Author Archive: Ruth Collins

Tips From Experts On A Healthy Garden

An organic garden is an interest you have. Your timing is awesome! Below are some excellent ideas to help you begin down the road to an exceptional organic garden.

To prevent your plants’ systems from becoming shocked, you need to gradually transition them from higher to lower temperatures. Start by placing your plants outside for a few hours only. Slowly, day after day, you can leave your plants outside for a little longer. By weeks end, you should have plants that are ready for a permanent home outside with no problem!

Clay Soil

If you work with clay soil, you have probably found using a shovel very frustrating and exhausting. Use a thin coat of floor or car wax on your shovel, then buff it with a nice clean cloth to make dealing with clay soil easier. By waxing the shovel head, the clay will not be able to adhere to the surface.

When winter arrives, transfer a few plants into the house for safe storage during the cold weather. Think about saving your resistant plants or the expensive ones. Carefully dig up the plants, using caution not to disturb the roots, then transfer into a pot.

Bulbs will give you wonderful flowers that you can enjoy in early spring and right through the summer. Bulbs are usually very hearty and very easy to grow, and bulbs will grow year after year. Keep in mind that different bulb types bloom differently and at different time periods, so when you choose a bulb plan accordingly, you can have your plant blooms lasting spring into summer.

When it’s autumn, you know what that means. It’s time to plant fall vegetables! Clay pots are boring, so replace those ordinary lettuce and kale pots with pumpkins. After cutting an opening and removing the meat and seeds from inside the pumpkin, use Wilt-Pruf, sprayed throughout the inside and cut edges, and prevent rot from occurring. Once you have completed this, start planting!

After reading these tips, you shouldn’t have many questions about organic gardening. If you thought you knew a lot then, now you should be a professional. Hopefully, the advice you have learned will give you the knowledge and confidence you need to produce a beautiful and beneficial organic garden.

Be Smart And Follow These Tips On Buying Real Estate

A lot of people consider themselves experts in real estate, but are they really experts? Real estate experts didn’t stop the housing market from crashing, so it may not be wise to trust them now. If you are thinking about buying a property, read these tips to learn more about real estate.

Make sure to contact people you helped to buy a house every holiday, and on anniversaries of their first day in the house. Additional contact from you will help them remember how valuable your services were during their real estate experience. Make sure you remind them about you working with referrals and that you would be honored if they mentioned you to the people they know.

If you have or plan to have a big family, you need to find a home that will be big enough for everyone. Think about safety too. A swimming pool or stairs present a major risk for small children. You should have a safer house if the previous tenants had children.

If you are interested in purchasing commercial property that costs a lot, locate an trustworthy investment partner to do business with. Qualifying for a large loan is more difficult for a single purchaser than a partnership. Having a partner gives you an extra person to help pay the necessary down payment and any needed credit in order to be qualified for a loan.

You must understand well the terms used in mortgage loans before purchasing a home. The important things you need to know are how the loan term affects your monthly payment and the amount of interest you will have to pay throughout the loan period.

Real Estate

It really is a buyer’s market when it comes to real estate. Upsets in the real estate market have resulted in low prices for buyers. If you are looking to move into a new or used home to call your own, now is the right time to buy. Since the prices will eventually go up again, if you purchase now, you are sure to make your investment profitable.

As previously mentioned, it’s not always wise to rely on the self-styled professionals in the real estate field. If they were so informed, how come the market collapsed? Ignore the faux-gurus. So use what you’ve learned here to stay a step ahead of the marketplace and to always find the best deals on property.

Help For Horticulture That Anyone Can Use

The rewards of an organic garden to your health and eating pleasure are innumerable. But, you need to put in a lot of effort to grow your garden effectively. Knowing where to start when planning an organic garden can be a little confusing.

