Category: Yard & Garden

• 3 Home Projects to Use for Homeschooling

  Posted at 7:52 pm by HomeDabbler, on March 25, 2020

  

  School is only boring if you make it that way. There are practical life lessons all around your home that won’t feel like “school” at all. Here are a few projects to do with your kids that are fun and teach important subjects.

  1. Science – Start a Garden

  Doesn’t have to be big, and it doesn’t even have to be outside. Gardening is full of science lessons, including chemistry, biology, measurements, and more. And you can eat the results!

  I suggest you start small, maybe with a container garden on your porch (watch this video I did on the subject). You can also teach the chemistry of gardening with my video on pH (positive hydrogen) and its importance for plants.

  There are lots of gardening lesson plans out there. I found some cool ones at kidsgardening.org.

  

  Gardening kids are happy kids.

  2. Biology – The Chicken Life Cycle

  If you didn’t know, I’m obsessed with chickens and have raised them for 20 years. I have an entire page dedicated to them on this blog.

  Walking through the chicken life cycle, including how an egg gestates and hatches, is one of the most fascinating and educational experiences in life. Ideally, I would recommend you buy an incubator and hatch some eggs yourself.

  Don’t be scared! You can get everything online and you don’t have to keep the chicks once they hatch. Trust me, you have someone like me near you who loves chickens and will take them off your hands. Just put out a Facebook post and watch the chicken people emerge.

  Scholastic has some cool chicken-hatching lesson plans to get you started.

  I recommend Tractor Supply and Murray McMurray Hatchery for supplies.

  

  There’s a chicken growing in there!

  3. Math – Build a Bird House

  This is an oldy-but-goodie. Building even the simplest bird house requires measuring, calculating material, volume, estimation, even calculating the size of the hole in the front. Math, math, math that is fun, fun, fun.

  And there is nothing more fulfilling for anyone than building something with your own hands. It’s what HomeDabbler is dedicated to.

  Lowe’s has plans for beginners. The Spruce has tons more.

  

  Even simple bird houses teach big lessons.

  You Can Do It!

  It’s okay to drop the books for a while and get your (and your kid’s) hands busy. You’ll all be happier and – let’s face – you’ll both learn more.

  Enjoy!

  Kevin

  

  Posted in Chickens, Yard & Garden | 0 Comments | Tagged Chickens, diy home improvement, garden, home improvement, home schooling, lesson plans

• Why I Hate Landscape Timbers

  Posted at 8:00 pm by HomeDabbler, on July 14, 2019

  

  They’re Pretty, But …

  Like duct tape, landscape timbers are used for everything but good for nothing.

  Landscape timbers are wooden posts, usually eight feet long with a 3-inch by 4-inch profile and rounded edges. They are indeed pretty and versatile. You can stack them horizontally or cut them into short sections and place them vertically in a row.

  You’ve likely seen them used for bed borders and raised garden beds. And if you’ve tried them yourself, you know that, within a couple years, they are rotting.

  Which is why I hate them. Landscape timbers are attractive and so useful, but they don’t last (NEVER put them in the ground as a post). I don’t know why, but the pressure treating they undergo is simply not enough. For all the work it takes to construct a bed or border, you should get more than two seasons out of them.

  

  How cute! Don’t be fooled.

  A Better Option

  A standard 4 x 4 ground-contact post will serve you much better, and longer. They don’t have quite the same profile as landscape timbers (and no cute rounded corners). And they are more expensive. But for my money and time, they are the best way to go.

  These posts can do everything landscape timbers can but will last for years and years and years.

  Another Better Option (For Vertical Applications Only)

  One of my favorite landscape materials is the 3 x 3 round fence post. They have a rustic, farm-y feel and are made to last. You cannot stack them horizontally, but they look great for those borders made of short vertical sections butted against each other.

  Trust Me On This One

  I know you see landscape timbers everywhere, but don’t use them. They are way cheaper than other similar posts, but that ought to tell you something. Save yourself hard labor in the sun and leave them on the shelf.

  Kevin

  Posted in Yard & Garden | 0 Comments

• [VIDEO] Bush Trimming Basics

  Posted at 9:57 pm by HomeDabbler, on June 22, 2019

  Here are some basics on the how, when, and how often of pruning your landscape bushes.

