Any parent knows that time in the garden with your children can be great fun. Whether you’re having a family barbeque, or kicking a football around with the kids, being in the garden together is a great way to make memories together. Teaching your children how to join in with gardening can be a great way to teach them about nature, nutrition and respect for the Earth. 

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Grow Vegetables

If you have little fussy eaters, or kids who’ve shown an interest in growing things, setting up a simple vegetable garden is a great summer holiday project. Find a good topsoil supplier, and set up a good vegetable bed to start growing some of your own food. 

Vegetable dodgers might be more tempted into eating their five a day if they’ve helped to grow it, and you can use the garden to teach the kids about where their food comes from. Use the veg to create fun recipes and the garden can become a great family food source. 

Choose easy to grow veggies like sugar snap peas, lettuce, carrots, potatoes or tomatoes. Bright colours, sweet flavours and veggies they recognise from favourite dishes will help the little ones keep interested in growing food with you. 

Pot Colorful Flowers

Give the kids a large flower pot each. You could even encourage them to decorate the pots with outdoor paint so they know which is theirs. Take the children to the garden and let them choose flowers from the seasonal displays to plant in their pot. 

The seasonal flowers will create an instant colourful display so the kids can see the results of their choices immediately, which is great for toddlers who may have less patience waiting for something to grow. 

Make A Fairy Garden

Choose a secluded or sheltered corner of the garden and create a garden together for fairies to visit. Send the children to collect pretty things from around the garden, like stones and fallen flowers to put in the garden. You could visit the garden centre to look for small garden decorations, or even a pet store to buy pieces designed to go in fish tanks, to find small houses, castles or furniture to put out for the fairies. 

Add small plants and encourage little ones to decorate with ribbons and leaves. Lay down stones for paths and use twigs for fences. The enchanted space is sure to fascinate small children, and they can begin to build an appreciation for the outside world. 

Make Animal Homes

Do something positive for the smaller residents of your garden and teach children about taking care of animals by setting up a bug box. Lay a plant pot down on its side or use an open sided box, and send the children to find things to fill it with. Drill holes in a log for bees to nest in. Add stacks of pine cones, leaves, twigs, dried grass or pieces of broken flower pot to encourage ladybirds, woodlice and other crawlies to live in. 

Build or buy a hedgehog house to tuck under a hedge to encourage hedgehogs to stop by your garden. Just remember to feed them cat or dog food, not the traditional bread and milk, as this is actually bad for their stomachs. 

Buy a bird table and make filling it with seed and leftover bread part of the kids’ chores. You can enjoy watching winged visitors to the garden together as a family, and maybe even use it to learn about different kinds of garden birds. 

To encourage frogs, make a container pond. A pond in a shallow container is much safer for little ones than a full scale pond. Find a container that is large, shallow and has no drainage holes. Add pond plants, and an oxygenator to keep the water clean. Find it a place in the shade and wait for frogs! 

Choose Simple Projects

For small children, there are lots of great easy garden activities you can do that don’t require them to pay attention for very long, or have to wait for things to grow or animals to arrive. 

Teach the children to make daisy chains, or make small flower crowns from the flowers they choose around the garden. Send them to look for four leaf clovers, or show them how buttercups reflect yellow light under their chins. Ask them to count how many different kinds of animals they can find around the garden, or get them to draw the flower they think is the prettiest. Even very tiny children can interact with the garden and begin to learn to love the outdoors.

Half of the world is experiencing the best summer, with some of the countries already experiencing record temperatures. The other half of the world is waiting for the next few months to be over, so that their summer fun can finally come around. But even the half of the world that isn’t experiencing the hottest summer, is still experiencing the nice warm weather that wouldn’t usually be here yet. Whilst this screams global warming, we might as well enjoy what weather is coming our way. So considering we’re only in the month of January, and summer is set to continue for many months to come, we think it’s about time that we gave you some fun summery additions that you can add to your home, that will really spruce the place up. There’s no time like the present to spend more time outdoors, and truly make the most of the sun. If you haven’t really made any changes to your home recently, and especially not to your garden, then this is the article for you. Keep on reading, and we’ll show you what we think you should be adding!