When laying sod, it is important that you do it correctly. Get your soil ready before you lay your sod. Take out any weeds, then mix up the soil into a tilth that is fine. Compact the soil firmly but lightly, and make certain it is flat. Gently sprinkle water on the soil until you are certain that it is thoroughly moistened. The sod should be laid in staggered rows, with the joints offset from one another. Make sure the sod is firmly placed to ensure a surface that is sufficiently flat and even. Also, make sure to use soil to fill the areas where there are gaps in the sod. Water the sod everyday for the first two weeks until the roots grow enough.

When you are mowing your lawn do not cut it too closely to the dirt. Keeping grass with a little more height makes it healthier. This allows the roots to grow more deeply and makes the blades of grass more resistant to becoming dry and discolored. The shorter the grass, the shallower the roots, which makes the lawn more likely to develop brown patches.

If a test indicates that your soil is very alkaline, you can mix the dirt with used coffee grounds. Basically, the grounds resupply the soil with acid. This is one of the most inexpensive ways to achieve this result. This solution will make the vegetables you grow healthier and more flavorful.

As has been outlined in the above article, you need to research all about organic horticulture, and know that it will take a lot of work and effort in order to grow organic plants of your own. After you have begun to grow the garden, it is true that you need to maintain it to get the best possible results. If you use the advice in this article, you will soon see great results from your organic garden.

House Hunting? Check Out These Helpful Tips!

Like any other life changing decision you might make, you want to educate yourself in the art of buying property before you begin. Knowing your stuff not only gives you more power at the negotiating table, but can also improve your own future, as well as your family’s. For some tips and advice on the art of buying real estate, read on.

Each real estate agent needs to contact their former clients around the holidays or their purchase date anniversaries. By keeping in contact with them, they will remember how helpful you were when they were buying their home. When a friend, neighbor or family member needs a real estate agent, your name will be fresh in their minds and they will suggest using you.

When seeking a new home, think long-term. Even if you currently do not have children, if you are planning to have kids in the future, it is a good idea to find out if the area schools are of high quality.

Be flexible when you are making choices. There are trade-offs that must sometimes be made between buying in a particular neighborhood, buying the ideal house, and what you can afford. If you can’t find a perfect house in a certain area, perhaps try a smaller home or a different neighborhood with a better house.

Understand how the length of your loan will affect what you pay. Confusion can be kept to a minimum by knowing how mortgage terms impact your monthly payments, as well as the entire cost over the duration of the loan.

Write down all the important questions that you need to ask potential real estate agents. Ask all of the important questions, like how many houses they have helped to sell this last year, and what is the number of homes they sold that are in the area you are looking at? Your agent should have all of those answers for you!

Real Estate

You will thank yourself in the future by about the time you invested here to gain proper knowledge about purchasing real estate. Although a real estate agent can be helpful, there are some decisions you have to make for yourself. You can now make these decisions in a more confident way.

Ways To Get The Most Out Of Home Improvement

Do you consider yourself to be an expert in home improvement? Do you take on a lot of projects and get them done properly? The following tips can help even a home improvement junkie become better at their craft.

Regular dusting of your home accessories should occur weekly. The accumulating dust is a potential allergy hazard that can easily be prevented. You can also find any insect problem with ant or fleas by dusting all the areas of your home on a weekly basis.

One tool every homeowner should own is a drill. A drill can give you a lot of flexibility when installing screws. You should have a cordless, 9-volt power drill that come with a variety of drill bits and bits for Phillips and flat-head screws.

Be sure to protect your flooring when you paint. This will keep any excess paint from damaging your carpet or floor. Layers of old newspapers can take care of this protection with minimal cost. You can use a plastic sheet or paint cloth to block your floor if paint splashes.

Coffee Table

Instead of choosing a pre-made coffee table, choose something unique. Something unlikely, like an old chest, can be used a great coffee table. To make the “table” look more like a table, throw on some magazine and accessories. If you are going for a rustic feel, you can complete the look with some teacups and a tablecloth.

