Happy Halloween...

As you may be looking for some great ways to enhance your front porch this week - we found some great spooky ideas from around the web....

Fall Planting Ideas

As we watch summer come to an end – our beautiful summer gardens and plants lose flowers and turn brown.  We don’t have to accept this as the seasons change – we can surround ourselves with reds, oranges, purples, and yellows – and create an outdoor space we can enjoy on these cool fall days.  

Use containers around your space to create “pops” of color.  Fill the containers with chrysanthemums, ornamental kale, pansies, and marigolds.  You can get creative with the containers, buy a simple ceramic pot or use a recycled barrel to add a rustic touch.  Since most of the flowers you are going to use will be seasonal – you can use plastic containers to plant the arrangement and simply place the plastic container inside the pot or barrel – so when the plants die – you can compost the dead plants, and recycle the plastic container – leaving the pot or barrel waiting for the next season. 

Fall is a great season for using other organic materials around your outdoor space.  You can use pumpkins, gourds, or hay bales throughout your yard.  They can be part of your décor through holiday lights season in December.  You can find gourds and pumpkins at your local grocery store or farmers market –you don’t even need to go out of your way. 

Don’t forget to think about the future as you are clearing your dead summer plants and adding your fall accents.  Now is the time to plant your spring bulbs.   This is as simple as digging a 5” - 8” hole and dropping the bulb in with the point facing up.  You’ll be glad you did it when spring rolls around. 

Saving Money with an Irrigation System

“Residential outdoor water use in the United States accounts for more than 7 billion gallons of water each day, and is mainly for landscape irrigation,” according to the EPA. Experts estimate that as much as 50% of this water is wasted because of inefficiencies in irrigation methods and systems. Existing irrigation control technologies can significantly reduce overwatering by applying water only when plants need it.  

An irrigation system can help reduce water usage by as much as 50% – saving money, and making your lawn look green and plush, all while helping the environment.

First, irrigations systems reduce on overwatering – which means no waste, runoff, or watering unnecessary areas (i.e. – the sidewalk or driveway).  

Another advantage, is you can set your systems to water in 2 or 3 short cycles throughout the day – this lets the water soak into your lawn, and also means less watering time and greener lawns. 

According to www.irrigationtutorials.com “…if you normally water for 15 minutes, try this; water for 4 minutes, wait 30 minutes or more for it to soak in, then water another 4 minutes, then wait again, then water another 4 minutes. Now you have watered a total of 12 minutes rather than 15. Even with the reduced total watering time, chances are you will see a significant improvement in how good your lawn looks. The reason cycling works so well is that almost all brands and types of sprinklers apply water much faster than it can actually soak into the ground. So after about 5 minutes of running, most of the water begins to build up on top of the soil and then it just runs off into the gutter or to a low spot in the yard. Cycling the irrigation gives the water time to soak into the ground and reduces water run-off. It also will help reduce the wet spots in the lawn where lawn diseases get started.”  

Lastly, if you install a rainwater recovery system, it will catch rainwater and reuse it in your irrigation system – this combined with the rainwater detection system, which monitors rain fall in the area, and will not turn the on the system - saving from unnecessary watering.