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Something To Keep You All Cool

So if the summer that we’re having so far is anything to go by, we really do need to come up with ways that we can keep ourselves cool, because it only seems to be getting hotter. Staying inside to escape the sun is good, but you’re missing out on some of the best weather, and there’s nothing that’s going to bring your spirits up like a bit of vitamin D! So one idea we’re loving, is having a pool installed. They’re great for keeping that family fun alive, because it’s not just something your kids will enjoy. They might take a bit of maintenance, and but companies such as Slater Pumps can provide you with parts to keep water flowing beautifully, and sanitary. Once the initial installation cost is covered, you really won’t have to pay much to maintain this, and we just know it’s going to be a hit with the whole family.

Something To Make The Most Of The Long Nights

One of the best things about summer is that the nights are so long and so beautiful. But you’ll often find that as soon as the afternoon is gone and dinner has been eaten, everyone retreats inside for the night. But that’s only because there’s nothing outside to truly make the most of the long nights. So, an outdoor furniture set is the way forward, with a nice little log burner in the middle. It really sets the tone for a peaceful night, and having the family outside and talking around that, is so much better than everyone hiding in their bedrooms for the night. Again, a one off purchase that will last years, and you’ll definitely get a ton of use out of it!

Additions You Don’t See Everyday!

So to finish off with something extra cool, we would recommend getting a projector that you can put outside. This coupled with the outdoor furniture creates a vibe like you wouldn’t believe. It makes for the perfect outdoor cinema, and you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home!

If you have a family and you want to ensure they are able to make the most of the outside space you have at your disposal, it makes sense to make your garden safer and more accomodating for your whole family. There are lots of ways in which you can do this, and we’re going to discuss some of them right. You can then implement the relevant changes for ways to make your family garden safer, and have greater peace of mind.

Create a Barrier Around the Perimeter of the Garden

First of all, you might want to add a barrier around the perimeter of the garden. We’re not just talking about a fence, but something like a flowerbed that creates a buffer zone between the edges of the garden and the spaces where your family spend time. That way, your children won’t be able to get close to the edge of the garden where they might be close to a road.

Remove Toxic Plants

If there are any toxic plants that have the ability to do damage to you or any of the children playing in the garden, these should obviously be removed. You might not even know that these plants are there if you have a garden that’s overgrown and sprawling. But it’s worth asking a professional to assess it so you can be sure.

Create a Soft Landing garden

There are lots of materials you can use to ensure the garden is soft and able to deal with any falls that your children might have as they play in it. To keep it simple, just make sure that have a soft lawn to fall on because nothing is better than this for ensuring it is as soft and comfortable as it should be. A lawn is the best solution to these kinds of worries.

Add a Deer Fence

If you’re in a location where there’s a possibility of deers getting access, it might make sense to have deer fencing for gardens put in place. This will mean that you don’t have to worry about the danger and threat posed by deers when your family is there, or the impact deers can have on the wildlife and flowers in your garden.

Secure the Pond if You Have One

If you have a pond or any other sources of water that are open and potentially dangerous, you should certainly think about covering them up because they can represent a threat that needn’t be there. Some sort of secure covering means that you can keep it safe when kids are present but still enjoy the water when the adults are spending time in the garden.

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Anyone with a family wants to make sure that their garden space is safe for their kids to use. A Garden can be dangerous places if they’re not prepared and planned out in the right way, so be sure to make the most of the ideas and tips above to ensure your garden is as family-friendly as it can be.

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See What Is Worth Keeping

It may be that you have moved into a new home with a neglected garden. Or you have just looked out of the window and realized how overgrown your garden has become. Preparation is the key to getting the garden in order; and you should start off by clearing a space to work from.

You should walk around the garden and see what plants and trees you want to keep. Leave the trees for the time being and start to dig up any plants and weeds you want to remove. Remember it could be, that a plant will look good in another part of the garden. For the time being you should not dispose of them.

