Your gardens need music too

PIC: Wind chimes are also used as decorative pieces. (Credit: AFP)

GARDENING

A beautiful compound is more than just one with flowers and amazing garden features, like walkways. A garden that will avail you with the perfect relaxation spots needs to have some music playing from different corners.

According to Ethel Namono, a landscaper with Iconic Hedges in Kampala, every yard or garden needs wind chimes.

"Wind chimes are outdoor decorations that double as musical instruments played by the wind," she says.

Most wind chimes feature tubes of varying lengths suspended in a circle from a platform by strings or wires. A wind chime can have six or more strings or bells.

Whenever the chimes are blown by the wind, they bang together to produce sweet melodies.

Materials for wind chimes

Most chimes are made from metals such as aluminum and copper. Others can also be made from wood, bamboo and sea shells as well to produce awesome melodies to the ears. However, the larger and longer the tubes, the lower and deeper the sounds.

Short, narrow tubes tend to produce higher pitches, just like aluminum wind chimes tend to provide the longest and loudest sounds.

Meanwhile, metal and wooden wind chimes made with specifically-sized tubes can be tuned to particular notes. Those made out of seashells or glass, on the other hand, cannot be tuned to particular notes, but can produce a wide range of sounds.

However, to people who love quiet and peaceful environments, wind chimes noise can be inconveniencing.

Making wind chimes

You can make your own wind chimes from things around your house such as spoons, bottle tops, keys, tins, jewellery and cooking utensils as long as they can produce noise when banged together.

Simply fasten each on a string and hang them from a base, which can be a plate or saucepan, before tying them on a tree branch.