Outdoors Gardening

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. 

Nobody wants to taint their backyard wedding with dull, dead grass. You can avoid this problem altogether if you enrich your lawn to ensure the grass is as green as possible. Carefully walk around your backyard, check for patchy spots, and fill them in with grass seeds.

One of the most deadly reptiles in America is the rattlesnake. This snake is known for its shaking tail that makes a loud, rattling sound. The snake often makes this sound when an animal (or human) gets too close for its comfort.

Planning a landscaping project or just want to liven up your house with a few potted plants? Home Depot offers a wide variety of flowers, trees, shrubs, and plants to help you find what you’re looking for. But what happens if you change your mind after your purchase? Can you return plants to Home Depot?

The average person may not find earthworms or ants cute, but there’s no denying that one is better than the other for a garden. Earthworms can benefit your lawn, garden, and compost bin more than any other organism. Unfortunately, ants often target earthworms and red wigglers, which can negatively impact your garden and compost pile.

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?

Before you get your hands dirty in your garden this spring, it's smart to create a plan. Without a map and a strategy, you’re bound to make simple and avoidable mistakes in your garden. Mapping out your garden is essential, but you need to know the best ways to plan and sketch your spring garden beforehand to ensure a bountiful result.

Whether you’re a new gardener or you have a green thumb, you may have some gaps in your knowledge. That’s perfectly fine, as so many factors must come together to create the perfect conditions for your soil and plants. So you may wonder, does soil acidity affect plant growth?

Many people are happy to have a landlord who mows the lawn or hires a lawn service. This is not easy to find in some towns and cities, but it’s a blessing when the opportunity occurs. However, it’s easy to wonder why your landlord suddenly stopped mowing the lawn.

Whether you like bugs or not, some of them are good for your garden. The average homeowner doesn’t like having to navigate a sea of insects and arachnids while doing yard work. However, it’s unavoidable, and many of them are more beneficial than you may think. So, what bugs are good for your garden?

Photographs and memes of bright sunflowers facing each other have long circulated the internet and been the subject of many chain emails. The memes suggest that when the weather is cloudy or, overcast sunflowers will turn to face one another. Sunflowers can feed off each other’s energy by facing each other, or so the belief and widely circulated memes tout. But is this true?

If you live somewhere with mild winters, then a palm tree is a great plant to place near your front door. While there are many types of palm trees you can choose from, Areca palms are a great and safe option. They are one of the best and easiest palm tree species to grow.

As a fan of retrowave music, I am a palm tree fan by default. I love palm trees. As in, I actually want to move to California as a result of them having palm trees. I wish I was joking, but I’m not. With that said, it only became recently clear to me how many different types of palm trees there are out there. The palm family is way larger than album art suggests!

It’s no secret that hummingbirds can work wonders to pollinate the plants in your garden. These small, fast birds only serve to get rid of pests and make your plants grow to their full potential. So, which plants attract hummingbirds?

Lawns can be fickle, and it’s all too easy to overwater or underwater your grass. Grass becomes straw-like when it gets too little water. Overwatering can damage your lawn’s root system, and that’s hard to come back from.

Swales are man-made ditches that are built to help direct water away from the home, and allow it to pool up and drain naturally in the ditch. This type of drainage system can be built along a low slope to help channel the water in a certain direction.

A healthy lawn generates curb appeal, keeps you in your neighbor’s good graces, and is something to be proud of. The best way to ensure a healthy lawn is to install a sprinkler system, but unfortunately, that means spending a fortune. With that said, how can you avoid extreme expenses with alternatives to underground sprinkler systems?

The first question you need to ask yourself when trying to keep leaves off your grass is where are the leaves coming from. If the leaves are coming from your yard, you have a lot more control over the situation. If they are coming from your neighbor’s property, forests, or public lands, you will need to take different measures to keep the leaves off your lawn.

Milkweed is one of the best plants to add to a garden to attract butterflies, and Monarch butterflies in particular. This plant is one of the host plants for Monarch butterflies, which means it provides what butterflies need to grow and survive.

Beneficial nematodes kill everything from grubs, gnats, and cutworms to weevils, caterpillars, thrips, and beyond. They can kill over 200 pests that would otherwise disrupt your life and home and threaten your houseplants. Many homeowners and plant nurseries use beneficial nematodes to kill larvae before they hatch.

