home, garden and lifestyle

Archive for the ‘gardening’ Category

There are many times when you want your home to have a lift, but you cannot afford to decorate. Buying flowers and putting them in key places in a hallway or various rooms can lift a room and make it seem brighter and more cheerful. Flowered pot plants can sometimes have a similar effect.

Bouquets do not need to be expensive to make a difference. If you do not have a florist nearby there is more than a possibility that a local shop or supermarket sells bouquets and floral arrangements. Bright arrangements can add cheer and fun to a room, whereas muted colors can add a stylish but subtle elegance to a room.

If you are buying them to add something special to a room to draw the attention away from a particular area on the opposite side of the room that needs decorating or fixing; a larger display of several bunches of flowers might be all that is needed. Bright colors may draw the eye, or just the subtle beauty of the flowers themselves. A mix of different colors and sizes may be helpful.

Some homes do not just have hanging plants outside. Some homes have rooms with hanging plants inside. Spider plants are a favorite and very easy to grow grouping that with some flora in several pots in a hanging basket or two can be quite appealing.

Flowers and plants add something living to a room besides you and can give a feeling of life and freshness. If you do not have much success with plants then it may be best to stick to bouquets or bunches of flowers and just change the water in the vases every day. If they start to look a bit wilted then adding a little warm sugared water can perk them up. Cutting the bottom of the stalks at an angle can also help them drink the water in the vase more easily.
Read the rest of this entry »

You look out one morning in early spring, and what seems like overnight, your beautiful lawn has been overtaken by an assortment of weeds. Then, you make a trip down to the local lawn and garden center to find a solution. You ask the associate for their advice, and come away further confused. So, for the next forty five minutes, you study all the labels giving yourself a crash course in weed management. So, now you select a product, buy a sprayer, and pay much more than you anticipated, and it’s back home to attack those unwanted little creeps invading your lawn.

Getting back home, you get your arsenal amassed. Chemical….check. Sprayer…..check. Rubber gloves….check. Safety goggles….check. Spouse laughing at you…check. And now the moment you have been waiting for! Charge! You attack the lawn from corner to corner applying what you are sure is certain death. And now realizing your lawn is much bigger than what you thought, you are finished. Sure it took up two and a half hours of your Saturday, but you feel like it is worth it knowing that in a few days you will see nothing but shriveled up carcasses’ as a result from your attack.
Read the rest of this entry »