How to Grow and Maintain A Beautiful Lawn

Common Problems and Simple Solutions for a Gorgeous Green Lawn

Nothing looks as welcoming and lush in the summer as a green lawn glowing around your home. For many homeowners, achieving this verdant dream can feel like a ceaseless and thankless task. A few basic guidelines along with some tips and pointers to identify and resolve real problems can turn the burden into an achievement.

The number one problem lawn-care experts list when called upon to diagnose an ailing lawn is poor watering. According to the Home Renovation Guide, insufficient water or too much water are equally bad for your lawn. If your lawn appears bluish or grayish and walking across it leaves noticeable footprints, it’s a good bet your lawn is thirsty. Generally, lawns require about an inch of water per week (when you turn on your sprinkler, place a can or jar where it can catch the water – when an inch of water has accumulated, your lawn is sufficiently watered).

If your lawn looks yellow, it could signal that you are over-watering and your lawn is nutrient-deprived. Location, soil composition and poor drainage can all contribute to over-watering. Moisture-absorbing compost is one way to address an over-watered lawn.

According to the EPA, lawn care and landscaping account for more than 30 percent of water use in the U.S. Clean Air Gardeningoffers several tips for efficient watering, such as watering early in the morning when the lawn will have a chance to absorb the water rather than the heat of day evaporating it. Aerating your grass with special tools is another way to ensure efficient water use.

Beyond watering, however, other problems such as weeds, can afflict your lawn. According to an article on Rodale.com, many problems have simple solutions. Dandelions, a sign that your lawn’s roots are suffering, can be killed with spray of straight white vinegar. And a soil test will reveal what’s out of balance so you can adjust your lawn’s nutrients. Gluten spread on your lawn early in the spring will help prevent not only dandelions, but also crabgrass.

For more lawn care tips, visit American-Lawns.comand CharlotteLawnCare.net.

How Safe Is Your Garden?

Tips To Ensure Your Garden is Pet and Child Safe

As is often the case, the prettiest things are also the deadliest. If you have pets or children, it’s well worth the time to ensure that your garden or yard isn’t blossoming with any of these harmful plants:

Foxglove (also known as digitalis or Dead Man’s Bells) — as that last name implies, this flower can prove lethal if ingested. Hollyhocks are a similar, and non-toxic, alternative to foxglove.

Oleander— a frequent player in murder mysteries, this pretty flower can cause severe intestinal problems or death if ingested or breathed (so don’t throw it in the fire pit), and blistering on your skin if you touch the sap. Camellias are a fragrant evergreen shrub that you can plant instead of oleander.

Chrysanthemums— this flower may be common, but growing outside your home it can be harmful if ingested, and even fatal if enough is eaten. The Cornflower (or Bachelor’s Button) is a pretty choice to replace your Chrysanthemums safely.

For more information on identifying and replacing dangerous greenery in your garden, try these resources:

• Poisonous Plants: Safe Substitutes on HouseLogic.com
• Facts About Poisonous Plants on LifeScript.com
• ASPCA’s Guide to Pet-Safe Gardening at ASPCA.org

The Housing Bottom Is Here: Economist Russell Price Explains

By Catherine NewPosted 10:15AM 06/21/11 

A relativly positive outlook on the housing market. I do not agree with all of it, but a nicer than normal view none the less. 
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/06/21/the-housing-bottom-is-here-economist-russell-price-explains/

Vinyl and Wood and Aluminum, Oh My!

Things to Consider When Choosing Window Replacements

Replacing the windows in your home can give you a one-two punch, providing both an update and upgrade to your home’s appearance, as well as possibly lowering your energy costs.

Old windows — peeling, warped, loosely hung, thin, single hung, or cracked — make a distinct, and not necessarily positive, first impression on visitors (and potential buyers). Fresh, updated windows, neatly installed and sparkling clean, are a great way to add to the curb appeal and overall appearance of your home. Not only that, but according to Remodeling Magazine’s Cost vs Value Report 2010-11, you can anticipate recouping about 70% of your investment if you’re planning on selling in the not too distant future.

That’s before you consider that the U.S. Department of Energy estimatesthat replacing your old windows can save you from $27 to $465 a year on energy costs. Once you decide to replace your windows, the choices can seem overwhelming — wood, vinyl, composite, aluminum, or clad? Very briefly, here are some highlights of each type of window:

• Aluminum— the least expensive option, it is also the least energy efficient, as metal (aluminum) conducts heat and cold. Double-paned aluminum windows are still significantly more efficient than any type of single paned window.
• Vinyl — generally only slightly more expensive than aluminum windows, vinyl windows offer greater variety in color availability and also conduct less heat than aluminum.
• Wood — although far higher maintenance than aluminum or vinyl, wood windows are simultaneously a superior natural insulator against heat or cold and more susceptible to the weather and may swell or shrink or decay in response to the elements or pests.
• Clad— combining the best of all worlds, clad windows are wood windows overlaid with vinyl or aluminum.
• Composite — a relative new-comer, composite windows are comparable to wood windows in terms of temperature insulation while having many of the weather-impervious qualities of vinyl or aluminum.

