Summer Crops: How to Grow Strawberries (7 photos)

Care: If you're growing the plants in rows, lightly cultivate the soil for two to six weeks (two weeks for everbearing and day-neutral types; six weeks for June-bearing) to allow runners to spread. Remove any weeds and stray runners. Keep weeds down with straw or another light-colored mulch during the growing season.

Pinch off the earliest blooms to let the plants concentrate on growth rather than fruit production. Pinch blossoms on June-bearing strawberries for at least the first two weeks they appear; you can even pinch off all blossoms the first year for better production in later years. Pinch off the first everbearing blossoms. Remove the blossoms for the first six weeks for day-neutral varieties. Don’t remove blossoms on alpine strawberries.

Keep the soil consistently most while the fruit is forming, providing about 1 to 2 inches of water per week. Pinch off June-bearing strawberry runners that are spreading out of bounds to ensure fewer but larger berries.

Feed June-bearing, alpine and musk strawberries plants as they begin to grow in spring with a balanced or low-nitrogen fertilizer; feed more heavily after you harvest. Lightly feed everbearing and day-neutral berries throughout the season once the blossoms have set.

Strawberries are subject to a number of pests, including aphids, mites, snails and slugs. Strawberry root weevils can be a problem in some areas. Even more of a problem will be birds. Use netting to keep them, and any household dogs or other creatures, away from the developing fruit. They all love strawberries just as much as humans do.

Diseases such as blight, fruit rot, leaf problems, powdery mildew and verticilium wilt can also cause problems, though if you keep a close watch and remove any diseased plants, you should be able to keep things in check.

If you live in a cold-weather climate, cover the plants with straw mulch by late fall. You can reuse the mulch the following spring if a late frost threatens.

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15 Fun Features for Family Rooms (15 photos)

3. Family travel map mural. A world map painted on the wall becomes an interactive feature when you use it to mark the places you have been. Use a coat of magnetic paint under the mural to create a magnetic surface, or have a large corkboard painted so you can pin flags directly on the map.

4. Fun accent furniture. Since the family room is often tucked away from the other, more formal spaces, it is a good place for getting a little more playful with furniture and decor. Try your hand at making DIY dice tables like the ones shown here (just paint dots on a plain cube), or scoop up a funky vintage piece at the flea market.

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Shop Houzz: Sleek and Stylish Modern Sofa Beds (61 photos)

For an elegant and understated look, try tone-on-tone layering with a textured pillow or throw in a slightly lighter or darker tint than the upholstery of your sofa bed. Or make your sofa pop with a bright burst of color, such as peony, which will stand out against any of these monochromatic shades. For a bold style, black and white stripes are classic and eye catching.

Sofa bed guest tip No. 1: Have a side table and lamp set up near the sofa bed so your guest can relax with a book at bedtime.

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Sourced by "Home Hacks". Scouring and supporting the art of DIY home projects by sharing links and information provided by numerous active reputable DIY veterans and company's. Any projects you start please be of proper age, follow all required safety measures, and use the required protective equipment when handling any chemicals, power tools, or during any construction project. If you need advice regarding your next project we suggest visiting Contractor Talk.

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How to Prune Your Flowering Shrubs for the Best Blooms (11 photos)

When Pruning Goes Wrong

While pruning flowering shrubs is important for their health and attractiveness, it can have negative effects if done incorrectly. Flowering shrubs are most commonly pruned incorrectly when they are overplanted or aren’t given enough room to reach their mature size, or when they are pruned by someone who doesn’t know what they are supposed to look like or how to correctly prune them. This usually involves shearing.

Repeated shearing is most often done with hedge trimmers, and invloves removing the top 2 to 3 inches of outer growth, including the flower buds. This strips away flowering shrub’s unique shape and creates a dense mat of leaves that looks like a green blob, and sometimes removes the shrub’s ability to flower at all.

Other negative effects from excessive pruning of flowering shrubs include stress to the plant’s heath, as the shrub will have to constantly work to replace the leaves lost to pruning, which are what makes the food for the plant. As a result, excessive pruning makes shrubs grow faster and use more water than those allowed to grow into their more natural shape. This repeated cycle can lead to a shortened lifespan for shrubs.

Shown: Side-by-side comparison of feathery cassia (Senna artemisioides, zone 8) shrubs; one has been formally pruned (sheared) and one has been pruned correctly

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My Houzz: A Kitchen Update With Indoor-Outdoor Beauty (24 photos)

The kitchen remodel cost more than the house, says Schwalbach, but the room has become one of the couple’s favorite spaces. The concrete wall required for seismic loads, seen to the side of the wall, was intended to be covered with an alternate finish but instead was left exposed to save on costs. It’s now an element that Mempa and Schwalbach realize fits in well with the rest of the kitchen palette. “The contrast and harmony between the old and the new is wonderful,”Schwalbach says.

The original kitchen remodel plans stayed within the existing footprint of the house and maintained the lower ceiling height that carried over from the living room. After envisioning the space with transparency to the garden, Mempa and Schwalbach opted to expand upward and outward. “I like the intimacy of the low ceilings in the living room and then the very high ceilings of the new kitchen,” says Schwalbach.

