Top 100 Homemaking Blogs Every Homemaker Must Follow

How To Bring Back Butterflies: Make Vineyards Sustainable

An unintended but very welcome (and very pretty!) side effect of relying less heavily on pesticides.

Guidelines For Your Indoor Flowers And Plants

Water, Food and Sunlight. Basic Guidelines For Growing Indoor Flowers and Plants.

Just about all plants or flowers can adapt and grow indoor very well. All they really need is more or less to have the same elements as outdoor plants and flowers demand. These conditions are simple. Air flow must be present and adequate, an area where the sun can shine on them, optimum supply of h2o, and good flower or plant food (fertilizer).

Obey these simple rules included below, that would for sure make your indoor plants and flowers develop healthier and add beauty to your indoor living space.

Basic Sun Light Guideline for your Indoor Plants or Flowers:

The fact is that your NORMAL indoor plants or flowers will always be growing towards the sunlight naturally, no matter how many times you repositioned them. This is normal as the sun is the main source of their nutrition. Your plants or flowering plants will require a minimum of 2 hrs of sun rays per day. Try moving them near a window if you know that they are not getting the minimum sunlight required. If you do not have a place where you can have sufficient sunlight, and cannot move the plants, then maybe purchasing a couple of indoor gardening lights. Do NOT implement this with ordinary lights. You can purchase indoor growing lights anywhere today, and they will provide enough of the “ultraviolet light” to nourish the plants and flowers.

Appropriate Watering Guideline for Indoor Plants or Flowers:

You should supply an adequate and regular water intake for your plants. But be certain that you DO NOT OVER WATER the plants or flowers. A big number of plants or flowers die because of, #1: not enough water or, #2: to much water. This will cause them to die most likely more often than they do from any other reasons. If you have to go away for a while, have someone come over and water your plants and flowers instead of watering a lot before and after.

Here’s a easy tip that you can try to find out if your plants and flowers need more or less water. Try poking the ground with a poking device. If the stick penetrates the ground with ease, then the soil is at the right dampness, if not just give them more water.

Appropriate Fertilizing (feeding) Guideline for Indoor Plants or Flowers:

Fertilizers are also really important when it comes time to feed your plants or flowers. The guideline here is to add a scoop or so of indoor plant fertilizer, once every 2 weeks (or as directed on the directions), to your plant or flower containers. A good natural way to feed instead of spending money on fertilizer is to save your “used tea remains” as they are also a very good supply of nutrition for your plants and flowers.

10 Best Indoor Plants for Clean Air (No. 5 is My Favorite)

Air pollution isn't just an outdoor issue. You can improve your indoor air quality with the help of plants. Find out the best indoor plants for clean air.

10 Best Indoor Plants for Clean Air (No. 5 is Special)

Natural Ways To Keep Mosquitoes Away

Female mosquitoes have a long proboscis that they use to pierce the skin and tap the bloodstream. Mosquitoes are dangerous pests that happen to act as disease vectors, creating a nuisance and a health hazard. Humans and animals alike are easy targets for the over 200 species of mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are known to carry dengue fever, malaria, yellow fever, west nile virus, encephalitis and more. Mosquitoes lay eggs that float on standing water, hence the need for the immediate removal of still water. The larval mosquitoes tuck underneath the water surface to grow, using a snorkel like apparatus (known as the siphon) to breath. They will eventually hatch and reproduce themselves, drastically increasing the size of their population in a short period of time. They are drawn to signs of life including the presence of heat, motion, CO2, humidity and odor. The females must obtain blood as a means of acquiring the protein necessary for egg production and development. Flowering plants and other nectar sources serve as the mosquito's prime food source, so think twice about flower placement if your region is susceptible to mosquito invasion. Also, there are many mosquito repellent plants that you can grow in your garden to get rid of them. Some of them are Catmint, Rosemary, Basil, Lavender etc There are plenty of products available that will kill mosquitoes without harming people, pets or other wildlife. Some store bought products can be just as toxic to people and pets as they are to mosquitoes Mosquitoes can be hazardous to health, so there is no sense in removing with chemicals that can be as harmful. We recommend using multiple methods of pest control to protect yourself, your family and your environment.