For more information on your window choices and how to choose what’s right for you, visit

• Pro Tool Guide’s Window Shopping Guide
• Inman News’ article, “Best windows: vinyl, aluminum or wood?

Fed’s Yellen Says U.S. Housing Market Will Undergo a ‘Drawn-out’ Recovery

By Vivien Lou Chen and Joshua Zumbrun - Jun 9, 2011 4:39 PM ET

Janet Yellen, vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen said the housing market will undergo a “long, drawn-out recovery” and the Fed is working with other agencies to prevent foreclosures and clear the stock of vacant properties.
“Looking forward, I unfortunately can envision no quick or easy solutions for the problems still afflicting the housing market,” she said in a speech today in Cleveland. “Even once it begins to take hold, recovery in the housing market likely will be a long, drawn-out process.”
Residential construction and real estate, except rentals, still showed “widespread weakness” last month, the central bank said yesterday in its Beige Book survey of the economy. Almost 2 million homes were vacant as of the first quarter, and a large number of distressed sales is one reason house prices remain low, Yellen said.
“For its part, the Federal Reserve will continue to use its policy tools to support the economic recovery and carry out its dual mandate to foster maximum employment in the context ofprice stability,” the 64-year-old vice chairman said in remarks at a Cleveland Fed policy conference.
The U.S. economy expanded at a “steady pace” during May in all but four of the Fed’s 12 regions, according to the Beige Book report. Fed Chairman Ben S Bernanke said this week that the“frustratingly slow” U.S. recovery warrants sustained monetary stimulus, even while growth should speed up in the second half of the year.

Prices Dropped

With an overflowing pipeline of delinquent and foreclosed homes, “the inventory of empty and unsold homes will likely stay elevated for some time, which will maintain downward pressure on house prices,” Yellen said today.
Tight mortgage credit is hurting the housing recovery, and“more households should be able to benefit from the greater affordability” as credit conditions improve, she said. The Fed is now urging lenders to pursue alternatives to foreclosures and proposing to have all mortgages meet higher underwriting standards, the policy maker said.
Home prices in 20 cities dropped in March to the lowest level since 2003, showing housing remains mired in a slump almost two years into the economic recovery. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values fell 3.6 percent from March 2010, the biggest year-over-year decline since November 2009, the group said in a report released on May 31.
A further decline in property values of 10 percent to 25 percent in the next five years “wouldn’t surprise me at all,”Robert Shiller, the economist who co-founded the index, said at a conference in New York today.

Stocks Rise

U.S. stocks rose for the first time in seven days and the Dollar Index climbed as the trade deficit narrowed amid record exports and the cheapest valuations of the year lured equity investors. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.7 percent to 1,289.00 at 4 p.m. in New York after six straight days of losses, its longest slump since February 2009. The Dollar Index rose 0.4 percent after falling as much as 0.3 percent.
Fed officials plan to meet in Washington on June 21-22, just a week before the scheduled end of the central bank’s $600 billion bond purchase program. They’ve spurred growth by holding the main interest rate near zero since December 2008 and expanding the Fed’s balance sheet to $2.79 trillion.
To contact the reporters on this story: Vivien Lou Chen in San Francisco at vchen1@bloomberg.net; Joshua Zumbrun in Washington at jzumbrun@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net

Tool Time for Dad

Father’s Day Means One Thing For the Man Around the House

Is your dad a mellow putterer? An inveterate DIY’er? A passionate woodworker, an incorrigible tinkerer, or a happy handyman? However he approaches his “honey do” list, now is the time to get him the latest gadget or handiest new tool. After all, May might mean flowers for Mom, but June means tools for Dad.

Check out Amazon’s Father’s Day Gift (and Sale) Storefor ideas and savings on power tools from brand names like Bosch, Milwaukee, Dewalt and more.

ToolGuyd, the site “all about tools,” has assembled a list of specials and offers from popular stores and sites, including WoodCraft, Channellock, and Kobalt.

Popular Mechanics lists the 6 Must-Have Products for Homeowners, starting with the Craftsman Booster Rocket that claims to charge any battery in the Nextec line to 25% capacity in just three minutes to Rockwell’s 10-inch job-site table saw, designed to be helpful on projects big and small.

AskMen.com offers its Top 10 Manly Power Tools, from a Glass/Tile Cutter (“the diamond ring a man could really get onboard with buying”), to an Impact Drill (“…cut, slice, bore into, or otherwise make julienne fries out of any stone or masonry. Any drill can bore a hole through wood, but it takes the added power of an impact drill to go through solid brick”), to its number one manly power tool, the Pneumatic Concrete Chainsaw (“a chainsaw that cuts through concrete. What more do you need to know?”).

Make your dad’s day this Father’s Day and get him something he really wants.