Our pool landscape, now at 11 years old, needed some tuning. We’ve maintained it continuously, but the two Hinoki Cypress right up front (circled in the original landscape photo below) – died together. This particular area of our backyard, under the heaviest of rains, would sometimes pond a bit. And the last 2 years, we […]
Outdoor
Tree Planting 101
2021 Update… Spring is upon us in New Jersey, the ‘Garden state,’ and signs of life are exploding outside. I’ve done quite a lot of tree planting over the years, and while everyone has their own techniques, I find there are a few basic rules & principles that always seem to apply. Best Season for […]
Creating a Natural Stone Landscape Border
This flagstone landscape border is a one-day project that’s simple in concept, but really added a lot of character to an Arborvitae line in the front of my house and also set us up to add softer flower bed plantings as well. What I love about landscaping projects is that they’re hard work, they’re outside […]
My Battle with Surface Water Runoff
2020 Update – Originally Published March, 2016 Surface water runoff from rain, downspouts, roofs and gutters can make your life miserable if your landscape grading hasn’t been properly designed. The equation isn’t terribly complicated: water needs to flow away from things it can damage. But this can sometimes be overlooked or frankly creep up on […]
Repairing a Backyard Trampoline
2020 Update — Originally Published 2016 Some of the best money I’ve ever spent has been on our backyard trampoline – the kids love it, they get exercise, fresh air and sunshine, and we’ve all had a lot of laughs with it. I won’t even pretend I don’t jump on it myself, though I do try […]
How to Clean Your Outdoor A/C Unit for Better Cooling
I don’t know about the weather in your locale, but here in the middle of the country, we’re getting temperatures in the mid- to upper-90s with 85 percent humidity. Yesterday, even though the air conditioner was cranked, the house wasn’t cooling down like it should have been, and we were all sweaty and cranky. There […]
How to Replace a Dead GFCI Outlet
GFCI Outlets, often referred to as GFI outlets or just GFIs, are used to reduce the risk of significant electrical shocks and injury. If you used a hair dryer this morning, you probably plugged it into a GFCI outlet. We’ve all seen GFIs in our homes – they’re the electrical receptacles with the ‘test’ and […]
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