Outdoors

When you think of plants that cause bad allergic reactions, there is a good chance the first plant you think of is poison ivy. Poison ivy exists in many wooded areas, popping up in late spring, and continuing to grow until the first frost.

Lawnmowers, for many homeowners, are like a best friend. They’re tools we rely on! That’s why a sputtering mower can be a nightmare for people who get attached to their lawncare equipment.

Propane can be a great way to heat a home during the colder months of the year, especially in places where natural gas lines have not been run or are not easily accessible. It can be especially important when an appliance requires a pilot light in order to properly function.

Soaker hoses are one of the most common tools in landscaping. Primarily used for watering large swaths of grass, flowerbeds, and bushes, these hoses definitely live up to their name. (Oh, they’re great for water fights, too!) However, we live in a world where water conservation is king. This means that we all have a duty to try to find efficient ways to water. So, how much water do these hoses use?

One of the most common reasons for a lawn to look unhealthy is due to too little or too much water. Grass, just like every other plant, requires water. Remember that rain alone is often not enough water to keep your lawn thriving, especially in the warmer months.

If you enjoy entertaining, you know the importance of having the right grill to make the most appetizing meals. A proper-sized grill can help you host the best backyard barbecues and contribute to many summertime memories. Use this as a guide to choose the best grill for you and your grilling needs. 

Garage doors sure have some a long way. Where they used to require all your strength to open and close, they now open with seamless ease at the touch of a button. Opening and closing your garage door has become so simple that you likely don’t even give it much thought. You might not even know what a garage door spring is, or what its purpose is. But when your garage door spring breaks, you will quickly learn how important they are.

If your house has gutters, then you must remember they must be cleaned periodically. Failure to keep your gutters clean can result in some very costly repairs. Not only can your gutters get weighed down and break, but your entire roof can suffer.

Growing a bonsai tree is an ancient art that requires some skill and patience. While this process takes time, many find the art of bonsai a relaxing and even mediation task. Its reward is in the work and in the beautiful miniature giant that this work slowly shapes. If you are interested in creating your own bonsai tree, one of the first questions you are likely to ask yourself is “how long does it take to grow a bonsai tree?” 

Your riding mower needs to have its blades maintained to keep them working well. When your riding lawn mower’s blade wear out, you can easily change them by lifting the lawn mower up, removing the mounting nut and installing new blades. 

A pergola is a wonderful and show-stopping outdoor structure that provide sshade and opulence. It also gives you additional usable space in your backyard. Most pergolas look lovely on their own, but a lot of these structures can benefit from a bit of plant life. While some people opt to garden along the borders of a pergola, to truly bring some charm and whimsy to your pergola, you should introduce a vine or creeping plant.

Rest and relaxation in front of a fire is an activity people have enjoyed since the dawn of humanity. Few experiences allow your senses to become completely entranced as when you enjoy the bright warm cracking of an outdoor fire. When it comes to building a fire feature outside your own home, however, you may be torn between a fire pit and an outdoor fireplace.

Pot mums are one of many Chrysanthemum varieties that can help with allergies. Not only do pot mums help clean the air, but they are also quite low-maintenance. You can even grow pot mums from cuttings; the results come quickly.

Squirrels are cute critters that can be surprisingly determined. When that determination is focused on tearing up your flower pots, it can feel like a nightmare. Squirrels can seriously damage your potted flowers to the point where the life of the flower may hang in the balance.

There is a lot that goes into owning a car. Maintenance and upkeep are the most obvious. That said, there are legal responsibilities as well. When you have an everyday car that you use, it has to be properly tagged, plated, and insured.

Garage doors are a convenient way to enter and exit your home. The sensors work to lift and lower the garage door. However, they also work as a protective mechanism to prevent injury to things under the garage door.

If you do any sort of gardening or landscaping, mulch will be your best friend. In addition to adding aesthetic appeal to your land, mulch is crucial for keeping your soil healthy from season to season. Applying mulch is not a one-time job. You will have to replace and dispose of organic mulch as it decomposes, and you’ll eventually want to replace inorganic mulch, too.

The average homeowner rushes to plant as many flowers as possible during spring and early summer. However, that’s not the only time of the year that plants can take root, bloom, and thrive. So, what are the best flowers to plant in late summer?

Did you know that one of my first articles on this site was about what a “she shed” was? It’s true, and it remains one of my favorite articles that I wrote on this site. Ever since that shed article, I had a soft spot for designing sheds. That’s why I jumped at the chance to talk about shed design software. Believe it or not, designing a chicher she-shed just got a lot easier thanks to these top-rated software platforms below.

A greenhouses gives homeowners the chance to nurture plants and let them thrive year-round. The prospect of building a greenhouse is enough to get any green-thumbed homeowner excited. So, how much does it cost to build a greenhouse?

