Cleaning the house makes you wish for a magic machine that can do it for you. And turns out, you have one right in your laundry room—the washing machine, of course.
08.06.2024 - 13:25 / gardengatemagazine.com
Should You Trim Your Own Trees? Are you a DIY gardener? Me too. But sometimes you find out why it's better to call the professionals... We're DIY gardeners
My honey and I are DIY people. When we wanted to put in a raised bed garden, we built and installed the beds in the yard. When our shed doors rotted off the hinges, we made new ones that matched our house and hung them together. We put up a new picket fence when we decided our old one was hideous. My honey did have his drill slip and put a screw into my foot during that project, but in his defense, I was wearing flip-flops.
However, my husband and I disagree on whether a handful of jobs should be DIY or done by a professional with the right equipment. When our short apple tree needs trimming, that is a DIY job. But we live in a very old neighborhood with very large and very tall trees. Like, really tall trees. To trim these, you need to be the owner of a boom truck or someone who climbs trees and trims for a living. My honey is neither and a little bit afraid of heights. I don't think he should be trimming tall trees.
In need of a tree trimA few years ago, the tree in our front yard needed a significant trim. Branches were scraping the windows of my daughter’s third-floor windows. Wonderfully convenient for the squirrels who enjoyed this Pangea Bridge from tree to house, but not good for the roof. Honey was insistent that he could do it himself. He had a pole saw and a rope, and he could tie himself to our daughter’s bed, dangle out the third-story window, and trim the branches with a chainsaw.
Let me pause here to remind you that I live in a very tall house. My response was immediately no. After a reminder about how much life insurance we carried, we eventually
Cleaning the house makes you wish for a magic machine that can do it for you. And turns out, you have one right in your laundry room—the washing machine, of course.
If you’re living on the East Coast right now, you might have heard about the Joro spider—and if you haven't, allow us to introduce you. This (admittedly scary-looking) insect has been slowly moving up the East Coast, with sightings starting in new states this summer.
If you've dealt with stubborn stains that won't budge, don't get down about what you're doing wrong. While you can try all kinds of laundry hacks, from dish detergent to pantry staples to stain removers, the answer might be more straightforward: it actually might come down to the temperature of your water.
New bed sheets are always a luxury we can't wait to sleep on. If you're like us, you can't wait to pull out your new sheets, make your bed, and get a good night's sleep (once you've narrowed down your favorite bed sheet type, of course).
As far as all of the pieces that make up a bedding set go, pillowcases are the most important to keep clean. Your pillow makes prolonged contact with your hair and skin oils—and, if we're being honest, sometimes drool.
Gooseberries are delicious cooked in pies or swirled into sweetened cream to make a gooseberry fool. They’re easy to grow, and just a single bush will reward you with masses of berries for up to 15 years.
Aesthetics and style trend have taken over our interiors, and we love that trends are spreading into our outdoor spaces, too. This year, as organic decor and biophilic design continue to dominate our home decor feeds, a similar gardening trend is growing—literally.
There’s much to love about hydrangeas, whether it’s their voluminous blooms, vast range of species and colors, or varying heights. This all means the options for incorporating hydrangeas into your yard are nearly endless. But, if having so many options to choose from sounds more intimidating than invigorating, Linda Vater, plant expert for Southern Living® Plant Collection advises looking to your yard for the best fit.
There’s nothing like the clean lines of freshly cut grass. But, what if we told you skipping your final step of bagging those grass clippings can actually help you grow lusher, thicker grass—and at no additional cost to you? Allowing your mower to leave behind grass clippings can have a variety of benefits for your lawn.
Scraping off greasy grime and burnt residue from an oven is no joke—it takes hours and requires some serious elbow grease. But, it doesn’t have to be this way as long as you stick to a regular cleaning schedule.
Bobby Flay has said that his last meal would be a cheeseburger (“with two slices of American cheese”). And the “most signature dish that I have” is the shrimp and roasted garlic tamale that’s become a staple on the menu at all of his Mesa Grill restaurants. He also revealed to our pals at Allrecipes that chicken “is sort of ‘my protein.’”