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Pre-Storage Checklist: 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Store (9 photos)

4. Is it clean? Storing clothing and other textile items without having them cleaned first can spell trouble. Moths and other critters are attracted to the dirt on textiles (gross, I know), so your best defense is putting items away only when they are fresh and clean. Tools and outdoor equipment should also be cleaned before storing to avoid deterioration, so scrub your gardening gear and patio furniture before storing it next time, too.

5. Do you already have something like it? This circles back to question 1: If you already have a similar item, do you really need this one? Keeping multiples of certain items can be helpful, but only if you are intentional about it. All too often we keep buying similar things hoping to find the just-right version of it. Choose the best example (or two) and get rid of the rest.

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How to Rock a Lawn (9 photos)

If your lawn looks dried out (as in this image), is full of weeds or has yellow or brown spots, the test will tell you what your soil is lacking. Woodford says you want to shoot for a pH of 7.0. You should receive a printout of your sample that you can give to a lawn care professional, who can then come up with a recipe for improving your soil and lawn.

If your soil is imbalanced, it’s most likely that it’s more acidic rather than more alkaline. But it all depends on where you live. The pH depends on a variety of factors, including whether a previous owner had a garden. If you have an oak tree in your yard, that could be a main contributing factor to overly acidic soil. Oak tree leaves are high in acid content. When they fall to the ground and decompose in the soil, over time it can up the acidity level.

If your soil is too acidic, you’ll need to add lime to neutralize the acidity. Lime is pulverized limestone, an organic material that’s mainly calcium carbonate. If your soil is too alkaline, you’ll need to add more nitrogen, a component found in fertilizers. If your soil is lacking microorganisms, then more organic matter, like peat moss, will be needed to kick-start the topsoil.

At this stage when you’re looking to completely revitalize your lawn, it’s best to leave the care to a professional. “This is past the DIY stage,” Crooks says. The amount of lime will depend on how much calibrating the soil needs. Typically the amount needs to be a certain amount of pounds per 1,000 square feet, something a professional is trained to figure out. “Don’t just get a bag of lime and put it on the grass,” Crooks says. “That doesn’t work.”

You’ll want to continue taking a soil sample yearly to make sure it’s maintaining the right levels.

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Sourced by "Home Hacks". Scouring and supporting the art of DIY home projects by sharing links and information provided by numerous active reputable DIY veterans and company's. Any projects you start please be of proper age, follow all required safety measures, and use the required protective equipment when handling any chemicals, power tools, or during any construction project. If you need advice regarding your next project we suggest visiting Contractor Talk.

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Shop Houzz: Sleek and Stylish Modern Sofa Beds (61 photos)

For an elegant and understated look, try tone-on-tone layering with a textured pillow or throw in a slightly lighter or darker tint than the upholstery of your sofa bed. Or make your sofa pop with a bright burst of color, such as peony, which will stand out against any of these monochromatic shades. For a bold style, black and white stripes are classic and eye catching.

Sofa bed guest tip No. 1: Have a side table and lamp set up near the sofa bed so your guest can relax with a book at bedtime.

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Sourced by "Home Hacks". Scouring and supporting the art of DIY home projects by sharing links and information provided by numerous active reputable DIY veterans and company's. Any projects you start please be of proper age, follow all required safety measures, and use the required protective equipment when handling any chemicals, power tools, or during any construction project. If you need advice regarding your next project we suggest visiting Contractor Talk.

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Summer Crops: How to Grow Squash (5 photos)

Care: Water deeply after planting and water regularly throughout the growing season; about 1 inch per week is ideal. Either flood the soil beneath the plant or use a soaker hose; water on the leaves, stems and flowers can result in mildew. Fertilize once flowers have formed and the fruit is starting to set.

Once the fruit forms, place a board or piece of foam under winter squash to prevent rot. Support fruit on a trellis with a cloth bag or netting. The fruit will be heavy, so make sure your support is sturdy.

Aphids, cucumber beetles, cutworms, mites, nematodes and the aptly named squash borers and squash bugs may cause problems. Powdery and downy mildews can be a problem as well. Row covers can protect young plants from cutworms, slugs and squash bugs. Remove them once the plants start blossoming to ensure pollination. If squash borers are a problem, look for resistant varieties.

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Warm Up Your Garden With Orange Flowers (13 photos)

Blue Elf Aloe

(Aloe ‘Blue Elf’)

From late winter into spring, blue elf aloe’s toothed, grayish-green foliage welcomes orange flower spikes, giving hummingbirds and gardeners something to be grateful for.

Like many succulents, Blue Elf aloe thrives in hot, reflected sun in well-drained soil. What’s unusual is that it also handles shade, through it will flower more profusely in sunnier spots.