Anytime between December and March is ideal for cutting down trees. That’s because trees go dormant during this time in many parts of the United States. This makes it easier to cut down trees, especially if they are as dry as possible.

All new Toro mowers are auto choke which means typically, to start it, all you need to do is pull and hold the handlebar bail lever, then yank on the pull cord. Despite the fact that Toro builds great machines, but in the event, you pull your Toro Recycler 22 out of the garage and it won’t start, you are going to need to know how to fix it.

Oak trees can be beautiful, majestic fixtures in any yard. Huge and lumbering, they can provide ample shade and a great place for the kids to climb in the summer. Having an oak tree can be a welcome addition to any yard.

Trees are the lungs of the planet, and we can certainly use more of them. But improving the atmosphere is just one reason people plant trees. You might want to add a new beautiful flowering tree to your front yard. Or perhaps there is a fruit tree you want to add to your gardening arsenal. Regardless of your reason for wanting another tree, you need to consider when you should plant it. So, when is the best time to plant a tree?

Landscape fabric has been used for years to cover the ground around gardens and other landscaping where you are trying to prevent weeds. But many of the landscape fabrics are costly and can actually be bad for your plants and soil.

Pulling weeds is an annoying chore homeowners must keep up with during the spring and summer. It becomes even more of an annoyance if you’re consistent with lawn maintenance, but your neighbor isn’t. So, can weeds spread from lawn to lawn?

One of the best ways to help your roses grow is to trim them back. This might seem counterintuitive, but roses need to be pruned to reach their true blooming potential.

Every garden needs water to survive. As the days grow longer and warmer, regular watering becomes increasingly important. While every gardener knows plants need water, many are not aware of the proper way to do it. In fact, it’s possible to do more harm than good to a garden if it's watered incorrectly. 

If you are planning on building or buying a chicken coop, one major decision you need to make is how many chickens you want to raise. Your flock size matters for several reasons. Most importantly, it essentially dictates how large your chicken coop must be.

You have finally decided to bite the bullet and install that long-awaited irrigation system in your lawn. You are ready to order your materials and the supply house salesman throws you a curve. Do you want SDR21 or Schedule 40 pipe?  What is the difference, and how do you tell?

Composting is rewarding and challenging, and that’s what makes it such a fun hobby. Naturally, many people don’t want to give up on an established compost bin just because they’re moving. You’re not alone if you’re not sure what to do with your compost if you move.

Does your home have lots of tall trees? Or maybe you have tall shrubs or even high-climbing vines that tend to grow out of control. Regardless of exactly what type of hard-to-reach plant life you have in your yard, it is bound to become difficult and even frustrating to maintain your home’s landscaping once you can no longer reach the plants. This is where pole saws and pole pruners come in handy. But what exactly are pole saws and pole pruners, and when is it a good idea to use one over the other?

When I first got into botany, I was shocked at how many flowers are purple. It seems like purple is just the go-to color for most wildflowers, not to mention many herbs that we take for granted. Are you a fan of the color purple? Well, we have a bunch of types of purple flowers you can look at in this article.

A cactus is one of the last things you’d expect to mark the beginning of the winter holidays, but that’s exactly what a Christmas cactus does. This tropical plant is, in fact, a member of the succulent family. It is a common houseplant that goes relatively unnoticed until early winter, when it explodes with colorful blooms. It will continue to bloom like clockwork each Christmas, but only if you take good care of it.

You may feel overwhelmed when you look at your lawn and see a seemingly endless pile of dead leaves. After all, you can’t count on the wind to take care of them for you, but you may not be ready to pick them up. So, is it better to pick up leaves or leave them?

If you have a garden or potted plants, then you know they need a little extra attention from time to time. In addition to watering your plants on a regular and scheduled basis, potted plants and gardens alike need nutrients for them to grow and thrive. These nutrients are often supplied through compost and store-bought fertilizer, but these costs can add up. You will be happy to know that you can add some household waste to potting soil to provide necessary nutrients.

Raccoons don’t build elaborate nests. Instead, they look for well-equipped shelters and then call them home. Hollowed-out trees and crawl spaces under decks and sheds are all ideal homes for these animals.

Because of their vibrantly colored blooms and the fact that they can thrive in shaded areas, impatiens are among the most popular annual flowers for gardens. While they are technically considered tropical perennials, these plants are typically grown as annuals in nearly all regions in the United States (except zones 10 to 12).

