Wednesday 24 May 2017

13 Things Your Landscaper Won't Tell You: Expert Landscaping Tips Add to Home Value

"GMA" is teaming up with Reader's Digest on a special series of "13 Things Your ____ Won't Tell You." Add as much as 15 percent to your home's value with these expert landscaping tips.

1. Ditch the mower bag. Those grass clippings will become food for earthworms and microbes that will help make your lawn green and healthy.

2. Sure, the view from the street is important, but don't forget to look at your http://www.rainbird.com/landscape/index.htm landscape from inside the house. If you have a room with a big window, make sure it looks good from there too.

3. Don't fill every inch of your space with plants and flowers. By next spring, you'll have a weeding and pruning nightmare.

4. That "pretty" red mulch you love? It has been found to contain arsenic and other harsh chemicals that can be harmful to children and pets and will contaminate your soil.

5. Hate bagging leaves? You don't have to. If there's just a light layer, go over them with your mower and leave them on your lawn. As they break down, they'll help limit weeds from popping up.

6. You can send a sample of your soil to a local agricultural agency to have it tested. Dig down six to seven inches deep and then gather two cups of dirt into sample bags. Mail them off to find out what nutrients you need.

7. If you find a flower you like, always buy more than one. Plant clumps of species in odd numbers, such as five or seven in one area, or repeat the groupings throughout your landscape for a unifying effect.

8. Do-it-yourself landscapers tend to make their planting beds too narrow and too close to the house. You want to extend your beds out at least one to two thirds of the house's height, if not more.

9. Laying weed fabric is generally a waste of money and time for the long term; weeds just grow on top of it. I once had a customer whose beds had seven layers of weed fabric, yet she s till had weeds. I guess she kept thinking, If I put down just one more layer, the weeds will stop coming.

10. Most lawn fertilizers have about 30 percent nitrogen, which is way too much. Look for fertilizer with time-releasing water-insoluble nitrogen and use it only twice a year on a steady schedule, like on Memorial Day and after Labor Day. In general, well-irrigated and older lawns need less fertilizer.



11. Watch out for a gorgeous plant called purple loosestrife, or Lythrum salicaria, which a lot of nurseries still sell. Though it's inexpensive and has a lovely flower, it's an invasive species that will spread everywhere and choke out other plants.

12. To keep from overwatering your lawn, remember that one inch of water once a week is ideal, maybe once every five days in extreme heat, depending on your soil. Infreque nt watering encourages roots to grow deeper to find groundwater, creating a stronger plant.

13. Looking at a color wheel is a great way to choose garden flowers. Colors that are opposite each other, like yellow and purple, look beautiful together.

For Sprinkler System Installation even more things your landscaper won't tell you, click here.



More 13 Things from Reader's Digest:

13 Things Experts Won't Tell Yo u About Weight Loss

13 Things Your Real Estate Agent Won't Tell You

13 Things Your Grocer Won't Tell You

13 Things a Movie Theater Employee Won't Tell You

13 Things Your Pizza Guy Won't Tell You

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/13-things-landscaper-expert-landscaping-tips-add-home/story?id=16150240

Thursday 11 May 2017

What Do Garden Snakes Eat? It's Not What You Imagined

Garter snakes, commonly known as 'garden snakes', belong to the family Colubridae. They are commonly found in North Mckinney Sprinkler System America. They are also referred to as 'gardener snakes'. They, like all other snakes, are carnivorous. They are opportunistic feeders. Generally, they tend to eat whatever they can easily overpower. They are immune to the toxic skin secretions of toads and, therefore, can eat toads without any harm. Mostly, they catch live prey. However, they may eat eggs Sprinkler System Installation Mckinney and carrion, especially if live prey is not easily available..A typical menu for Garter Snakes would include:Small rodents like mice, rabbits,etc.

Snails and slugs

Leeches



Earthworms

Frogs, tadpoles, and frog spawn

Toads

Insects like ants

Small reptiles like lizards

Fish (when living close to water bodies)

Eggs, nestlings and small birds



Garden snakes usually hunt in the early morning, late afternoon and early evening, when the temperature is warm. They find their prey using their good sense of smell. They use various hunting methods such as ambushing, craning and peering, in order to capture the prey. They immobilize their prey with their sharp teeth and quick reflexes. Their saliva may be slightly toxic to so me of their smaller prey. These snakes swallow their food whole. If the prey is small, it is immediately swallowed alive. If the prey is large, the garden snake unhinges its jaws to https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens ease swallowing. With this ability, the garden snake can swallow a wide variety of prey.

Owing to the low toxicity of their venom, garter snakes are usually harmless to humans. They, therefore, make good pets. However, venomous or not, it is never a good idea to keep reptiles as pets in households that have small children. Kids are seldom able to handle these creatures properly and, hence, run a high risk of getting nasty, painful bites.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-do-garden-snakes-eat.html

Tuesday 9 May 2017

Landscaping :: Driveway Cleaning - Tips for Cleaning Anti Freeze

Maintaining your driveway in a good condition and keeping it stain free may look very difficult. Oil spills, antifreeze, weeds, rust stains are just a few examples of stains that can damage your driveway. Driveway cleaning on Spinkler Installation a periodic basis therefore becomes very crucial and important.

You might have had to deal with antifreeze spills from your car. The best way to remove antifreeze and clear up the stains that are left behind is by cleaning the driveway the minute you spot an antifreeze spill. There are various household cleaners that can be used for driveway cleaning.

If your driveway is made up of asphalt, then cleaning any type of stain can be a little tricky. Asphalt gets Sprinkler System Installation Dallas damaged very easily and requires extreme precaution and care. Using strong chemicals or even household detergents for d riveway cleaning can easily weaken asphalt. It is therefore advisable for you to use mild household detergent to clean the surface.





Firstly, mix half a cup of mild detergent in a bucket of hot water. Two-thirds of water would be sufficient. To this mixture, add at least two cups of white vinegar. Remember to wear gloves to protect your hand from antifreeze.

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Apply a thick coating of the above mixture on the affected area. Allow the mixture to stay on for 10 minutes. The vinegar acts like a bleaching agent and removes away the stains while the detergent will help to loosen out the antifreeze from the surface making it easier for you to remove. Now scrub the stain with a hard brush and rinse it off with sufficient amounts of water. Failing to wash the vinegar off completely might make the area lighter in color when compared to the rest of the driveway.

It is advisable to use cat litter when pressure cleaning your driv eway as it is made up of other materials like concrete, gravel, etc. Sprinkle liberal amounts of litter on the area where antifreeze spill has occurred. Allow it to soak up the antifreeze thoroughly. For small quantities it may hardly take 30 minutes but if the area that has to be covered is large, it is better to leave cat litter overnight. The following morning, sweep it off with a broom or hard brush and dispose off the litter in plastic bags. Then sprinkle detergent on the surface and scrub it off with a hard brush. Rinse the entire driveway with sufficient amounts of water. Repeat the process if you still find antifreeze stains.

If the stains prove very tough to remove, then your last resort should be muriatic acid which is known to remove just about any type of stain off the driveway. Pressure cleaning your driveway will yield better results when compared to cleaning with a garden hose. The efficiency of removing any type of stain; the minimum amount of time that is req uired when compared to other types of cleaning methods and the minimum amount of chemicals required make pressure washing a superior type of cleaning technique when compared to other cleaning methods

Driveway pressure cleaning has to be done as soon as you see the stains on your driveway. This will make your cleaning job a lot easier.



http://www.articlebiz.com/article/1051454394-1-driveway-cleaning-tips-for-cleaning-anti-freeze/