Now the garden will a look a bit more open. You can trim back any shrubs and trees you want to keep. If you are thinking about tree removal for some of them; it is always best to use the professionals, who will ensure that all the roots and debris are removed from your garden.

Tend Your Lawn

How long your lawn has been neglected will determine how bad the state of it is. If the grass is very long you should take the top off it before you start to mow. Trying to mow very long grass tends to rip it out of the ground and that is bad for the grass and your mower.

Strim or use shears to make it lower, then mow and trim the edges. Then you will be able to stand back and see if any patches could do with some extra seeds or if with a bit of tender loving care it will all grow to look as good as you want it to.

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Clean Paths And Driveways

Stained paths and driveways will make even a tidy garden look neglected. You should clean them with a jet washer, which is also very likely to remove any sand from between slabs and stones. Once they have dried you can put some new sand down, as this will help to stop any weeds sprouting between them.

It is also a good time to clean any garden furniture so that is looking spruce too.

Add Some Details

Now the garden is looking better it is time to sort out some of the details and perhaps add a few new ones. Any paintwork that needs attention on decking or a patio should be sorted, and any pots that have become discolored should be cleaned or given a coat of paint.

Adding some new plants or pots can breathe new life into your garden.

Now you have done all of this hard work, you need to keep it in order. Don’t let the grass get too long before you next mow it and trim back any plants or shrubs that are getting overgrown.  It should take just a short time each week to get rid of any weeds and keep it looking good, and that is well worth the effort when you can relax and enjoy the sun in your revitalized garden.

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Growing your own vegetables is one of the best ways to use your land. Not only will you have constant access to organically grown fresh vegetables but you will also reduce your weekly shopping bills significantly.

There is no better way to observe the seasons than through gardening. It is only by caring for seasonal crops that you really notice the effects of the weather – which is both joyous and frustrating in the same measure! While the warm weather tends to bring growth, the cold weather is more challenging as some plants thrive under a couple of frosts whereas others will die.

If you are a keen vegetable grower, you will most likely be looking for ways to extend your growing season. Here are a few things you might consider.

Build a Greenhouse

A greenhouse is the most obvious way to keep your plants warmer over the winter. The glass allows the sunlight in to warm the air and plants inside as well as providing shelter from high winds and rain.

Though your standard greenhouse will make a brilliant difference, if you are really looking to tech up your garden and continue the growing season, geodesic domes could be ideal. These domes are very similar to greenhouses but they use solar panels to provide heat and light throughout even coldest and darkest months.

Create a Sheltered Area

One of the main problems during the winter months is the cold and the wind. Though a greenhouse can help, you can hardly move large plants and fruit bushes! A better idea is to create a sheltered area by either by building a wall or by planting tall evergreen trees that will be able to resist the wind chill. Fencing is another option which may be easier to move around if you need.

A sheltered area is also ideal for reducing the amount of moisture that leaves the ground. Though the winter months require far less watering, it is also important to preserve the water in the ground. Similarly, soil erosion may be reduced meaning that you can make the most of the nutrients in the ground – especially if you have added mulch.

Choose Your Veggies Wisely

If you want to have fresh veggies all year round, you need to be smart with your growing choices – this is true whether you have a greenhouse or not. Growing plants that suit your environment is always a smart move as you want your plants to be happy!

There are all kinds of fruits and vegetables that will be happy in a cold frame, greenhouse or geodesic dome from tomatoes to strawberries. Take the temperature of your apparatus regularly to make sure that the conditions are right for your plants and do feel free to experiment too! You can also grow root vegetables like carrots outside during cold weather and some plants like broccoli actually do better when they have a short spell in the cold.

The growing season may feel short right now but with these simple tricks, you can have a wonderful edible garden all year round.

Don’t you think this is something we’re just lacking in our lives at the minute? A space that we can truly enjoy, be happy in, and make the most of? We think so too! Sometimes our homes are just the worst place in the world for actually getting some enjoyment from. Instead, we’re always focused on the things we hate most about it, and the things we wished we could change.