  Enjoy!

  Kevin

  Posted in Yard & Garden | 0 Comments | Tagged diy, home improvement, yard and garden

• [VIDEO] Drip Irrigation: My Favorite Gardening Technology

  Posted at 10:18 am by HomeDabbler, on April 28, 2019

  Did you know you can automate watering your garden? Watch this for an explanation of my favorite gardening technology, drip irrigation!

  Also, if you would like a full list of the materials I use to irrigate my garden, please message me through the HomeDabbler Facebook page anytime!

  Kevin

  P.S. – For more gardening info and ideas, visit my Yard & Garden page.

  Posted in Yard & Garden | 0 Comments

• [VIDEO] Floppy Tomato Plants? You’re Planting Them Wrong

  Posted at 10:05 am by HomeDabbler, on April 28, 2019

  Tomatoes are unusual garden plants in many ways, including how they need to be planted.

  If you buy tomato plants from a nursery to plant in your garden, there is a simple technique for planting them that will make them strong, keep them from flopping over so badly, and set them up for season-long success.

  Watch this short video for the tip!

  Kevin

  P.S. – For more gardening info and ideas, visit my Yard & Garden page.

  Posted in Yard & Garden | 0 Comments

• 3 Honey Bee Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

  Posted at 9:06 pm by HomeDabbler, on March 28, 2019

  

  There is a lot of fascination about honey bees, for obvious reasons. Colony Collapse Disorder is now a household term and bees have become a poster child for the fragility of our ecosystem, food supply, and economy.

  There are real issues around our favorite fuzzy flying friends, but there are also some misconceptions that I think increase our anxiety about honey bees unnecessarily.

  I  attended a lecture on back by the great University of Florida entomologist and beekeeper Dr. Jamie Ellis that schooled me on a few things I didn’t know about honey bees.

  Did you know these?

  1. Honey bees are not native to North America.

  Honey bees have become such a part of our culture, I thought they had always been here. Nuh-uh. Europeans brought them over in the early 1600’s.

  There is evidence that honey bees existed in the Americas millions of years ago, but they went extinct. The adorable bumblers that make our honey today are relative carpetbaggers.

  2. Honey bees are domesticated animals.

  Like cows, chickens, dogs, and cats, honey bees have been domesticated by humans to exhibit certain traits, like docility and strong queens. In other words, we’ve engineered them just as much as we have our purse dogs.

  A “wild” hive in America is simply an escaped hive from someone’s apiary.

  3. Even if we lost honey bees (heavens forbid), humans would survive.

  Check out this cool map from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It shows all the American crops that honey bees pollinate.

  

  Check that pattern. All of the fruits and veggies that we love are grown largely on the perimeter of the country. These are the crops that would be most affected should we lose the bees altogether (and we won’t).

  But why don’t bees pollinate crops in the middle of the country?

  Because that is where the grains are grown, wheat especially. And grains are wind pollinated. They don’t require bugs, including honey bees, to reproduce.

  Wheat = bread = what humans lived on for thousands of years before we developed cantaloupes.

  If we lost all pollinators (honey bees aren’t the only ones by far), we would survive, because we could make bread. Our variety of flavorful food would suck and our agriculture economy would be a shambles, but we wouldn’t go extinct.

  Bonus: It’s honey bee, not honeybee.

  Dr. Ellis explains why:

  Posted in Yard & Garden | 0 Comments

• 4 Tips for Pro-looking Grass, From a Pro

  Posted at 8:06 am by HomeDabbler, on March 28, 2019

  

  I must have cut a million miles of grass in my years of business.

  Over those years, I consistently saw four things that kept homeowners from getting pro-level results. They are all simple, easy to implement, and will actually save you work and money. 

  1. Edge your grass with an edger.

  Nothing makes a yard look more polished than crisp, clean lines along the sidewalks and driveway. That can only be done by an edging tool. NOT A WEED EATER TURNED ON ITS SIDE. That is actually harder than using an edger.

  Every major brand of lawn equipment sells interchangeable edger attachments. Spend $75, use an edger, and your lawn will instantly look better, guaranteed.

  2. Cut grass at the proper height.

  You are probably cutting your grass too short. Yes you are. You think you are helping but you aren’t. Cutting your grass too short stresses it out (which is why it looks dull right after you mow). The stress makes it hungrier, thirstier, and weaker.

