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Practicing Gratitude – 85 Things I am Grateful for Today
Lately I’ve been having a hard time with a few things. It’s been a challenging year so far and there are a lot of moments when it’s easy to slide into a funk. A BIG ONE. The kind you can’t slip out of easily. When everything black and white that was pink, or red or blue yesterday is now grey and grossly misshapen. Parenting teenagers is NO fun some days. Sometimes they suck the air out of a room with borrowed drama, angst and mood swings. Occasionally you look at them and wonder where the cute kid went. There are days when you struggle to see the baby that slept…
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Five Easy Ways to Reduce Water Use in the Garden Now!
A hot, dry, summer can turn watering the garden into a daily chore. How many drought like summer seasons have you endured already? Are you forever out there soaking your plants while sweating like mad? Well, first of all stop. Second of all – gardening doesn’t need to be a chore, especially in the scorching hot summer months. Good water use practices can reduce the work and the water bill too. Here are a few ideas on ways to reduce water use in the garden this year. Five Easy Ways to Save Water and Grow Gorgeous Gardens This Season Use Lots of Mulch One of the most effective ways to…
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Best Environmentally Safe Ways to Keep Pests out of your Garden
Your garden can be a calming, relaxing, and rewarding experience. You get to grow your own food and know that your food is coming from a healthier place than what you might find in your local grocery store. When it comes to having your own garden there are pests that can arrive to threaten your crop. If you have pests hanging around your garden and you are searching for some of the best environmentally safe ways to keep them out, then you’ve come to the right place. Check out my list of the best environmentally safe options to keep those pesky pests out of your garden. If you need indoor all…
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Gatineau and Outaouais Region Celebrate Canada 150
This year Gatineau in the Outaouais Region of Quebec has some remarkable reasons to visit. MosaiCanada 150 and the brand new Canadian History Hall exhibit in the Museum of Canadian History were the most powerfully charged of all the experiences I had this summer travel season. If you are Canadian, you need to see this. It’s hard not to be moved seeing Canada’s history on display. MosaiCanada 150 and the new exhibit together are powerful narratives about Canada’s story. Gatineau Becomes a Riot of Colour Summer is short in Canada and this year it vanished quickly, with the strange cool and rainy weather we had in much of southern Ontario.…
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Budget Friendly Backyard Cleanup #ChurchandDwight
We are hot on the heels of the first long weekend of the summer. That means backyard time and relaxing by the pool. If all goes well and the pool company gets here in time to hook up the new heater it means relaxing IN the pool actually. FINGERS crossed. But before any fun can happen the backyard cleanup has to take place. Last week, on Mother’s Day, I asked my family to help get the lawn furniture out of storage. That was really all I wanted for Mother’s Day. They took me out for dinner afterwards and bought me flowers and a treat. But mostly I wanted the patio organized.…
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Preparing for Winter – 8 Things to do to Get Your Home in Order
Preparing for winter is something we should all start thinking about. After all, it’s already mid-October, and there are only so many good days left! Preparing for winter is about getting your home and your property in order, so it can withstand the rigors of bad weather, especially up here in Ontario. Preparing for Winter and Saving Future Headaches The last thing you want in the winter is to be without heat or to have to deal with a busted pipe. The last thing you want in the spring is a clean up hassle. These tips can help you save headaches throughout the winter and make spring clean up in…
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Planting Bulbs in the Fall – How to Properly Plant
Planting bulbs in the fall might make some new gardeners nervous. After all, we like to get most of our plants in the ground in the spring. Planting spring flowering bulbs, however requires planting bulbs in the fall. Fear not! It’s easy. Here’s what you need to know. Planting Bulbs in the Fall – Easy Peasy Planting bulbs is not all that difficult, and the process for planting bulbs in the fall is pretty much the same as planting them in the spring. It’s just a matter of knowing the basics and then following them. It’s really as easy as that. So let’s get into it! Choose an Area Bulb…
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Organic Grub Control – All Natural Ways to Knock Them Out
Organic grub control is something that anyone with a yard has probably looked into at some point. Grubs are vicious lawn murderers. When grubs get to work on your lawn’s root system, it’s bye bye, lush and green, and hello, brown and dead! Pesticides are fast falling out of favor because of our new knowledge about how they affect us and our environment, and many people are making moves towards green alternatives. That includes organic grub control. Organic Grub Control – Destroy the Grubs, not the Environment Over a season, grubs can really damage the health of our lawns. They munch on the root systems of our gorgeous green grass,…
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Butterfly Gardens Add Beautiful Variety to Your Lawn
Butterfly gardens are a wonderful way to add a variety of colors and textures to your lawn. With butterfly gardens, you’ll have beautiful blooming flowers all season long, and a yard teeming with the beauty of butterflies all around. Believe it or not, it’s actually much easier that people think to put a colorful butterfly oasis into their lawn. Butterfly Gardens and the Monarch The monarch butterfly is arguably the most majestic of all North American butterflies. It’s also terribly endangered. In light of that, this post will focus on what you’ll need for a butterfly garden that will be especially attractive to the monarch. Don’t worry. This garden will…
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5 Easy Annuals for a Beautiful Garden
Annuals add pops of color and no commitment to any flower bed. With these seasonal plants, you can add a ton of color and visual interest to your garden or flower beds without the worry that you might not want the same thing next year. I’m a big fan of these one season beauties, so I’ve put together a list of some of the most colorful and easy to grow annuals for a more colorful yard. Annuals for the Brown Thumbed The following plants are colorful, easy to grow, and require very little care. All of these beauties can be successfully grown by even the most brown thumbed individual,…