Arguably, the room we get the most joy out of is definitely our bedrooms, but we can’t spend all day lounging around in them, now can we! So when the weekend comes, and the sun is beaming down through that beautiful summer we’re all waiting for, you need a space you can truly enjoy. Somewhere that’s going to be peaceful, bright, and beautiful to look at.

Well, we’re going to give you two ideas that should do just that for you, so have a read on to find out more!

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The Garden

The garden is arguably one of the most underrated rooms in a home. We’re so focused on the inside because that is where we believe we spend most of our time. But we only spend most of our time there because we just don’t have that outdoor space that could be so good for us. So, to make your garden fabulous,

you’re going to have to make it beautiful. One thing we think that does this is a beautifully maintained and bright layout, with a water feature such as a pond. A pond is pretty easy to have installed as well, and all you’ll have to do is buy extras such as a VANCS submersible pump, cleaning products, and any accessories that you would like to go around it.

There are so many cute pond ornaments that you could buy! Aside from that, you need to think about a total relaxation area for yourself, and the only way to have a space like this is to get the comfiest outdoor furniture for your garden. You can get swinging sofas, hammock, bean bags… be creative!

Outhouse

Whilst we might staying on the topic of the garden still, this is completely different. An outhouse is a space where you can actually escape. You can lock the door, keep the key, and just truly get away from the stress of life and the house. Whilst it might be a bit of an investment to begin with, it definitely would pay off in the long run.

You’ll find that it’ll increase your home in value when it comes to reselling. But even if it never comes to that, you can have a lifetime of use out of the outhouse. It could even be turned into a bedroom for one of your kids when they get older. Or it could be a gaming den for your partner. Or just a room of tranquility for you. Your possibilities are endless.

All you have to do is have a vision, save for the funds, and get yourself an outhouse installed.

So, we hope now you have two options of spaces that you really can enjoy if you ever get them!

The winter months put your household at high risks. Indeed, during a handful of months, low temperatures and dark nights can dramatically affect the health of your family and the overall environment at home.

More often than not, winter is a season that is commonly associated with colds. However, it’s important to note that viruses are not more numerous during the colder months of the year.

In fact, it is the way your household prepares for winter that increases the risk of poor health and discomfort. If you want to stay healthy, you need to keep your eyes open for issues and flaws in the way you respond to the change of weather and temperatures at home. Below, you’ll find the four most common causes of illnesses in winter:

Hate being cold? Protect your home
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Against the cold

Your home provides natural protection against the cold weather. However, it’s fair to say that without the appropriate heating strategy, you’ll struggle to stay warm indoors. While being cold doesn’t cause any disease, it can provide the right environment for fatigue to develop and your immune system to weaken gradually, meaning that you’ll be more likely to catch viruses. If you’re struggling to maintain a cozy temperature, you might want to check with furnace and home AC repair specialists if your home is equipped to protect you from the freezing temperatures. Don’t delay repair works if you want to stay healthy this winter.

Against freezing

If you leave in a region that regularly encounters low temperatures and snow, you need to pay close attention to your roof. Indeed, something as mundane as your gutters could hold the keep to a warm and healthy household. When your gutters are clogged up, water can’t escape through the typical path. Consequently, it might lead to a buildup, which could infiltrate through the roof. Additionally, if the water freezes in the gutters, the structure might crack, leading to high repair costs.

Against sinus infections

Sometimes, even a warm and cozy home can be the source of health issues. Indeed, more and more individuals turn up the heater in winter to the extent of drying out the indoor air. As a rule of the thumb, the air requires to maintain a healthy level of humidity – between 30 and 40% is a good range to aim for. If your indoor air gets too dry, you are at risk of developing sinus complaints. Indeed, dry air causes respiratory problems. Additionally, it can also damage the mucus membranes inside your nose and cause chronic sinusitis.