Safety has to be first. There is always risk present, so you need to know the proper use of your power tools, and you always should ask for help if needed. You can also take advantage of online tutorials to get additional help.

Consider mounting your TV on the wall. Wall mounts can relieve you from having to use a TV stand or entertainment center, thus opening up the room a bit more. The directions for mounting are quite simple and can be done in less than an hour.

Gaining knowledge of home improvement takes time no matter how good you are at handy projects. Be aware that you’re never finished learning, and there is always room for improvement. Keep the above advice in mind and you can become great at home improvement.

HUBZone Certification Program Webinar

This video explains the basics of the HUBZone certification program for small business federal contractors.

HUBZone certification allows certain small businesses to compete for set-aside contracts aimed at spurring investment in low median income or high unemployment areas.

This post is aligned with a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.

Find additional information and resources on nonprofit information, educational grants and Civic Engagement programs from around the world.

Four Ways To Prepare Your Garden For Winter

Humans have been enjoying horticulture for centuries. Some people garden simply because they enjoy it, whereas others garden as a means to feed their family. This article will help bring the delight of horticulture into your life.

So you don’t shock the plants, you should gradually get them use to a change in the temperature and conditions. At first, only leave them outside for a brief period of time. Slowly, day after day, you can leave your plants outside for a little longer. By the end of the week, your plants should be ready to make the big move with no problem!

Turn the handles of your garden tools into measuring rulers. Handles of things such as rakes, hoes or shovels make excellent measuring instruments. Put the handles down and measure them with a measuring tape. Next, use a Sharpie to accurately label the distance between each one. Now you have easy access to a long ruler whenever you are gardening.

Choose perennials that slugs are not attracted to. Slugs and snails are voracious eaters that can destroy a plant literally overnight. They tend to enjoy perennials that have thin, smooth, tender leaves, especially those of young plants. Some perennials are not preferred meals for snails and slugs, especially if their foliage is hairy and tough, or tastes bad. Some perennial families that snails and slugs won’t eat include achillea, campanula, and helleborus.

Flower Garden

Plant a variety of flowers to keep your flower garden colorful and interesting. Annuals and biennials can add excitement and interest to your flower garden every season. These fast growth plants make flower beds vibrant, and they let you alter the appearance seasonally and annually. They are very useful for filling in the gaps between perennials and shrubs in a sunny area. Some flowers you can use are rudbekia, petunias, cosmos, marigolds, or sunflowers.

As this article stated, horticulture is a centuries-old hobby that has been loved by many through the ages. Years ago, it was simply what people did to put food on their tables. In modern times, however, gardening is done for primarily three reasons: profit, pleasure or necessity. The information above will increase your enjoyment of horticulture, regardless of your reason for wanting to garden. Learn to value the rewards that come from horticulture.

Straightforward Tips To Follow When Choosing To Buy Real Estate

Perhaps you have never bought a real estate property. If so, you are concerned about possibly losing your investment; you want to know how to safely invest in a desirable property. Listed below are some tips to get you started with your property purchasing endeavors.

Don’t come on too strong in purchase negotiations. Many people get too aggressive so that they can get a great deal, and they end up overdoing it and losing it. Be firm in what you want, however, let your Realtor and lawyer go at the negotiations since they are used to fighting those battles.

Each real estate agent needs to contact their former clients around the holidays or their purchase date anniversaries. When they hear from you, they will remember how much you helped them out. Make sure you remind them about you working with referrals and that you would be honored if they mentioned you to the people they know.

Look for a new home that has enough room if you plan on starting a family or already have children. Be mindful of safety issues as well, such as swimming pools, other bodies of water close by, and steep stairs in the home. If you buy a house from a family who has raised their children in it, it should ensure that the house is relatively safe.

Often times, homes that require a lot of fixing up will be sold at discounted prices. This will let you save some money in the beginning, and fix up the house as you see fit. Doing this allows you to make the design changes you want, and also build valuable equity in the home through improvement projects. Make sure you can see the potential of the house rather than focusing on its drawbacks. Your perfect new home could be hidden behind superficial drawbacks like bad paint or cracked paneling.

