Archive for the “Home and Garden” Category

Tips, tricks and ideas to help make your Flower Garden a delightful reality.

It’s never to soon to start thinking about your flower garden plans. In most areas it’s not even to late.

flower-gardenFlower garden ideas can be a real balancing act. On the one hand, you want your flower garden to be bright and colorful. You don’t want the same bed of flowers, trees, and small fountain that your neighbor has.

If you’re like us, you want something different that will show that you are unique, creative and quite the home gardener. Something that expresses your individuality. After all, why else would you be here looking for ideas. Why would you spend so much time thinking about and figuring out ways to really enjoy your garden areas?

You know you think big…we all do but you and I both know that your flower garden ideas can’t become too outlandish. outlandish-gardenIt’s a known fact with us gardeners– the most innovative, adventurous flower garden ideas tend to never get realized.

They are either way too expensive or too much work to finish in one planting season. Or they end up being way too exotic to meet the approval of every one involved with the decision.

It’s o.k. to dream, but once you start up on a project you should be reasonably certain that you can actually follow through with it successfully.

That is why, when it comes to flower garden design ideas, less is more. Don’t get me wrong – after you have been doing it for a few years, you will have a better grasp of what you can and can’t accomplish in the planting season.

Still, when you’re first starting off, you should keep your flower garden idea pretty small and compact.

Here’s a tip… try using a sparse design. Don’t plant huge banks of flowers – plant a few flowers here and there, combined with some ornamental pieces. This way you’ll create small easy to care for eye catching areas of elegance that can always be added too.

Most professional gardeners will agree that new gardeners should consider a simple rule of thumb for flower planting ideas:

“figure out how much time you have, then, come up with a plan that should take about half that long.”

Everything always takes longer than you think it would – particularly if you are new to something.

Once you have accomplished small garden areas you can add on some more flower garden ideas along the way.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to plan it all out at once. You will find that what you do even as simple as two or three small flower garden beds will be very appealing, soothing to the eye and inspiring to you and all who see what you’ve done through proper planning.

For more garden planning information check out our related posts:

The Gardeners Handbook
Gardening Secrets For Spring Garden Preparation

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Who would have thought Listerine would work on more than bade breath!

angry-man-swatting-mosquitoHave you ever had an outdoor party at your home or garden where the bugs seemed to be having all the fun biting everyone? 

At a recent party, I noticed a man spraying the lawn and deck floor with Listerine!

The little pesty demons disappeared! mosquito

The very next outdoor event I had I filled a small spray bottle with some cheap listerine and used it around my seat whenever I saw mosquitoes. 

It worked as well.. It even worked at a picnic where we sprayed the area around the food table, the children’s swing area, and the standing water nearby.

During the summer, I don’t leave home without it!

Feel free to try it yourself and pass this tip on.

I have been told that it repels chiggers too.

 

OUR FRIEND’S COMMENTS: 

I tried this on my deck and around all of my doors.  It works – in fact, it killed them 

instantly. I bought my bottle from Target and it cost me $1.89. It really doesn’t take much, and it is a big bottle, too; so it is not as expensive to use as the can of Bug-spray you buy that doesn’t last 30 minutes.

So, try this, please. It will last a couple of days. Don’t spray directly on a wood door (like your front door), but spray around the frame. Spray around the window frames, and even inside the dog house.

Maybe your next outdoor event won’t be ruined by naughty little un-invited pest!  

 

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“Make your garden space come alive at night with low voltage landscape lights.”

katies-landscape-lighting



Contemporary Low Voltage Kichler landscape lights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
This is the perfect time of year to plan the landscape lighting for your patio, deck and garden area.

We went on a quest to find the ultimate, high quality and most reliable lighting and this MR16 accent light made out of durable die-cast aluminum construction really caught our eye.

It has heat-resistant flat glass and is featured is in a textured verdigris finish.

It measures 4 1/2″ dia by 4 5/8″ deep and 6 /14″ high and comes with fixture and stake. It uses 75w MR16 bulb, not included and Free Shipping is included.

A light of this quality is sure to last a very long time.

Follow this link for a few suggestions on lighting your backyard oasis with ultimate success and ease!

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Tankless Water Heaters by Low Energy Systems

Are you considering a tankless water heater?

Keep in mind that they can run entirely on gas (both propane and natural gas)  are available and require no electricity.

When shopping for a new hot water heater and considering going tankless, it is important to select the correct water heater.

ALWAYS NOTE many of them say gas, but they still require electricity for the electric spark ignition and electrical components.

This is always important for us at Home And Garden Guide Online to point this out to or website visitors who are considering a tankless hot water heater for their home or garden greenhouse.

Some of our customers say they want one that runs entirely on electricity.

It’s important to note that when you want to run a heater completely off of electricity, your current electrical service must be able to handle it? 

To continue reading, be sure to check out our complete Tankless Water Heater Guide

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