Category Archives: Uncategorized

Home Decorating Trends for 2016

Posted on October 25, 2015 | Leave a comment

Nature comes inside

If you don’t have a backyard with access to greenery in its natural habitat, then bring it to you. “Urban living comes with a detachment of the natural sources that generate our food, longer supply chains and less personal interaction with what we eat,” says Emir Lopez from Fluid Growers, who make portable gardens to grow in your kitchen. “We all long to be connected back to nature and back to food, and to learn and teach our children where food really comes from.”

Common remodeling mistakes and how to avoid them

Posted on October 23, 2015 | Leave a comment

Renovations are supposed to bring out the best in a property, but sometimes they go hair-tearingly bad.

Not only are reno mistakes expensive and unsightly, they can also seriously devalue your house.

Worse still, if left unfixed, a botched reno can damage other parts of the house or even be a safety hazard.

The good news is these common reno disasters can be avoided.

Poor Painting – If slapping on a coat of paint is the icing on the cake, some DIYers forget to do the baking. Ignore fundamental surface preparation and you could be left with a pretty mess, says renovation specialist Charyn Youngson of Houses to Impress.

“If there are cracks you need to fill the cracks with the right type of filler and then carefully sand the area until it is perfectly smooth,” she says.

“This is an art in itself and no amount of paint will hide unsightly rough surfaces.”

Thoroughly clean walls or ceilings stained by mould or nicotine and use an appropriate undercoat sealer, Youngson advises. Otherwise, the mould or nicotine can bleed through the new paintwork.

Save on water while still growing food

Posted on October 21, 2015 | Leave a comment

This gardening season, with climate change causing higher temperatures and desperate droughts in multiple regions, many of us will experience weeks or even months in which sparse rainfall won’t keep pace with the sun’s hot rays. To keep your crops’ thirst quenched, try some options outlined in this roundup of water-wise gardening strategies, from familiar garden watering systems — such as soaker and drip hoses — to a lesser-known system called “partial root-zone drying.”

Weeding and mulching boost water efficiency – A water-wise garden is no place for weeds. According to research from Michigan State University, a combo of good weed control and adequate mulch can conserve up to 1 inch of water per week during toasty summer months. Left uncontrolled, however, some weeds, such as crab grass and lamb’s-quarters, will slurp up more than 80 gallons of water to produce just 1 pound of plant tissue.

Soaker hoses and drip irrigation systems – Drip irrigation systems distribute water at regular intervals through a network of hoses or tapes with slits, pores, emitters or drippers. They work well for rows of crops spaced at varying intervals (you can set the emitters at wider spacing if you’re watering a crop planted farther apart), and perform best on relatively level ground, because pressure changes caused by sloping ground would result in uneven watering. If you have a large garden, look for systems that use inexpensive drip tape (brands include Aqua-Traxx, Chapin and T-Tape). The tiny holes in some emitters and drippers can become clogged with soil particles rather easily, so at least one filter needs to be screwed into the water line between the faucet (or reservoir) and the distribution lines of most drip irrigation systems.

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Category Archives: Uncategorized

Home Decorating Trends for 2016

Common remodeling mistakes and how to avoid them

Save on water while still growing food

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