As shown in this article, there is a lot to learn about real estate, and it can be intimidating. However, if you put in the effort and use common sense, you will quickly find yourself becoming an expert. Using the tips in this article can help you become a smart property purchaser.

Make Buying Real Estate Enjoyable

Many people are afraid to jump in and buy real estate for a variety of reasons. Not only are the legal aspects of real estate investing intimidating for many beginners, but the weak market also makes many people hesitant to gamble their hard earned money. They key to surviving is getting informed and learning as much as you can before you actually invest.

Try to contact your former clients around the holidays and during anniversaries of their purchases. By keeping in contact with them, they will remember how helpful you were when they were buying their home. When you are concluding your greeting, remind them you would love to be referred to friends or family, because referrals are how you earn your living.

Should a seller decline your offer on their home, don’t fret, because they do want to sell, and they might be creative enough to manifest an opportunity to make the price affordable to you. The seller might be willing to do some repairs or cover the closing costs, in order to make the sale possible.

Consider what the future may hold when you are in the market to buy a home. You may be child free now, but sometimes people change their minds. So a look at the local schools can’t hurt.

Request a checklist from your Realtor. Many Realtors have checkoff lists available that include all steps of home-buying, including finding the perfect house and mortgage procedures. Such a checklist enables you to dot all i’s and cross all your t’s.

Now is the time to invest in real estate. Property values are now at a low since the market has crashed. If you’ve always dreamed of owning a home, now is the time to buy. In time the market will correct itself, and the value of your investment will appreciate.

Memorize and use these tips so that you can research real estate opportunities, as well as understand what you may be getting into, or how long it should take to close the deal. These are the necessary steps that must be taken if you wish to become comfortable with the market, and actually begin to pull in a sustainable profit.

What Is All Of The Buzz About Organic Horticulture?

Starting an organic garden can be a fruitful hobby, as long as you avoid major pitfalls. Here are some suggestions to get you on the right path to successful organic horticulture.

Use your tool handles as rulers in the garden. Tools that have long handles such as rakes, hoes and shovels can be used in place of a measuring stick. Lay your handles on the floor, and put measuring tape right next to them. Label the distances with a permanent marker. When the need arises to measure something while in your garden, the measuring tool you need will literally be “on hand,” sketched into the handles of your tools.

Consider planting slug-proof perennials. Slugs or snails can kill a plant very quickly. They often enjoy feeding on perennials with very smooth and tender leaves. Young plants are a special favorite of theirs. Slugs and snails will leave some perennials alone, particularly those with a bad taste or tough, hairy leaves. Selecting an unappetizing perennial, such as campanula or heuchera, will help stop them from being eaten.

Fight pests before you even plant, by getting your soil in shape. If you are producing healthy plants, they will be stronger and better able to resist bugs and diseases. To boost your garden’s prospects of giving you the healthiest possible plants, make sure you begin with premium soil devoid of salt-accumulating chemicals.

While working in your garden during the fall season, watch out for those stink bugs! These destructive pests enjoy many kinds of fruit, as well as beans, peppers and tomatoes. If left uncontrolled, they can cause substantial damage in your garden, so make plans for how to protect your plants from these pests.

Be diligent in your efforts to banishing weeds! Those nasty weeds can turn your beautiful garden into a scruffy version of its former self. White vinegar is one option you can use in your routine weed removal. The acid in white vinegar kills weeds. You may also be using plants that need that very same acid. By placing a white vinegar solution in a spray bottle, you can spray the weeds away instead of having to pull them out manually.

Organic Horticulture

As you have seen from the above article, there is quite a bit more to successful organic horticulture than a lot of people realize. It involves lots of work as well as patience, but it’s so worth it when you see your beautiful organic garden. By using the advice you learned here, you will be well on the path to becoming an organic horticulture pro.