Archive for the ‘Outdoors’ Category
Setting up a home can be hard
Sylvia Putz – Metro Canada
If you’ve just bought your first home, I bet you’re learning that the process of setting up a home can be exciting, but also a little overwhelming.
But don’t fret. Focus on looking after a few important logistical details first, and then you can enjoy deciding on décor and furniture and all the other delightful stuff.
Before you move in:
• Change or re-key your locks.
• Complete a change-of-address at the post office.
• Transfer or set up new utilities.
• Purchase home insurance.
• Set up automatic mortgage payments with your lending institution if you haven’t done so already.
• Ensure you have window coverings in bathrooms and bedrooms at the very least, even if they are temporary.
In those first few weeks:
• Locate the main circuit breaker in the house and label each breaker.
• Locate and know how to operate the main and other water shutoffs in your house.
• Find out how to look after your furnace and any other appliances that need regular servicing.
• Make sure you have working smoke detectors.
• You should have easily accessible fire extinguishers on each floor of the home, preferably hung on the wall near the entrance to the kitchen and near the entrance to the garage.
• Set up an annual schedule of important servicing or maintenance duties at your new home, so they are not overlooked in the years to come.
• Also have an emergency exit plan in place and make sure all family members know exit plans.
• Purchase and install a carbon monoxide detector if you don’t have one.
• Write down and keep important emergency numbers close to the phone.
• Put together a first aid kit for your new home.
• Find out which day of the week is garbage/recycling/compost pickup day. Also find out the rules in your area, and make sure you buy raccoon-proofing straps if you store your garbage outdoors.
• Cut plenty of extra keys for yourself, and your family. Give one or two to trusted friends, relatives or neighbours in case you or family members forget or lose a key.
• Check out the neighbourhood and find the nearest grocery store, drugstore, walk-in medical clinic, gas station, hardware store, post office, beer and liquor store, good restaurants, fast food, parks and recreational amenities, and so on.
• Introduce yourself to your new neighbours.
Things you may need sooner or later:
• Assemble or purchase a few basic tools, like hammers, assorted screw drivers and wrenches, a hacksaw, a small drill and drill bits and a tape measure.
A stepladder and an outdoor ladder are handy. You may also want to buy assorted nails and screws, sandpaper, paper yard waste bags, plastic garbage bags and any other house repair items you think you may need regularly.
• If you’ve got a lawn or garden, you may also want to purchase a few gardening tools, such as assorted shovels, including a pointed-tip shovel suitable for digging, a rake, a hoe, trowels, a water hose and watering can, gardening or outdoor workgloves, a lawnmower, and an outdoor broom for sweeping off steps and porches.
Depending on how much gardening you do, a wheelbarrow can be handy as well.
A snow shovel and ice melter or salt will also be a necessity.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
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How to grow an organic vegetable garden
Taken from What’s Wrong with my Plant (and How do I Fix it?), by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth.
If you’re an organic vegetable gardener, take the time now to plan and prepare for a successful and productive year.
Taking steps now will ensure that you have a vigorous and healthy garden, and fewer pests to bother you later.
Here’s how to do it.
1. Start off with a clean slate. Clean up leftover garden debris. If you had diseased or infested plants, remove the plant material to avoid infecting new plantings with fungal spores, insect eggs or bacteria.
2. Make sure you have the right plant for the place. Read instructions, and plant in a location that suits the plant’s needs for sun exposure, soil type, water, temperature and shelter.
3. Most flowering plants need plenty of light and airflow. Make sure you have these conditions, or plants become spindly and anemic-looking, or susceptible to fungus.
4. If possible, choose cultivars of plants that are genetically resistant to disease and pests.
5. Time your planting according to plant temperature preferences. Some plants, like corn, and most fruits and tomatoes grow best when the soil and air is warm, while others (cabbage, lettuce, spinach) should be planted in the spring, when the soil and air are still cool.
Organic Vegetable Garden
6. Plan to plant a lot of different plants in the same location, rather than using only one type of plant. This will make it harder for pests to find plants, and for fungus and bacteria to “jump” from plant to plant.
7. Rotate your planting layout every couple of years, so plants become a moving target for soil-borne pests.
8. Favour plants that produce nectar and pollen, as those attract insects and birds that pollinate.
10. Add organic compost (well-rotted dead plant material from healthy and non-toxic sources) to your soil every year before you seed. This helps the soil become healthy and biologically active, so it contains lots of critters that help break down dead plant material to feed plants and to help keep pest populations in check.
11. Use organic mulch once you seed, to keep weed growth suppressed, and to fertilize the soil as it breaks down.
12. Water regularly. Letting plants dry out and then flooding them results in uneven growth, deformed foliage and reduced yields. And water roots rather than leaves, since wet leaves are susceptible to diseases.
13. Don’t spray chemical pesticides because they kill all insects, including the beneficial ones. Predators like lady bugs, lacewings, spiders, as well as birds, frogs and toads will snack on insects and bugs that attack your garden. Various types of parasitic insects that prey on plant pests also help.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
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Get to know your soil
How to keep your garden healthy and vigorous
Tending a garden can be one of the simple joys of home ownership. If you’re planning on planting your first backyard crops this summer, taking the time to learn a little more about your soil could help you reap a more fruitful harvest.
To help you get the most out of your garden this season, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) offers the following tips for keeping your soil in top shape:
• Many of the most common soil problems are related to texture. The texture of a soil is determined by its relative proportion of sand, silt and clay. In general, clay soils tend to be fertile but are often wet and poorly drained. Sandy soils drain easily but can be drought-prone and infertile. Loam, probably the most desirable soil texture, retains moisture and is fertile, crumbly and easy to work with.
• To determine your soil’s texture, dry and crush a small amount by rubbing it in the palm of your hand. Then rub a pinch of the soil between your thumb and fingers. The grainier the soil feels, the higher its sand content is likely to be.
• To test for clay, squeeze some moist soil in your hand and then pass it from hand to hand. The more it holds together, the higher the percentage of clay.
• Other important qualities of good soil include its structure and porosity, moisture, fertility, pH level and the presence of earthworms, ants and other life forms that can contribute to the health of your plants. To find out more about these and other characteristics of your soil, contact your local garden centre, soil testing laboratory, or provincial agriculture ministry or department.
• Once you are armed with a basic understanding of your soil’s properties, you can select plants that will be better suited to thrive in your garden and site conditions such as sun, shade and anticipated rainfall. Local nurseries, conservation agencies, plant catalogues, books and websites can all help you identify which plants can tolerate a variety of soil textures and which are likely to have more specific soil requirements.
• Although picking the right plants for your soil will minimize the need to add fertilizers or other amendments, there may still be some situations in which these additions will be unavoidable. If your garden has a high clay content, for example, you will probably need to aerate the soil and work in some organic matter such as well-rotted manure, compost, grass clippings or leaves.
• When your soil is in a healthy state, consider installing a rain garden to help maintain your plants. A rain garden is an attractive, easy and inexpensive way to reduce runoff and allow stormwater to soak more slowly into the ground.
For more information or a free copy of the “About Your House” fact sheet entitled Get to Know Your Soil or other fact sheets on owning, maintaining or renovating your home, call CMHC at 1-800-668-2642 or visit our website at www.cmhc.ca. For more than 60 years, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has been Canada’s national housing agency, and a source of objective, reliable housing expertise.
New Homes & Condos Magazine is an excellent source of housing information for those looking for information on new homes in Ontario, Canada. We offer the most up-to-date information on new communities across the Greater Toronto Area.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416-388-1960