How To Kill Bed Bugs in Home

Bed Bugs are biting little insects that thrive in poor sanitary or dilapidated living conditions. The adults are oval-shaped, about 1/5" in length and have a red hue. The younger members of this species tend to be smaller and have a lighter, more yellow color. These insects can reproduce quickly, the females release eggs in batches of up to fifty for a total of up to 500 eggs! These eggs are deposited on uneven textured surfaces with a sticky glue-like substance that allows them to incubate for ten days. They thrive in temperatures between 72oF and 80oF, they love burrowing deep inside mattresses and all types of furniture. Bed bugs are remarkably disciplined, they can survive without a source of food for almost four months at a time.

Like ticks, these bugs love blood and can consume six times their own weight. This huge appetite seems only fitting for an insect that can diet for that long. Fortunately, these insects are not generally disease carriers. The bite sites tend to become inflamed due to a reaction to their saliva. These unsanitary creatures will leave a scent and some feces behind them. These spots and smells will provide a clue to both the state of infestation and their location.

As with other bug management solution, prevention is again the best measure of defense. Make sure all mattresses, linens and bedding are kept clean and free of dust and debris. It would also be wise to seal up cracks in walls, window frames, door frames and anywhere else. Since these guys can't fly and must crawl, so you can impede their movement by coating furniture legs with petroleum jelly products.

If an infection has occurred, it is vital to stem its spread as soon as possible. Try using Diatomaceous Earth (DE), a natural pest control product that is made entirely of the skeletal remains of ocean plankton.

Ant Spray & Ant Traps For Inside And Outside.

There is nothing more annoying than sharing your home with uninvited guests. When you walk into a room and see a few little ants crawling around, it just triggers a feeling of disgust. I don’t mind using ant spray but where did I put it?

You know there can never be just one ant, there are always relatives lurking in the cracks somewhere. I’m always amazed at how they get inside and why they come inside. I keep a very clean and tidy home, so it isn’t like I have crumbs laying all over the floors. However, they decided to move in despite my cleanliness.

I would get rid of a few and more would appear. To me, there was nothing worse than knowing that there were little insects crawling around my home at all hours of the day.

Knowing that there are ants around always makes me feel like they are crawling on my, even if it’s just a breeze that moves a hair over my forehead or neck. I immediately swat at it like it was alive.

I set out to get some ant spray or traps so that I could eliminate the problem before they moved all of the neighborhood ants into my home. With some advice from individuals at the pest control and local hardware store, I bought two kinds of ant spray.

One ant spray was for inside my house and the other one was for outside. They told me that using ant spray inside of the home might not be as effective as what I was hoping it would be. It might just make them seek out other areas of my home to make their nest instead. The ant spray for outside was supposedly very effective. I was supposed to spray it all around my home’s foundation, going out a few extra feet to ensure that the ants would be deterred from even nearing my house to make a dash for it. I also sprayed about a foot up the house, in case they decided to attack from that direction. I was definitely launching a war both inside and outside of my home.

The pest control company told me about several baiting traps to place inside of my house. Once the ants would find them and drink or feed from them, they will be poisoned. I purchased a few of those as well. I was also told to eliminate any anthills that I might find in my flowerbeds or yard that could be a mansion for ants. By destroying those homes, I would be preventing ants from breeding and frolicking around my home.

The pest control professionals told me of not only an ant spray to use on the hills, but a few other powders and such. I was weary of using them because of other wildlife getting into the powders and being harmed. Ever so kindly, they took a few moments to tell me what kinds of prevention I could use outside that would not be harmful to the environment.

One week later, I was once again living alone. No uninvited guests had shown up for days. Right now, I consider myself safe. At least for the time being.