Against the winter slump

When it’s dark and cold outside, the only thing you might be craving for is a sweet treat to cheer you up. Unfortunately, creamy hot chocolate and sweet pies do very little to keep your active and healthy. On the contrary, you need to fuel your body with natural vitamins from seasonal vegetables and fruits to keep your metabolism ticking. Otherwise, you’ll soon develop a lazy and passive behavior which can open the door to further issues such as SAD.

Make a seasonal stew

Is your home winter ready? Don’t be shy to admit it’s not adequately equipped to keep your healthy and sane this winter. Most homeowners forget to winterproof their properties besides the straightforward heating checks.

According to various online references, a garden shed is a ‘simple, single-story roofed structure’ typically found in the back garden. Garden sheds have multiple uses ultimately decided by the owner but commonly get used for storing larger items.

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If you’re still questioning whether you need a shed in your garden, there are many perks to building or buying one. This article will discuss some of the main benefits of garden sheds so you can decide whether you will utilize one fully. However, if you are feeling pushed for space and you need extra workshop or storage room, the shed can be extremely handy.

WHAT IS A GARDEN SHED? 

A shed is classed as an outbuilding that usually goes in the back garden. It can be used for storage, undertaking hobbies, converted into a playhouse, made into a workshop and much more.

THE BENEFITS OF A GARDEN SHED

With so many uses and coming in so many designs, garden sheds offer numerous benefits. Some of the main ones are:

• Increased storage for your home– can be perfect when you are running out of space in your attic and garage.
• Potential play area for kids– the shed can be converted into a playhouse further down the line for bigger families.
• Great workspace– for those activities such as painting, building and other crafty things, you often need more space. The shed is a perfect place to set up shop and start working on these things.

KNOWING WHICH TYPE OF SHED YOU NEED FOR YOUR GARDEN

There are plenty of shapes, sizes and materials that sheds can be purchased in. This makes your job harder if you don’t know what you are looking for. Here are the most common shed types you will find in the home stores:

• Wooden sheds
• Metal sheds
• Plastic sheds

Each of these come with their own set of positives and negatives. Let’s look through them briefly –

Metal Sheds

They are great for the long term as they are sturdy and durable. This means if you have costly tools and equipment, a metal shed will do you well. However, if you don’t maintain them properly, they can get rotten due to weather conditions and become less aesthetically pleasing.

Wooden Sheds

These are by far the most common and come in a range of contemporary or traditional designs. They provide flexibility as the user can often add shelving units easily but they do need treating regularly compared to other types of sheds.

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Plastic Sheds

Being the cheapest option, you would think they aren’t highly durable. However, they do offer good resistance against the rain and adverse weather conditions, so they manage to avoid rusting. If you are storing valuable items however, they won’t be as secure as their counterparts.

Now we have looked into the world of garden sheds, you should gain more clarity and confidence into what you will buy.

Keeping a good lawn isn’t too difficult most of the time but in some cases, you’ll end up with dead patches or struggle to get areas to grow properly and you just can’t work out why. It’s so frustrating trying to work out what to do with it and you might give up hope entirely and just accept that you’ve got a big yellow patch in the middle of the lawn. But most of the time, you can work out a solution and get your grass looking healthy again.

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If it’s particularly bad and nothing else works, you may just have to get rid of the lawn and start again by killing all of the grass. Then you can prepare the soil again and make sure that it’s in good condition before planting all of the seed again. If you’re going down that route, you should probably just get a professional company like ABC Lawn Care to come in and do it for you.

Putting that much weed killer down can cause a lot of damage so it’s important that it’s done right. It can also be a struggle preparing the soil properly and if you get it wrong, you’re going to end up with the same lawn issues as before. It’s just easier to leave it to the experts.

However, before you start again completely, you should try to work out what’s causing your lawn problems and see if there is a way to solve them. These are some of the most common causes of bad lawns and how you can solve them.