  One of my most popular videos describes the proper height at which to cut your grass. Give it a try and let me know the results.

  3. Water appropriately.

  You’re also probably watering your grass too much and too often. This hurts your lawn because 1) you wash away most of the fertilizer you just put on the grass, which means you have to fertilize more often ($$), and 2) you make your grass more susceptible to weak roots, bugs, and fungus.

  Your grass is tougher than you think. I also did a video on how and when to water your grass. It may surprise you.

  4. DO. NOT. BAG. GRASS. CLIPPINGS.

  When you throw away grass clippings, you throw away free fertilizer. So you have to fertilize more. So you throw away money.

  Some folks think clippings accumulate to create “thatch” in the grass that chokes it out. Not so. If you leave clippings on your lawn, they quickly decompose and release valuable nitrogen for the grass to use again. It’s easy recycling.

  “But I don’t want to see the clippings on my lawn like baled hay,” you say. Agreed, but if you cut your grass at the proper height (see tip 2), and use a good mulching blade, you should see no clippings on your lawn after a mow.

  Less work, happier lawn.

  The beautiful thing about these tips is that they mean less work and more money for you, with better results.

  How often does that happen?

  Kevin

  Posted in Yard & Garden | 0 Comments

• Can a U-Pick Farm Change Your Child’s Life?

  Posted at 1:03 am by HomeDabbler, on March 25, 2019

  

  In a past life, I worked at a daycare. In the summer, we were always looking for activities to keep the kids busy. One was a u-pick blueberry farm down the road.

  It was one of my favorites. Not only because I always liked gardening and growing and eating blueberries (though there was that). It was more to watch how the kids reacted.

  We would off load them from the van and then gather them in front of this little shack where the proprietor, Mr. Dauphin, would hand each child a bucket and show them the rows that had the ripest berries that day. Then we would turn them loose.

  The first time we did this, I was surprised by their reaction. Most just stood there, confused.

  We had to take them by the hand, show them the berries, and pick a few for them before they were confident enough to try on their own.

  I remember one boy in particular.

  “You mean we can just pick them off and eat them?” he asked.

  “Yup, give it a try.”

  He did. And then we couldn’t stop him. More blueberries went into his belly than in the bucket. Which was alright by us.

  I’ll never forget what he said next. With a mouth full of juicy berries, he said, “I didn’t know blueberries came from plants.”

  What a beautiful moment.

  I think too many kids don’t know where food comes from and don’t know how amazing it is fresh. U-pick farms are a great way to introduce the idea that food is precious, requires work to grow, that it is better the closer you are to its source, and that a fresh berry has more flavor than any junk food.

  U-picks mend a valuable connection between us and our food that broke a few decades ago, when we stopped needing home gardens and livestock to live. The convenience is great, but our appreciation and care for our food went with it I’m afraid.

  Take your family to a u-pick. It gets everyone outside together and busy with their hands, minds, mouths, and hearts.

  Is there anything better?

  Kevin

  

   

  Posted in Kev's Thoughts & Stories, Yard & Garden | 0 Comments

• What is That Scary Ball of Bees in My Yard?

  Posted at 12:16 am by HomeDabbler, on March 21, 2019

  

  Bees bivouac when searching for a new home.

  If you see a ball of bees like this in your yard this Spring – in your bushes or trees, on a fence post, etc. – leave it alone and please don’t try to destroy them. It’s called a bivouac.

  Bivouac?

  A bivouac is an intermediate step in the process the bees take to find a new home. They leave their existing hive, bivouac while they search for new digs, then fly away once they find a suitable spot. It usually only takes a few hours, a day or two at the most.

  Are they dangerous? Will they sting me?

  When bees bivouac, they are extremely vulnerable and docile. Their only concern is finding a new hive location. They could not care less about you and, as mentioned, they will be gone soon. Unless you have an allergy, you can even get pretty close and look. It’s fascinating, if a little unnerving.

  I want them gone now!

  If they’re really just creeping you out, call a local beekeeper and they should gladly come remove and re-home them.

  If you’re really a nerd for this stuff, there’s a great book on the science behind the bivouac called Honeybee Democracy by Thomas D. Seeley.

