After several hot summers and significant changes in water levels in many areas, water usage has become a critical consideration for many homeowners. This is especially true for those who have gardens and lawns in drought-prone areas. There is not a whole lot one individual can do to increase the water levels in an entire region. There are, however, a lot of different ways you can create a stunning and thriving garden with very little water.

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. 

There are many types of grass, some of which grow better in certain areas. If you find yourself in the middle of choosing between, centipede grass, and St Augustine grass.

Topsoil is a common type of dirt used for many projects around the home. Whether you’re landscaping, gardening or performing another endeavor that requires topsoil, it’s important to know the weight of a cubic yard of topsoil.

If you want a lush, green, gorgeous lawn, you need plenty of water to fuel it. For those who love their yard, there isn’t much worse than turning on your sprinkler system in the middle of the summer only to discover that there is no water coming out.

The sight of ants in your yard or home can understandably be discomforting. Not only are ant hills ugly, but they can indicate that you have an upcoming ant problem on your hands. Many homeowners have asked themselves the question: why are there so many ant hills in my yard?

To ensure that your lawnmower is functioning properly, you need to take good care of each of its parts. Doing so will lengthen the life of your mower and help you get more out of the time you spend using it.

Tropical plants aren’t naturally meant to grow indoors, and that creates some hurdles. Luckily, it’s easier than ever to grow tropical houseplants with modern grow lights and potting mixes. A few simple tricks can ensure optimal growth for your indoor tropical plants, such as:

By keeping your fig trees properly pruned, you will allow them to produce sweeter, more flavorful figs. Pruning enables the hormones and sugars to make their way all the way up the branches and into the fruits. While the process isn’t entirely complicated, many home gardeners are at a loss as to how to prune a fig tree.

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.

If your goal is to beautify your yard, there are certain things you cannot forget about. Sticking to a maintenance program will help and you should also consider de-cluttering your yard to give it a fresh look. Don’t forget about cultivating a new lawn because that can make a huge difference.

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?

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 I was younger, I quickly realized that I don’t want to have a front lawn simply because I didn’t want to mow the lawn. When I heard about artificial grass, I was pretty thrilled.

Having live plants around your home can not only be beautiful to look at, but they can help improve your air quality as well. Choosing the right pot for your plant is essential. Something too small can inadvertently cram your plant into a tight living space, which can stunt its growth. But, is there any danger in choosing a pot that is too big for the plant?

Whether you’re trying to hide an ugly fence line or want to add beauty to your landscape, there are a ton of good things to plant along your fence. Planting the right things along your fence line requires planning and forethought. Simply throwing some trees or plants into the ground isn’t going to be enough.

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. 

Making your own compost is a great way to help the environment, while also providing free nutrient-dense soil for plants. While your compost pile takes months to break down and develop into the type of compost that is ready to add to your garden, its benefits are worth the wait. If you have a lot of compost you are excited to use, but aren’t ready to use it quite yet, you will want to find the best way to store compost so you can use it later.

Trees are the highlights of many yards. They’re big, beautiful, and offer a yard feature that you can plan your landscaping around. However, trees aren’t always wanted.

When it comes to filler flowers, the one that everyone knows is baby’s breath. This pillow-like white clustering flower plant is found in all sorts of bouquets. You can even fill a vase with just baby’s breath for a cloud-like and elegant look. Baby’s breath is cheap to buy, but even cheaper to grow.

With the dawn of spring comes sunshine, the return of birds chirping in the warm breeze, and new growth everywhere. Daffodils and tulips make their early presence known, and of course, there is your lawn.

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.

Lawn mowers are considered by many as simple machines, but that does not mean they are always easy to fix. If you have a lawn mower that runs for a minute then stops, you are probably wondering why that is happening and how you can solve the problem.

Palm trees are great to plant in a yard for all sorts of reasons. They provide great shade in your yard and around your pool or patio areas. They also tend to shed far less than other types of trees, which makes the ground around them easier to keep clean.

If you are one of the many homeowners who have Bermuda grass in your yard, you already know how difficult it can be to get rid of. While some people actually like Bermuda grass, many of us consider it nothing more than a weed.

Roundup is a herbicide meant to help kill weeds and any other invasive plant that is causing trouble in your garden. Made by the Scotts Company, it can be quite effective at cleaning up unwanted growth in your garden and yard.

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 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.

Although a lawnmower is not likely the most expensive machine you have, it can be relatively costly to repair it. One of the priciest repairs is a broken or bent crankshaft. Unfortunately, it may be better to replace the whole mower instead of fixing it if that does happen.

Your modern John Deere lawnmower has three safety switches that safeguard against a variety of situations. One protects breaking, another manages cutting blades or other accessories, and the final switch guards against operation without an operator. The latter of which is referred to as the seat safety switch, and kills the engine or keeps it from starting unless the rider is sitting in the seat.

Redbud trees are vibrantly colored trees that can really change the aesthetic of a property. And like any other tree that would get planted in a backyard, there are things to take into consideration. Remember, you want the tree to be protected and healthy, but you also want to keep your home protected as well.

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?

Having a sprinkler system makes it easier to keep your lawn beautiful. But, when they go underground and do not come back up, they are not doing much good. What happens when you cannot find a sprinkler head that has gone underground?

Nowadays, modern automation systems have made it much more convenient to zero in on particular water usage and ideal watering times for sprinklers. While the initial sprinkler system cost – both for the system itself and the installation – is often a bit pricey, the rewards are guaranteed. These include, but are not limited to, an increased property value, long-term savings on your utility bills, and water conservation.

