Q&A Bath-in-a-Box equals instant gratification Q: We have to renovate the master bath in the house we just bought. It's from the '60s, and pink and black are not us! We've rehabbed other homes and pretty much know what we want, but time is a problem, as both of us have new teaching jobs. Two questions: Should we just hire a designer? How do you find a good one when you're new to the area? A: Finding a "good" designer is exactly like finding a "good" doctor or auto repair shop in unfamiliar territory. Start by asking around for recommendations. Or you can explore avenues such as the National Kitchen & Bath Association. Members must meet certain professional standards in skills and business practices. Click on www.nkba.org for a list of designers in your area. A more novel approach is a new idea in bath remodeling called "Bath Simple." Founded by John Crowley, a systems and products developer, and Bill Hunscher, an ace in the hardware and recycling industries, "Bath Simple" is essentially a bath-in-a-box. You design it online -- there's a wide range of styles and prices in fixtures, furnishings and surfaces to choose from -- and they deliver it to you with everything you need: lock, stock, grout, paint and the bathroom sink. You can hire a contractor, do it yourself or use a Bath Simple-certified contractor to pull all the pieces together according to your plan (which can be drawn up with the help of a company design consultant). Then, all of your old fixtures and construction waste (except for drywall) go in the box and back to Bath Simple for recycling. A new Bath Simple arrives on-site three to six weeks after it's ordered. It can cost between $3,500 and $35,000, depending on your choice of ingredients. Crowley says to figure on a similar amount for installation. For more information, go to www.bathsimple.com. To see more of The Oklahoman, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsok.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]