Compacted Soil

There are all sorts of causes for dry, brown spots on the lawn and they can be a real pain to get rid of, but don’t worry, you can get your grass back to normal again. If you’ve got pets, there’s a big chance that they’re causing the brown spots by going to the toilet on your lawn. You can usually tell that it’s your pets if the patches are particularly circular. There’s not much you can do to stop that apart from trying to keep them off the grass. But if you don’t have pets and you’ve got a lot of dark brown spots, you might have bigger problems. One common cause is compacted soil. Certain areas that are denser and more tightly packed will struggle to grow properly and you’ll end up with those dead patches on the top. They won’t be as perfectly circular as spots caused by pets.

The solution to this one is actually fairly easy. Once a year, just before spring, you need to aerate the lawn. Get a fork and spike the soil a little, you don’t need to overturn it completely. That should break up those compacted areas of soil and make it easier for the grass on top to grow. Then you just need to make sure that you’re looking after the lawn properly and watering it regularly. If you’re worried about putting too much water on your lawn, you can use these great water saving tips to make sure that it’s still healthy while you cut down on your water use.

Caterpillars

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People are often wary of caterpillars eating other plants around the garden but they don’t think about them eating the lawn. Lawn caterpillars can be a real problem because they get right into the roots and eat them all, causing the grass to dry out in large patches around the garden. It sometimes takes people a long while to realize that they’ve got a big problem with lawn caterpillars because they only come out at night. They hide in amongst the roots during the day and then come up at night to eat the blades of grass on top.

The easiest way to work out if you do have lawn caterpillars is to leave a damp towel on the lawn overnight. In the morning, you should have a load gathered underneath the towel. The bad news is that pesticides are the only real option here, otherwise, you won’t get rid of the caterpillars.

You can get specific caterpillar pesticide from any good garden store but be careful which ones you choose. Some leave behind a lot of toxic residue which can kill bees and other insects around the garden that you don’t want to harm. Check the label to make sure that you’re getting a safe one.

White Grubs

You get white grubs in your lawn when beetles lay their eggs in the grass. Once the white grubs hatch, they’ll burrow into the earth and start eating all of the roots from your lawn, resulting in a lot of irregular dead patches. It’s fairly easy to tell if you’ve got a big problem with white grubs because they’ll eat so many of the roots that you’ll be able to roll back the top layer of lawn and see them all underneath.

They’re usually most active in the autumn and that’s when most of the damage will be done so pay extra attention to the health of your lawn around that time of year.

The easiest way to clear them all out of the lawn is to use imidacloprid in late spring or early summer every year and that should help you to manage it. It’s also important that you’re looking after the lawn properly because if you’re watering too much or too little, and the lawn isn’t properly fertilised, you’re far more likely to get a problem with white grubs.

Winter Grass

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Winter grass is a type of weed that comes out as small clusters, usually next to paving slabs and around the edges of the lawn. It’s a pretty annoying weed that makes the lawn look scruffy and untidy. It also grows in bald spots so if you’ve got one of the other issues on this list, you’re probably going to have an issue with winter grass at the same time.

Trying to combat it is fairly easy as long as you keep an eye for it. If you can just pull it out when it first starts appearing, it won’t get on top of you. But if you don’t get rid of it straight away, it’ll grow quickly and become more difficult to get rid of. If you’ve let it get out of control, you’ll have to spend ages pulling it all up.

When you are weeding the garden for winter grass, make sure that you’re throwing the weeds away immediately, otherwise, you’ll end up spreading the seeds around the garden and it’ll come back twice as thick as before. You can’t really use weed killer to get rid of it because you’ll end up killing the rest of the grass at the same time.

All of these problems have specific causes and solutions but general lawn care is important for avoiding them too. Aerating the soil by spiking it with a fork each year is a good way to stop issues with compacted soil but it’s also good for general root health which will make the lawn a lot healthier.

Using the right fertilizer is important as well, otherwise, your lawn won’t have all of the nutrients that it needs to grow properly. Lastly, you need to make sure that you’re watering it properly and always adjust the amount of water you give it based on the weather.

If you underwater it, it’ll dry out and die. If you overwater it, the roots will be too wet and they can easily start to rot which will kill the lawn as well. If you care for the grass properly and keep an eye out for these common problems, you should be able to grow a healthy lawn.