Category: Life

The dog days of summer are a great time for getting off. Before leaving on this vacation, have a look at our list and think about tackling some of the tasks — reduce that water bill, keep pets healthy and cool, and creep up your home’s security features — before you go. With fall around the corner, it may feel good to get a head start on preparing and organizing for another season. Listed below are nine to-dos you might want to add to your list.

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1. Boost home security. With all these people going on holidays in August, it’s unfortunately a frequent time for dwelling break-ins to happen. Make sure your home is protected with the addition of deadbolt locks, trimming bushes near windows and doors, and adding motion-sensing lights outside back and side doors and windows.

10 Ways to Keep Your Home Safe While You Are Traveling

Polhemus Savery DaSilva

2. Fix leaks and drips, inside and out. Save your water bill by making sure you are not wasting a drop. We are apt to notice when an indoor tap is leaking, but you might not know about slow drips outside. Take a tour of all outside spigots and outside showers, and fix leaks as necessary.

California Waterscapes

3. Keep pets trendy. Clean and sanitize pet spaces indoors, such as food and water dishes and bedding. Provide outdoor pets with plenty of water and shade throughout the day. Keep a look out for ticks, which may be picked up especially easily at this time of year.

8 Garden Ideas to Delight Your Dog

Studio Sarah Willmer Architecture

4. Get rid of lurking dirt in the kitchen. You know those tiny cleaning tasks which are so easy to put off indefinitely? Sort of like getting your teeth cleaned, these activities might cause dread but leave you feeling great if they’re done.

A half an hour is all you should probably speed through those less-than-glamorous kitchen cleaning tasks: Wipe out kitchen trash cans and recycling bins using warm water, run a specialized coffeemaker cleaner or white vinegar throughout the coffeemaker (complete by running plain water throughout), and wash down kitchen lighting fixtures and fans.

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5. Weed out old summer toys and equipment. Donate, recycle or throw worn and broken beach toys, umbrellas and the like instead of storing them. Make the most of end-of-season sales to stock up on anything you require, such as fresh beach towels.

Your Favorite Room By Cathy Zaeske

6. Check for dampness in the basement. If you reside in a climate with hot, humid summers, then now is the time you may notice dampness building up in the home. Make sure your dehumidifier is all up to the work and clean it thoroughly to reduce mould and mildew.

7. Replace washer hoses and clean dryer vents. Cracked washer hoses may cause costly leaks — check and replace yours until they become a problem. Clean out drier vents and hoses as well, along with your dryer will operate more efficiently.

Element Structure

8. Organize clothing closets. As the summer comes to an end, weed out clothing and accessories which you haven’t worn all season and donate them to charity, or drop them off in a consignment shop. Paring back and organizing what is left will make room for new fall buys.

Get It Done: Strike the Coat Closet

Austin Rese, LLC

9. Get a start on back-to-school prep. Whether or not you or your kids are in college, there’s something about the time of year which inspires a bit of stocking up and sorting out.

Make the most of the inclination and spend a morning reorganizing your fall zone from the doorway, the desk and anyplace else newspaper clutter tends to pile up. Treat yourself to some brand new message board, baskets or hooks.

Tell us : What is on your home to-do list?

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Anyone will tell you that “kids these days” aren’t spending enough time outside. Gardening with your kids is a great way to get them out of the home. Never gardened? Figuring out how to begin can be overpowering, but it does not need to be. Here’s what you need to get going:

1. Sun
2. Dirt
3. Water
4. Seeds or seedlings

It is really that simple.

First pick a place that gets at least six hours of sunlight.

Garden design perth

Bonus if it is close to your child’s play area.

Alison Hodgson

It is never too early to start. I gave each of my kids mini garden tools when they were toddlers, and they loved to dig in the dirt.

All three were invited to garden, but just my youngest, Eden, is a gardener in her own right. Each of the kids were permitted to pick out plants, but Eden was the only one I gave a single space to when she was 4 years old, and that little shift of ownership, so youthful, made all the difference. Here she is in front of her garden with her uncle Ren.