  To me, a honeybee bivouac is a wonder and a privilege to see. Enjoy it!

  Kevin

  Posted in Yard & Garden | 0 Comments | Tagged beekeeping, bees, honeybees

• 4 Southern Turf Grasses: Pros & Cons

  Posted at 3:15 pm by HomeDabbler, on March 9, 2019

  

  ** There is an infographic at the bottom of this post that summarizes this info. Take it for your own. 

  It’s hard to grow turf grass in the South, especially in Florida where I live. But there are some varieties that can do well here. They are:

  • St. Augustine
  • Centipede
  • Bermuda
  • Zoysia

  You gotta know their strengths and weaknesses, though. Here are the ups and downs of the four most common turf grasses of the South.

  1. St. Augustine

  Named for St. Augustine, Florida, this turf is a very tall grass that looks like soft shag carpet when healthy. Disney World uses it a lot, if that tells you anything.

  General:

  • Super tall: 4”-6”
  • Wide Blade
  • Lighter green (some varieties darker than others)
  • Link to an image of St. Augustine grass that I don’t own

  Pros:

  • Lush, carpet look (Disney World uses St. Augustine in all its medians and open areas)
  • Resists mole crickets
  • Can take the heat
  • Grows quickly
  • Some shade tolerance
  • Good drought tolerance, but ONLY IF YOU LET IT GROW TALL
  • Hides weeds well (because of its color and height)
  • Pretty low maintenance for a turf grass

  Cons:

  • A VERY Southern grass – won’t grow much north of zone 8.
  • Susceptible to chinch bugs
  • Will struggle (and possibly die) if cut below 4”
  • Susceptible to fungus

  2. Centipede

  My favorite all-round Southern grass, I must say. In my opinion, the most versatile and least fussy for homeowners who want turf but aren’t obsessed.

  General:

  • Medium height: 2”-3”
  • Thin blade
  • Medium dark green
  • Link to an image of Centipede grass that I don’t own

  Pros:

  • Resists chinch bugs
  • Resists fungus
  • Thick carpet
  • Can be cut pretty tight (which most turf lovers love)
  • Grows fast
  • Medium drought tolerance
  • Pretty low maintenance for a turf grass
  • Hides weeds pretty well
  • Good cold tolerance – grows into USDA Zone 7

  Cons:

  • Susceptible to mole crickets
  • Little shade tolerance
  • Not much else. A solid choice for most Southern homeowners

  3. Bermuda

  If you want a lawn that looks like a fairway, Bermuda is for you. It is tough as nails, but if you really want that tight golf course look, be prepared to spend time and money.

  General:

  • Darkish green to light gray-green
  • Super thin blade
  • Can be cut very short – to 1” (think a fairway)
  • Link to an image of Bermuda grass that I don’t own

  Pros:

  • Pretty indestructible once it takes hold
  • Grows a tight carpet
  • Grows very fast
  • Unbelievable drought tolerance
  • Unmatched heat tolerance
  • Good cold tolerance for a Southern lawn
  • Pest and disease resistant

  Cons:

  • Invasive to places you may not want grass (watch your beds)
  • High maintenance if you want it to look like a golf course (lots of water, fertilizer, and frequent mowings)
  • To get that golf course look, you may need to buy a specialized mower
  • Weeds and other blemishes are obvious because of Bermuda’s unique color and low, tight pattern.

  4. Zoysia

  Zoysia is a fair-haired child right now in turf grass. It can be incredibly versatile and tough. When healthy, it is so tight that it crowds out most weeds on its own. It is a slow grower though.

  General:

  • Dark green color
  • Thin blade
  • Dark green
  • Tough stuff as long as it’s healthy
  • Link to an image of Zoysia grass that I don’t own

  Pros:

  • Super thick – like walking on a carpet
  • Very drought tolerant
  • Can take extreme heat
  • Can take extreme (Southern) cold

  Cons:

  • Slow growing and slow to establish (if you get a bad spot, might as well buy sod to fill it)
  • Susceptible to mole crickets
  • Doesn’t hide weeds well

  Here’s the infographic. You should be able to download it. If not, let me know and I’ll get it to you. Enjoy!

  Kevin

  

   

   

  Posted in Yard & Garden | 0 Comments

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