Bloom season: Late winter into early spring

Cold tolerance: Hardy to 15 degrees Fahrenheit (zone 8)

Origin: Garden hybrid

Water requirement: Drought tolerant once established but ideally water deeply once a month in summer and once every three weeks in spring and fall; in low-desert gardens, water twice a month spring through fall

Light requirement: Full sun to light shade

When to plant: Spring or fall from division

See how to grow Blue Elf aloe

Region by region: What to Do in Your Garden This Month

See more Houzz guides to colorful flowers

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Sourced by "Home Hacks". Scouring and supporting the art of DIY home projects by sharing links and information provided by numerous active reputable DIY veterans and company's. Any projects you start please be of proper age, follow all required safety measures, and use the required protective equipment when handling any chemicals, power tools, or during any construction project. If you need advice regarding your next project we suggest visiting Contractor Talk.

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My Houzz: Bright and Airy Renovated Home in Vancouver (23 photos)

Davide started his company, Velofix, out of the back of their garage. He partnered with their neighbor Boris Martin, who shared his passion for bikes. “He lived behind us and he used to race professionally as well as work at some of the top bike shops in Vancouver,” Regan says. “Boris started fixing Davide’s bike out of the garage, which turned into all of their friends’ bikes as well.” There are now 13 Velofix outposts throughout Canada, and they plan to expand into the U.S. market this year.

Sofa, lounge chair: Natuzzi, Inform Interiors; pillows: DwellStudio; rug: BoConcept; coffee table: Noguchi, Herman Miller

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Sourced by "Home Hacks". Scouring and supporting the art of DIY home projects by sharing links and information provided by numerous active reputable DIY veterans and company's. Any projects you start please be of proper age, follow all required safety measures, and use the required protective equipment when handling any chemicals, power tools, or during any construction project. If you need advice regarding your next project we suggest visiting Contractor Talk.

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Design Dose: 3 Living Rooms That Caught Our Eye This Week (6 photos)

2. Bold and Brawny

Designer: Meredith Heron

Location: Toronto

Size: 10 feet by 16 feet (3 by 5 meters)

Homeowners’ request: “The homeowners wanted a sophisticated space that was both suitable for entertaining but was pet friendly and not too precious. They wanted it to be a showstopper but didn’t want to have to worry about upkeep. It needed to have character but not look dated.”

Plan of attack: “The room is very narrow and long, so we chose a rich indigo in a high-gloss lacquer for the millwork, which wraps around the space in an L. We then painted the remaining walls in the same color but in an eggshell finish. The lacquer and sheen brighten up the indigo by about 20 percent, so whenever I’m asked what the color is on the millwork, I always give the caveat that the paint chip — Benjamin Moore Lead Gray — looks nothing like the eventual color.

“Painting the room out in the dark indigo reduces contrast in the space and makes the room feel double the size. It’s cozy and perfect for media watching. The best part of this entire room, though, was being able to display the heirloom library of books that were handed down from a favorite aunt. We didn’t have to buy any accessories for this room. We just shopped the house. It gives it such character and a true personalized touch.”

Why it works: “The best part of this entire project was the fact that the clients gave us a lot of information about how they live and what the function of the space needed to be. They have two very large standard poodles who run the show, and then they left us alone to create.”

What wasn’t working: “There had been an actual wood-burning fireplace, but it protruded rather far out into the room, and beside it was a poorly located radiator. This drastically reduced how and where the furniture could be laid out. Both clients are well over 6 feet tall, and with two dogs they could barely fit in the room, let alone entertain.

“They are huge movie buffs and love to have viewing parties and Oscar parties, and this is where they wanted that to happen. We removed the old fireplace and closed it up. We replaced it with an electric fireplace. We also removed and relocated the old radiator and replaced it with a new slim-line one that allowed for the millwork and a sectional to both find a home in the room. It opened up the floor space and gave us room to put in a sectional that fits perfectly into the space and still have room for additional chairs for guests. The dark palette makes it perfect for movie watching at any time of day. We made sure to use blackout lining for the wool draperies, which doubles as sound dampening.”

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Sourced by "Home Hacks". Scouring and supporting the art of DIY home projects by sharing links and information provided by numerous active reputable DIY veterans and company's. Any projects you start please be of proper age, follow all required safety measures, and use the required protective equipment when handling any chemicals, power tools, or during any construction project. If you need advice regarding your next project we suggest visiting Contractor Talk.

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Houzz Tour: Surfer’s Beach House Built for Outdoor Living (22 photos)

The kitchen is pared down and practical. The fridge and walk-in pantry are tucked away on the right-hand side, out of view, so the kitchen appears to be composed of a simple island with the back counter and stove behind.

“We wanted the entire living and dining area to flow to the outside, where most of the activity and interest will be focused,” Davis says. “So really, the kitchen was intentionally quite minimal so as to not compete with the main show, which was the outdoor pool, deck and garden.” The client’s request for finishes that were low maintenance and hard wearing also contributed to this simple design.

While the backsplash is a feature in the minimalist kitchen, it in no way dominates the room.

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Sourced by "Home Hacks". Scouring and supporting the art of DIY home projects by sharing links and information provided by numerous active reputable DIY veterans and company's. Any projects you start please be of proper age, follow all required safety measures, and use the required protective equipment when handling any chemicals, power tools, or during any construction project. If you need advice regarding your next project we suggest visiting Contractor Talk.

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