One classic way to use up fruit from your garden, especially berries, is to make a sorbet. Making sorbet from scratch might sound intimidating if you aren’t a chef, but the truth is, it’s one of the easiest desserts to make.

Fall is the ideal time of year for landscape maintenance and preparation for the cold and unforgiving winter to come. In addition to raking leaves and mowing the lawn for the last time, you need to start thinking about adding mulch. The good news is that there are numerous DIY mulch options available to help protect your garden without breaking the bank.

Finding poison oak in your yard is bad enough, but it gets worse when you think you killed it, only to find more. Unfortunately, it will return if you don’t follow the proper steps to eradicate it. That’s why we assembled a guide on how to keep poison oak from growing back.

Vines are beautiful, but they can have a mind of their own and can cause a lot of damage. Things get even worse when you’re dealing with unwelcome vines that don’t belong in your yard. You’re not alone if you’ve ever struggled with how to get rid of invasive vines.

A sprinkler system can bring up the value of your home, but more importantly, a sprinkler system makes your life easier! Since professionally installed sprinkler systems can get costly, many have turned to DIY installation kits. But before you start digging, first find out how many sprinkler heads you can use per zone. And it doesn’t hurt to understand precisely how a sprinkler system works. 

Troy-Bilt makes a series of outdoor power tools and yard care equipment. They are one of the most recognizable and trusted names currently in the industry. Their line of trimmers and mowers are particularly revered.

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.

When it rains heavily, it’s normal to see mushrooms pop up in mulch and outcroppings of rocks in the forest. It can look like you’re ready to get faeries visiting, right? Cute as it is to see in the forest, it’s not exactly cute in your yard. This is especially true if you have pets that could eat those potentially-toxic mushrooms. So, how do you get rid of these faerie rings in your yard?

Growing vegetables in a small garden can be beneficial. In addition to adding color to any garden, it can mean fresh vegetables to be used in the kitchen. It should not be surprising that one of the most popular garden vegetables are tomatoes.

Perennials go dormant by early-to-mid fall in most climates. It depends on the temperature and how quickly it gets cold where you live. The process is often slow, and perennials begin their dormant stage between late August and mid-September in most places.

The transmission has a significant role to play, as it adjusts the engine gears for a better drive, movement, and speed in a vehicle. A lawn tractor also needs a decent transmission system for working on various types of terrain. So, should you choose a hydrostatic transmission or a manual?

A greenhouses is a great luxury, but that doesn’t mean running one is always easy by any means. Many people worry about disease, fungi, and pests infiltrating their greenhouse and wreaking havoc. That’s why we put together a list of the most common greenhouse pests and how to get rid of them.

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.

Vitamin C is one of the most essential nutrients for human health and wellness. It can help boost the immune system, is vital for skin repair, and it’s a powerful antioxidant. You can find vitamin C in everything from face creams to energy drinks. If you want to find natural ways to consume more of this vitamin, then consider planting fruits and vegetables that are loaded with vitamin C.

Wasps are lean, mean, and ready to sting you and ruin your time in the garden. They wreak havoc on countless homeowners during the spring and summer. The average homeowner would do anything to keep wasps away. Understandably, many people struggle with how to get rid of wasps.

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.

The best thing a senior gardener can do is simplify their garden. While vast gardens are rewarding, they can be hard to keep up with and maintain. The more plants you have spread out over a large area, the more drained you will become while gardening.

If you have a garden on your property, you likely want to avoid drought stress during your growing season. A lack of sufficient water can lead to stunted growth, a reduced yield and deformed, underdeveloped or prematurely ripened harvests.

All plants need water to survive, but some need more than others. When you live in a flood-prone area and have soil that is constantly wet, you face unique home gardening challenges. Some plants get waterlogged and develop rotted roots in damp soil, while others thrive. If you have a saturated yard, you need to grow plants that do well in flood-prone environments.

Before cold weather sets in, one of the first steps you must take to ensure your garden’s safety in the winter is to add mulch. Adding quality mulch in the late fall will help keep your plants safe in several ways. 

Holly may be the most iconic colorful winter plant on the planet. Its signature pointed leaves and red berries are a fixture of winter holidays, centerpieces, and even Christmas songs. A holy bush provides shiny green leaves and pops of red all winter long, breathing life into your winter garden.

Gone are the days of standing outside with a hose to water your grass. Automatic sprinkler systems keep your lawn green without ever having to leave your house!