Perfecting a smoked brisket can take a lifetime. The right smoker, wood, cut of meat and the cook all play a role in making this succulent barbecued delicacy. If you are just starting out in the realm of meat smoking, you will want to know all the ins and outs involved. Perhaps the most important tip you will want to know is the perfect time to pull your brisket off the smoker.

Pool filters serve a single purpose: get rid of impurities in the pool. Plain and simple, right? Well, sometimes what they are supposed to do isn’t the thing that they are doing. If you recently noticed your pool filter burping out sand, it’s clear something isn’t right. It’s not supposed to do that! But, why is it blowing out sand like it’s going out of style?

Citrus trees are fantastic additions to your property. The blossoms smell fragrant and lovely in the breeze, and the fruit allows you to enjoy sweet, tangy, or sour fruit in abundance. But citrus thrives in warm climates and often dies off in a freeze. But if you live in an area where the temperatures dip below freezing every now and then, you might wonder if there are any citrus trees that can survive annual frosty conditions.

The promise of a warm, colorful spring is exciting to look forward to throughout winter. However, the coming of spring involves some prep work if you want your yard to stand out and thrive. So, when should you prepare your yard for the spring?

A lot of homeowners these days prefer composite decking over traditional wood decking, and there are definitely some advantages associated with using composite decking. But if you’ve just installed a composite deck—and now you want to make some adjustments DIY—you’ll have to know which kind of saw blade is best for cutting decking.

When you swim in almost any pool, you’ll end up tracking some small amount of dirt into the pool’s water. It’s just the way things are. If you have an outdoor pool in a windy area, you might also get some dirt blown in after a particularly strong gust of wind. Obviously, that’s pretty gross. So, how can you clean dirt that’s managed to settle at the bottom of your pool?

The Briggs and Stratton lawnmower is perfect for cutting and leveling the grass in your backyard or lawn. But, like other electric machines, it’s vulnerable to wear and tear. It’s only normal for a starter to go bad or keep breaking after prolonged usage.

You try and try to keep your yard looking healthy, yet you still seem to have brown patches and a faded look. Don’t worry; the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. You can get the lush lawn you dream about by using fertilizer. But how long before fertilizer turns grass green?

Adding a palapa to your patio or backyard setup is a fantastic and often affordable way to add tropical ambiance to your space. Palapas originated in Mexico, but you can now find them at nearly every tiki bar, resort pool, and beach bar all over the globe. Building a palapa yourself is certainly possible, and the materials are relatively affordable. But when you build one, you should follow several steps to ensure you build a palapa that will last a long time.

Most of us have heard of stories of kids who found a special stone on the beach and brought it home. No biggie, right? If you read ghost stories, you might also have heard of tourists who took sand and stones from a cursed beach, only to send it back later claiming it brought them bad luck due to angry spirits.

Summer is here, and you’re ecstatic because your new pool is ready to use. Then you notice that one side of the pool has more water than the other. This indicates that the ground beneath your pool isn’t precisely level. You will need to re-level your pool since it’s hazardous to swim in it under these conditions. But how do you do it without draining it?

You’re taking a significant step toward finishing your landscape design. Buying sod by the pallet can get expensive. Plus, there are several things to consider. So, how many square feet are in a pallet of sod, and what does that mean for your budget? Here’s what you need to know.

It is important to feel warm in your garage. It makes all of those cold nights working on cars a lot more bearable. But what is the best way to insulate an exposed garage ceiling?

A functional garage is essential for many homeowners. Whether it is used to store essentials, or it is meant to keep a car protected from various forms of climate weather, the garage is irreplaceable. So it is understandable you want to keep your garage in top shape, which might include some necessary improvements from time to time.

Are you one of the countless homeowners who have been torn about what to do with your compost pile for the winter? This is a common dilemma for many homeowners who don’t want to let their compost go to waste as temperatures plummet. Understandably, many homeowners struggle with how to store compost in the winter for later use.

Garden arches can be a beautiful addition to any garden. They add visual appeal and texture to your garden and give you more  vertical space for growing plants. Unfortunately, pre-made garden arches can be expensive.

Mosquitoes have a way of ruining an otherwise perfect evening. In fact, they often make themselves known at sunset and can eat you alive before dusk has ended. There are all sorts of remedies to help prevent mosquito bites. Some of these methods work better than others, but as more and more information comes to light about harmful chemicals, you might want to find an organic and natural way to help keep mosquitos from biting.

With the summer winding down, many are rushing to get in the last sessions with their outdoor grill before the nights get colder. Many barbecuers who want to cook at a steady temperature swear by the pellet grill. The pellet grill is a modern innovation that drops pellets of your hardwood of choice to maintain a specified temperature.

Tree stumps are a natural part of lawncare and gardening. I mean, trees don’t last forever. Eventually, you may have to cut down the tree standing in your backyard. When this happens, you’re going to be left with a massive (or not so massive) tree stump where the tree used to be. What do you do with this?

