Tips and Tricks for Avoiding Home Disasters?
Mittens Cat
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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Virgil Carter Fine Art
4 years agoRelated Discussions
What are your Tips, Tricks, and Wives Tales for Harvesting?
Comments (27)Thanks again, everyone. I like hearing about the different cultural "tips" as well! :) Since noone has mentioned the cucumber thing... I know, I've got cukes on the brain right now... About 15 years ago I read in Gourmet Magazine about a technique of cutting cucumbers that decreases the bitterness. I always do this now and hadn't thought of it, as a tip or tale, until I just ran across someone mentioning it on the veg forum. Anyway, what you do is cut the end off of the cuke, then rub the cut piece against the whole cuke in a vigorous circular motion until you have a foamy substance. Cut another narrow slice off of the same end to remove the foam. Repeat on the other side. This really seems to work for me. I've had very few bitter cukes and when I have it is usually when I've not worked it up into a foam. Another thing, which I wonder about... My mother always says that my paternal grandmother said to plant beans in the DARK of the moon. That seems strange to me because beans are an above ground crop (if you follow the whole Farmer's Almanac thing). But, it does leave me to wonder if it fixes nitrogen in the soil better or something? Has anyone else ever heard this? I, for one, cannot grow beans to save my life. If they survive they produce very few. Next year I'll pay attention to the moon. Thanks again, everyone for sharing....See MoreApplying floor finish - your tips and tricks (lighting?)
Comments (18)Greg, yes my job (new kitchen area, DR, Study) is a re-coat. He lightly abraded the surface with fine grit sandpaper on a machine that also vacuums, then applied the new Bona Traffic HD coat. khallock, I don't have an answer to your pro question but one who hurries the job either from lack of planning for the surface area or to get on and out of the house is not a Pro. Bona has the very precise instructions to floor specialists for how to refinish floors with their products. Bona recommends 2 coats of Bona Traffic HD, as I called Bona technical this morning to confirm, and that is what was written in this project's contract. Indeed, a "holiday" or missed spot was found in the kitchen when we finally walked in stocking feet on the floors again 2 days after first finish was applied. This "holiday" could have been caught had the second coat been applied. This now has caused more angst. Bona says since more than 48 hours has transpired since the first Bona finish coat, it must be lightly sanded again to allow adhering of the second finish coat. khallack, you might want to talk with prior customers, i don't know, but twice burned makes a pit in one's stomach. This will be remedied but it takes the wind out of one's sails. And I'm tired of being yelled at by floor refinishers who are well paid. As if it's my responsibility to tell them how to do their job....See MoreOk, who has some tips for fall clean up tips for hostas?
Comments (28)Apparently I'm all alone in the no clean up camp. Either that or nobody else will admit to it. I leave everything, including the 8-12 inches of oak leaves that routinely fall on my main hosta beds. After the first killing frost I simply walk away. The birds do love the scapes, checking those out all winter long, even when there is no hope that any seeds remain. It also gives me a nice number of volunteer seedlings every spring. I have not had any problems with pests or disease in the 25+ years I've been doing this, and yes, even the mini hostas will come up through the oak leaves, which by spring have composted down to almost nothing. I do walk through regularly when the hostas start to show green, and manually remove any oak leaves that have pips coming through or showing underneath (alright, I mostly use my foot, but pedally just sounds odd). This is for the hostas in my upper gardens, which are mostly for public viewing. My lower garden a work in progess, and is mainly for growing out divided plants, lining out small divisions, but also has some more landscaped areas. And by landscaped, I mean 98% hostas, but grown more as specimens, with 2% astilbes, bleeding heart, ferns, and a few other perennials. This area gets no attention at all until I'm ready to start dividing hostas in the spring. Maybe a little weeding if I'm feeling up to it, but for the most part those hostas make it all on their own. That area gets some oak leaves and lots of walnut leaves. My only slightly coddled hostas are some very small minis that live in a bed that generally doesn't get many oak leaves. Things like Manzo, Kifukirin Otome, and few other tinies live near cedar trees, but in a mostly sunny area, in a slightly raised bed, and they overwinter very well....See MoreHaving open house -- any tips?
Comments (19)We sold our previous house in the depths of the housing recession here (2010.) One thing I did, not only for our open house but for EVERY showing, was to make the house look exactly like a model home. As in...no one actually lives here! I had small laundry baskets that I put all shampoos, razors, anything like that in and put in my car. The only items in bathrooms were decorative. I am addicted to the clean smell of "open window fresh" scent wet swiffers. I would mop all hard floors before the showing or open house, and put the used wet swiffers in concealed (and otherwise empty!) trash cans. So you would walk in and the house just smelled clean & fresh. Not artificial like an air freshener or bleachy, or pine-soly...just nice. Agree with the toilet seats down! And, I am different from most....as long as they aren't cluttery, I think happy family pics actually help sell a home. Our children were quite young when we sold & I had a bunch of adorable pictures in our built-ins, etc. I actually forgot to remove them, and our realtor said, "don't...with the amazing school district, we are marketing to young families. They like seeing that a happy family lives here." And it was true, and we sold very quickly to another young family....See MoreMittens Cat
4 years agoUser
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoskmom
4 years ago
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