It all began on a spring visit to a nursery. I told Eden she can select some flowers for her garden, thinking a few four-packs, but she commandeered a whole flat — 48 plants! I chose to let her have fun and didn’t intervene in some of her choices, some of which looked quite garish in the cart. Once planted they were amazing, and that was that.

Alison Hodgson

The “Garden of Eden” was just one section of a pie-shaped series of planting beds. Eden’s plot was roughly 5 by 9 feet, and most of that was shot up with a tall tepee I created from tree branches tied and wrapped in twine. We covered the inner circle with a light layer of mulch and planted green bean seeds and morning glories at the base of every branch. To tell the truth, they never got enough sunlight to totally cover the structure, but we could harvest endless beans, and it was still a fantastic fort. Here you can see that as soon as the branches were put, the young gardener transferred in and started decorating.

Pat Brodie Landscape Design

In another homeowner’s garden, bamboo poles prove they’re a fantastic alternative if you don’t have access to branches that are tall.

Earth Mama Landscape Design

With your garden you can go as large as you need …

Nature’s Realm

… or as little.

Front yard or back — plant wherever sunlight is, like this glorious profusion …

BaDesign

… or a more comprised, as revealed here.

Plow & Hearth

Hardwood Raised Bed Garden Kit – $139.99

One raised bed is a great way to begin. You can make one economically, but if you’re not handy, you can purchase one. They come in a selection of prices.

Beertje Vonk Artist

This raised bed is about as straightforward as it gets. Go with cedar to avoid rotting.

Alison Hodgson

If you do not have the energy or space to make a new bed, that’s fine. When we moved into our new home, following our fire, Eden was excited to plant an extensive vegetable garden, but I was worn out. We compromised by buying a slew of seedlings and planted them together with the perennials and shrubs.

Eden wanted strawberries, red peppers, broccoli, kale, pumpkin, watermelon, zucchini and herbs. I desired tomatoes and basil — my summer garden bottom line.

See the guides to growing these summer crops

Alison Hodgson

Here Eden and Oliver were resting after planting strawberries.

With other garden beds I’ve gone into great lengths to purify the soil, but last year I kept it to digging slightly bigger holes than needed and filling them back with topsoil plus a bit of composted manure. It had been the laziest planting and, except for the watermelon, everything was nice.

Alison Hodgson

Your kids can also garden in pots.

Tip: Let your child make mistakes. (If you’re new to gardening, this might be simple!) Despite my recommendations, Eden packaged this planter with too many herbaceous plants, but she insisted. Not one of them prospered. Lesson learned — no big thing.

Jean Marsh Design

Some Favorite Plants to Try

Nasturtiums are a few of my favorite flowering annuals (plants that live just for a single season) to blend in with veggies. They’re extremely common and can be purchased at any local nursery. Their leaves are equally as amazing as the blossom.

Barbara Pintozzi

Snapdragons. Children love to make these “talk.”

Johnsen Landscapes & Pools

Verbena bonariensis is a airy perennial flower in the southern portion of the U.S., although it openly self-seeds, it isn’t thought to be invasive.

Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting

Cosmos come in many shades of pink, as well as white and less commonly chocolate brown. They can easily be started from seed.

Notice the pavers: Children love little paths.

Valerie McCaskill Dickman

If you’re new to gardening and feeling overwhelmed, then return to the basics: sunlight, dirt, water and seeds.

Even if your child’s storyline is 1 square foot and jammed into your landscaping, all that matters is that it belongs to him or her alone. Create a border with small rocks and have your child write their name on a bigger one. It is fun for a child to be permitted to say, “Mine!”

But small you begin, get outside; dig into the dirt, join with nature as well as your kids, plant some seeds or seedlings, and see them grow.

Alison Hodgson

Ren and Eden last summer, eager to make kale chips out of “Eden’s” kale.

Inform us What is in your list of things to plant this spring and summer?

More:
How to build a raised garden bed

guides into growing veggies

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