My backyard is one of my favorite spaces in or outside of my house. My family and I spend tons of time out there in the summer especially. So, it’s kind of a bummer when the weather changes and we can no longer enjoy the little oasis we’ve created.

Every now and then, you’ll need to make repairs on hard-to-reach spots of your home. Among the toughest spots to address is the roof as even getting up there can be a challenge. That’s especially true if you have a sloped roof.

Mowing the lawn is an important, but often dreaded activity. As the summer heat increases, this chore can become hot, sweaty, and altogether exhausting. So, there may come a time when you have procrastinated longer than you should have, and find yourself needing to mow the lawn in the immediate future. But if the immediate future calls for rain, you might find yourself wondering if you can cut the grass when it is still wet.

There’s something about the taste of food that’s cooked on an open fire, especially when that fire is coming from a barbeque built of bricks. While you could go out and buy a regular barbeque to replicate the taste, why not be unique? How many people have you seen with a brick-style barbeque in their back yard, let alone one with a chimney? What if we told you that we can teach you how to build one?

Incorporating wood chips into your garden can be beneficial by increasing nutrients in the soil over time. Wood chip garden mulch is organic, so it slowly breaks down, typically between three to six months. However, if you want to compost your wood chips quickly, you will need to add nitrogen to the mix.

If you are familiar with pop up emitters, you have probably heard horror stories about them freezing. This freezing can potentially cause backup issues in your downspout, which might damage them. So how can you prevent your pop up emitter from freezing?

When summer hits, there are a lot of things that start happening. One of the most anticipated parts of summer is grilling season. Being able to spend the warm evenings and nights grilling up delicious treats is something that can take the summer to a new level.

In recent years, our society has been on a march towards the “chemicals are bad” style of life. Saltwater pools’ popularity are a sign of it, really. The thing is, saltwater pools are not exactly easy to care for. That’s why people like to have chlorine pools. Though rare, you’ll hear of saltwater pool owners who want to convert their gig into chlorine. Is that even a thing?

The first major safety question you need to ask yourself when you notice a tick on your body is how long the tick has been there. This is an important for two reasons. First, the longer a tick has been in your skin, the more embedded and stubborn it is likely to be. 

Having a riding mower can make life easier. Particularly on larger properties, the difference between using a push mower and a riding mower can be night and day. But just like the push mower, a riding mower needs to be mowed properly.

Gardening is fun and tranquil, albeit physically exhausting in some cases. No matter how much time you spend in the garden, you will likely get sweaty and dirty. Because of that, many homeowners struggle with what to wear when gardening.

Composite decking may look like wood, but it is manmade and behaves differently. While many people associate warped decking with wood planks, composite decking can warp over time as well. Decks should be flat and straight, but over time, they can become warped and uneven. If you leave composite decking as it is once it is warped, it will probably get worse.

Garage floors tend to take a beating. From car fluid spilling to heavy tools dropping on concrete, these floors are often some of the most beat up and unsightly on your entire property.

Few flowers symbolize the dawn of spring more than daffodils. These yellow and orange blossoms are everywhere as soon as winter passes. One reason these spring blooms are so synonymous with the change in seasons is that they are some of the first flowers to sprout from the earth after the ground thaws.

Both soft touch holly and boxwoods are common choices for homeowners looking to liven up their landscape. For many homeowners, however, it can be quite difficult determining the difference between the two.

A healthy green lawn brings life and vitality to a home. It makes your home and yard look clean and regal. A pristine lawn can even increase your property value. But maintaining a lawn to ensure it stays emerald green and glorious takes some work and regular maintenance. There is regular mowing and landscaping, fertilizing, and even aeration. Aeration is something not everyone does on a regular basis, but it’s very important. It is critical you notice the signs that it is time to aerate your lawn.

A fence is an extension of the home, and many builder-owners carefully choose the best fit for their own house. One of the most timeless and attractive options is the split rail fence, and it is the choice of many homeowners. Some builder-owners want split rail fences for the visual, and others want them for practical reasons, but what do they cost?

The thought of a garden having to go a week without water is enough to give any gardener anxiety. However, you can’t let your worries about your garden keep you from taking the vacation that you have needed for a while. So, can you go a week without watering your garden?

Your garden will never be able to thrive if bugs continually eat your plants. Pests can also make it difficult to enjoy time outside and perform yard work. So, what are the best plants to keep bugs away?

Imagine the following moment: you’re in your pool, enjoying the jets. Then, the jets stop working and your pool lights shut off. Your breaker has tripped. You run over, untrip the breaker switch, and get back in. Within a matter of minutes, you can’t enjoy your pool anymore. The breaker tripped again. Your GFCI breaker is supposed to protect your system. So, what’s going on?

It is an alarming sound and situation. You have been running your lawnmower over your yard. Suddenly, as you are shutting the Briggs and Stratton engine down, it backfires through the carburetor.