How to Get The Best Results From Your Compost Bin

If you want to produce the best compost you just need to follow a few tips and your garden will thank you.

Constructing A Compost Bin

Our compost bin is plastic and kind of looks like an upside down garbage can but you can construct your own compost bin with a few stakes and chicken wire. I would suggest you make it about 3 feet square for the best air circulation. That seems to be just the right size for everything to work right.

Filling Your Compost Bin (What To Put In Your Compost Bin)

What’s the best or most balanced mixture for your compost bin, for getting the best results in the shortest time frame.

Green Yard And Kitchen Waste

The green waste is usually high in nitrogen. It’s the green waste that activates the heat process in your compost. Some heat generating yard waste is better at heating, like fresh young weeds that haven’t gone to seed yet. Be sure you keep those grass trimmings as they work well too. We also use our kitchen waste, fruit, vegetable, coffee grounds. We don’t drink much tea but you can use the tea leaves as well, even the bag.

Brown Usable Waste

The brown waste is usually high in carbon. Brown waste includes leaves that fall in autumn, all those dead flowers, plants and weeds. You can also use those cardboard tubes from Christmas wrapping paper, foil wrap, etc. If you use straw to cover flower beds or strawberries you can recycle that through your compost bin when you’re done with it.

What Other Things Can Go In The Compost Bin

We have grocery bags that are made from recycled cloth but every once in a while we will shop somewhere they give us paper bags, if they don’t have a lot of colour or ink we put them straight in the compost bin, well I rip them up to make the pieces break down faster. We also use our egg shell in the compost bin but I also use them to keep slugs out of my garden. Don’t forget the paper towels you use they can go in as well.

Air Circulation For Breathing Room

Your compost bin works best when it has a good flow of air and will NOT stink like some compost bins do, those without a good air supply as it take more bacteria when the air flow is not enough.

Each time you turn your compost pile it will get a new supply of air and will loosen the compost for better air circulation.

Just A Little Water

We keep our compost bin slightly damp but not too wet. Kind of like a sponge you just squeezed the water from, it’s just damp.

Our compost bin has a lid on it that helps to keep a lot of the moisture from the green waste from evaporating so we don’t need to use water much at all, but we keep a close watch on it in the hot dry weather.

We started our composting without adding any extra soil to help jump start the process but I have heard that it’s beneficial at the start so feel free to add some top soil between the layers of compost. A small amount of garden soil between each layer will introduce the bacteria needed to start the compost cycle. The soil that was still attached to plants we pulled and added to the compost bin was enough for us to have great results.

So apparently this is like a superfood and nontoxic bug killer. Reading the Amazon reviews was very compelling! #health #pesticides #diatomaceousearth #healthyliving #healthyhome

How to Grow Upside Down Tomatoes

•    To grow upside down tomatoes, you would need to use a container.Space for a garden outdoors is not required when growing tomatoes using this method.You wouldn’t need a huge space wherein your growing tomatoes will receive their required daily dose of six to eight hours of sunlight.The plants can easily be relocated to help them get sun exposure because they are in containers.

•    Growing tomatoes upside down will require no more staking. As tomatoes grow heavier, they look for an erect object to lean on.However, because they are upside down, they will naturally grow straight due to gravity.

•    Weeding is not necessary with growing upside down tomatoes.Because they are cultivated in containers, there are many other benefits that you could achieve. Weeding, dealing with pests, and requiring good soil are no longer big problems you have to worry about.

•    Pests find it difficult to climb up to tomatoes grown upside down.Upside down tomatoes should be sufficiently spaces to avoid the spread of disease.

Homemade Sweet Potato Pie

Homemade Sweet Potato Pie is easier than you think! This classic Southern dessert recipe is perfect for the holidays!

This recipe makes two pies but you could also combine it into one deep dish pie instead. You can use premade crusts like I did or make your own, just don’t bake the crust first. I’ll make this again at Christmas with my own crust recipe…I don’t think I’ve shared that here on the blog either!