Entire Sacramento Region Real Estate
Russ Teague - Diez & Sigg Properties
Every woman deserves a shed of her own — somewhere to retreat for some solitude, to create or grow, to write or paint, or just to enjoy the view. I’ve already shared the Shedquarters (for work) and the Pub Shed (for play)…but this tops them both, and it goes by the name “She Shed’.
Backyard sheds are a dime a dozen. Most of them are useful for lawnmowers and tools. However, there’s a growing trend of pub-sheds that allow you to calm your nerves after a hard day’s work in style from your very own backyard.
If you’re like most people, as soon as the weather starts to warm up, and the mornings are bright and sunny, you start thinking about your garden, and what you can do to have the most successful growing season ever! Before you start your garden, though, here are a few tips to help you prepare, grow, and maintain your garden the best way possible starting right now!
A windy and rainy early spring day is the perfect time to get out the catalogues, and order your flower bulbs, and seeds. Every gardener has a few seed catalogues ready to offer inspiration and advice when picking just the right flowers and vegetables for your area. Keep in mind your sun/shade areas, your climate, and your soil when choosing bulbs and seeds.
Before you even begin planting, you’ll need to clean up and clear out those old beds and borders. Turn over the soil to prepare for new planting, and add in organic matter such as compost, seasoned manure, or old grass clippings. This will create the healthiest soil for your garden to grow.
It pays to rotate your planting areas when you are gardening vegetables. Grab a notebook and a pen, or use an online planner, to get an idea of where you’ll be planting your seeds to maximize the area you have to plant in. Take tips from seed catalogues regarding your growing period, and the zone you live in. Take into consideration how many hours of sunlight your garden will get on a daily basis. Good planning can make or break a successful vegetable garden.
If you’re a lucky gardener with a greenhouse, get out there and wash it down with a good disinfectant. Remember to wash down benches, trays, and pots, too, and keep it open over a couple of days to make sure it dries thoroughly.
Begin starting seeds inside that need a longer growing season. There are many flowers and vegetables that benefit from being started indoors, so do some research. Just about anything can be used as starter planters – even ice cube trays, pint milk cartons cut in half, yogurt cups, and/or toilet paper rolls cut in half and stood on end. The point is – start growing those seedlings!
Inspect your gardens carefully for any pests that have decided to over-winter there. The crowns of perennials are where many slugs, aphids, and snails take shelter over the winter. Clean out last year’s pots and if you see pests when you clean, consider purchasing parasitic nematodes as a protectant that won’t hurt your garden, only the pests.
Got a shrub or shrubs that you’d like to move? Now’s the time, while it’s still in its dormant stage. You’ll want to do this on a non-windy day so that the roots don’t dry out. Dig up as much of the root ball as possible, and this will mean digging a wide circle around the shrub. It’ll be able to establish itself much quicker if you do this. Don’t place them deeper than they were in their previous soil level, and when you’re done replanting them, give them a good drenching.
As soon as the weather warms enough, get outside and repair garden boxes, raised beds, fences, trellises, and gates. These tasks aren’t what you’ll be wanting to do when planting time comes, so get them out of the way earlier rather than later, so you can enjoy your summer gardening.
Clean them up with a disinfectant to stop the spread of disease from bacteria and fungus. You’ll enjoy your gardening more when you have clean, working tools to use.
If you don’t already have a compost area – create one! You can either buy or make a bin, and you’ll have an awesome place for garden and organic food waste. Add in grass clippings, paper, and wood. As the compost breaks down, turn it each month, and soon it’ll be a boon to your garden.
By prepping your garden sites now, and doing some advanced planning, you’ll be ready to go when it comes time to get those seeds (or seedlings) in the ground.
Due to COVID-19, more people are working from home than ever before. And if you’re working from home, it’s important to have a workspace that keeps you productive and engaged throughout the day—and the design of your home office can help make or break that.
Here are some essential design tips for creating an office that will keep you inspired and productive while working from home, including:
While it may be tough to carve out the perfect space for your home office, keeping these things in mind will help you stay focused, be more productive, and keep a positive vibe in what can be a stressful time.
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, social distancing is our new normal—and could continue to be the norm for the foreseeable future. But staying at home and keeping a safe distance from others isn’t preventing real estate agents from helping their clients or potential buyers from exploring and finding their dream homes—they’re just having to get creative.
Thanks to video conferencing tools like Zoom, Skype, and FaceTime, virtual tours are becoming the go-to method for real estate agents to show their properties—and for would-be buyers to continue to explore homes while they’re social distancing at home. Just how popular are these video walkthroughs? According to recent data from Redfin, requests for agent-led video home tours increased a whopping 500 percent last week.
What does this mean for you? The coronavirus pandemic doesn’t have to put your home search on hold. Thanks to technology, you can continue to tour properties and find the right home for you and your family—all from a safe distance. Contact me today for some helpful tips on your home search!
