Summer is finally here, and with warmer temperatures and longer days, it’s the perfect time to brighten up your home with a few outdoor painting projects. You can add the right amount of color and increase your curb appeal in just one weekend, leaving you the rest of the season to enjoy the finished product. Your home, your style Before rushing to pick out a new paint color or even accessories, first determine what will complement your home’s existing exterior features. By keeping in mind your house’s style factors – like its design, size and age – you’ll be able to make updates that add value to your home.  Next, look for inspiration by browsing through home catalogs, online or even by driving through a…

Read the rest

Window boxes overflowing with blooms, decorative pots lining the driveway with striking colors, and even a floweringvine climbing up the mailbox – the growing season have arrived, and it is time to decorate the landscape. The latest gardening trend is growing your own produce, so incorporate edible plants as a beautiful compliment to the typical annuals and perennials. This year, spice up the landscaping decor with some tasty options. Edible plants – whether herbs, vegetables, fruits or flowers – add a creative variety of interest to your landscape, and also produce a delicious bounty for your dinner table come harvest time. Here are some ideas to help incorporate edible plants into your landscaping: Decorate an arbor in the garden, along a walkway or near the…

Read the rest

A column by Jane Ford, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel This year we’ve had 80-degree weather in March, which forced our plants into an early spring, then drought conditions moved in to stay, and, on June 29, a storm of epic proportions blew through and dumped debris (dirt, roofing shingles, tree parts and assorted junk, such as children’s toys in my backyard) from someplace faraway. All of us have stories to tell and have had more days than we care to think about sweltering without fans or air conditioners because the power lines were laying everywhere, all tangled up with downed trees. Many of us have taken refuge with friends or relatives until the power company could do what they do best. This will be an Independence…

Read the rest

By Miguel Llanos, NBC News As if shriveled crops, dead fish, water rationing and brown lawns aren’t bad enough, some residents across the Midwest and South are seeing the drought in their own homes as foundations shift in dried-up soil. Sometimes they’ll even hear the shift. “We will get calls where homeowners hear a loud pop,” John Clark, general manager at Indiana Foundation Service, told NBC News. “They’ll explain that they’ve heard the house move.” Adding insult to injury, insurers typically consider such damage an “act of God” and thus homeowners are on the hook for funding repairs. Clark said drought-repair business in and around Indianapolis is booming, with calls almost doubling in the last month and his crews doing about 10 home repairs a…

Read the rest

The change of seasons, the change of family schedules, or even a change in furniture; there are many reasons to take the time to transform the interior of your home and revitalize your decor. Why not take the opportunity this fall and winter to refresh your interior with the bold colors trending this year? Traditional fall colors like bronze orange, vibrant gold and comfy eggplant bring plenty of life to a home’s decor, especially after the temperatures have dropped and you’ve closed up the house for a season. Winter colors are warm this year, with a lot of browns blended in with reds, yellows and taupe, creating a cozy interior feeling through the long winter months. And if you’re looking to transform your home into…

Read the rest

This summer gardens and outdoor green spaces often look limp and lifeless due to lots of hot, sunny days and limited precipitation. No need to despair, just a few simple tips can help to rejuvenate any outdoor space well into fall – and be water-wise as well. Garden Mulch Mulch adds a nice, finished look to beds, paths and containers alike. It also helps to keep weeds out by blocking access to sunlight, reduce competition for water and nutrients from weeds, retain moisture in the soil where the roots can access it and moderate soil temperatures. In essence, mulching around plants, trees and shrubs is fundamental to keeping water where it is needed. Mulch your landscape beds at a depth of 2 to 3 inches…

Read the rest

A column by Jane Ford Fort Wayne News-Sentinel This is great gardening weather, but the cool nights and cooler-than-normal days are causing some of our warm-weather annual flowers and vegetables to grow very slowly. I’m sure that will change soon, and we’ll see tomatoes and peppers forming on the vines. I’ve listed things to do in June around the house and garden: Spring-flowering shrubs can be pruned after the blooms are gone. Apply fungicide to prevent and control black spot on roses, and clean up all signs of the disease and throw that in the trash. Disinfect pruners. Water well new trees and shrubs every seven to 10 days when there is little or no rain. Use stem tip cuttings to propagate deciduous shrubs, such…

Read the rest