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If you’re a gardener, or at least want to be one, there’s no time as amazing as early spring. This is when your plants are starting to wake from their long winter’s sleep. The white snow and frost flowers are giving way to green grass and emerging vegetation that seems to multiply like magic day after day.
You’re all alone at home when you hear it. Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shhhhhhhh… and it seems to be coming from outside. You look around, very puzzled and a little afraid, then it comes again sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shhhhhhhh.
As summer slowly gives way to fall, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to clean up all the mess that’s accumulated around your house. You know the kind: algae growing on your siding, dirt and dust that’s discoloring your sidewalk and whatever that black stuff is on your deck.
Your new house has an awesome outdoor kitchen, or maybe you just had one installed, either way you’re all set to grill outside all summer (and maybe into the fall and winter, too). Have you stopped to consider all the things that it takes to keep an outdoor kitchen running smoothly? Remember there’s live electricity, gas lines, appliances and other things that are going to require regular effort.
Concrete has been used by humans for thousands of years, with some of the oldest examples of wells and houses made with the stuff dating back to 6500 BC. Although the ingredients have been refined over time, it’s still basically the same material that those ancient people valued so highly.
Every morning when you look out of the window of your breakfast nook into your front yard, you’re met with the same green carpet, devoid of anything remotely interesting or different. It’s not that you hate plants, it’s just that they can be a huge maintenance headache and, frankly, you don’t have time to pamper them to keep them alive just so you have something new to look at while you drink your coffee.
Is your landscaping full of weeds? Are you finding yourself driving by neighbors’ homes, envying their perfect, weed-free plantings? If so, you may be in need of some easy-care landscaping. Many of the problems you see in your own yard and others are due to outdated landscaping practices or general neglect of installations that were assumed to be “one and done.” The good news is that you can have a low-care landscape, even if the upfront labor means giving up a few weekends.
Being a homeowner means more than just cleaning, decorating and maintaining your house. It’s also your responsibility to take care of whatever land is yours. For a lot of people, this means putting their own mark with landscaping like perennials, shrubs and trees. Unfortunately for those trees, many are planted in the wrong place and end up being cut down in their prime. It’s a great loss to the neighborhood and to your yard. Next time you plant a tree, you’ll need to be more careful about where you put it.
Planning a garden out on a paper is one thing, but when it comes time to get your hands dirty, it might all go a bit sideways. Gardening is an exercise in improvisation, forcing you to work with soil that’s probably less than ideal to grow plants that may have very specific nutritional requirements. How do you know when your garden’s ready to grow plants?