Whether you simply love gardening or want to reap the benefits of indoor plants, adding greenery to your space is a popular design choice. But if you’re starting from scratch, you might want some ideas on how to make indoor plants grow faster. After all, nobody likes waiting, so if you can speed up the process, you’re all for it.

If you're a plant-lover, then you can relate to the pain of watching your favorite plants wither away when temperatures plummet. That doesn’t need to be the case, however, as many plants can survive and even thrive throughout cold weather. So, what are some of the best plants that survive winter?

Ferns are considered some of the oldest living plants on the earth and they can be grown outdoors in your garden or indoors as houseplants. They are a leafy type of plant with leaves (fronds) that drape, adding beauty and a touch of drama to any setting. Most indoor varieties are relatively simple to grow and care for. When planted outdoors, ferns are an excellent choice for ground cover in the proper conditions.

Australian music teacher Marion Sinclair wrote a song for her students about black gum trees. Maybe you’ve heard it? “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, eating all the gumdrops he can see.” The beauty of the gum tree and its animal inhabitants deserves to be remembered in song.

When improving your outdoor space, trees are an especially important feature. In addition to being a prominent focal point, trees can provide shade and beauty when chosen for an appropriate space. With a large canopy and unique foliage, could the tipu tree be a great fit for your landscape? We will explore the pros and cons of tipu trees to help you decide.

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!

It’s summertime and that means dragging your trusty lawnmower out of the shed and of course, it won’t start. When it does start, it only does once and never again. Typical!

Being a homeowner means you not only have to care for the house’s interior, but you must also give some attention to your curb appeal! Who doesn’t want to come home to a lush, green lawn?

Spring looms like a faint light on the horizon that grows stronger every day, and this brightening light serves as a friendly reminder that gardening season will soon be upon us. When planting a vegetable garden, planning in the late winter and early spring can make all the difference in yielding a bountiful crop of vegetables in the summer. To ensure you are taking care of all your needs in advance, it is important to know all the common vegetable garden mistakes you should avoid this spring.

When properly placed, trees in the backyard can make for a beautiful visual aesthetic. It can also provide quality privacy in areas where homes are closely bunched together. Maintaining privacy in those close quarters can be of the utmost importance.

A juicy ripe tomato in your garden is a sign of a job well done. You have likely waited very patiently for months for your tomatoes to ripen in order to feast on them. This makes it all the more tragic when you go to your garden to pick tomatoes only to see that birds have savagely feasted on your pride and joy. In order to avoid this heartbreak, you will want to know all the ways to keep birds from eating tomatoes in your garden.

As the weather gets warmer, you’ll have to start mowing your lawn more frequently. Over time, wear and tear will cause the blades to wear down, which means that you have to replace them. However, one question that comes up during replacement is, “how do I know that the lawnmower blade is facing up?”

It’s no secret that rain is great for plants, but only in small doses. Heavy rain is nice at first, but it can quickly take a toll on your lawn and garden that can be hard to recover from. Many homeowners understandably struggle with how to save plants from heavy rain.

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.

You replaced that worn and dull blade on your lawnmower with a fresh factory blade. The engine starts, and you immediately notice something is quite right. There are vibrations and maybe even rude noises that you hadn’t noticed before. The culprit may be that new blade. A lawnmower blade balance may be the answer to your newfound problems.

There’s always some confusion when it comes to the cayenne pepper. What is it? Is cayenne a pepper or a spice? And when is the best time to pick cayenne pepper? We shirk away from the unknown, and especially from the spicy unknown. But in reality, we use cayenne pepper every day to flavor our favorite dishes. That pizza you’re enjoying? You can thank cayenne pepper for that fiery tang. 

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.

Before you learn how to help keep your flower bouquet alive longer, it’s good to know how long a bouquet lasts on average. Generally, a bouquet of fresh flowers will last five to seven days in any type of vase at home. Hearty tropical flowers tend to last a bit longer, around seven to 10 days.

Your compost pile should be wet, but it shouldn’t exceed 60% water. Ideally, you should maintain between 40% to 60% water content for your compost pile. The microbial organisms within your compost pile need at least some water to thrive.

Upgrading to a new garden hose can make yard work so much easier. Less easy, however, is figuring out what to do with your old garden hose. It takes up so much space and isn’t very useful once you get a new one. So, can your garden hoses be recycled?

With a vibrant pink/purple color, the Rhododendron blooms brightly across the world. These bushes provide magnificent pop of color wherever they spring up. But when they become distressed, it can rob them of their natural beauty. The key is determining the problem.

If you have ever gone out to mow the lawn and suddenly realized that your lawnmower wouldn’t start, then you know the pain of this situation all too well. Whether it is due to a dirty carburetor, you have a malfunctioning spark plug, not enough gas to the engine, or simply a clogged air filter, there are many reasons why this could be happening.

If you have a fertile outdoor space but don’t seem to have a green thumb, you might think planting anything outside is a lost cause. While it is true that some plants need quite a bit of attention and upkeep, there are also tons of plants that require almost no care at all.

Every step you take to prepare a garden ultimately determines how well your plants will thrive. Whether it be the consistency of the soil or the nutrients you use, everything plays a role in your garden’s longevity. So, does a garden need to be level?

Pea gravel is commonly used for walkways, driveways, and as filler between stone pavers around the home. It consists of small, rounded stones and is commonly used for high-traffic areas due to its smooth finish. However, since the gravel is loose, people often need to know how to stabilize pea gravel.

It’s no secret that butterflies are highly beneficial to any garden. They can help contribute to a healthy garden ecosystem, and they are great to look at. Luckily, there are many easy ways to attract butterflies to your garden.