Category: Home & Garden

You may have read my post a few years back regarding my Homemade Compost Sifter Screen Sieve.  I’ve received some great feedback and comments on this fun little project.  One of them really caught my attention and with the permission of the inventor I’m going to post his amazing improvements here! 

There is a 1.5 acre empty lot behind our house and every year theyd “disc” it to remove weeds for fire suppression.  I’ve heard about people renting goats and sheep for mowing down weeds and thought it would be fun to try, but I never got past the thought. 

As you may know, for the past few years I’ve been in process of waterproofing my basement.  Some of the things I’ve done include: Adding gutters to the house Plugging holes in the wall with hydraulic cement Using 4″ irrigation draining pipes to pull the water as far from the house as possible 

This summer in Northern California has been pretty hot.  I noticed a few areas of my lawn were more effected than others, specifically brown areas where my sprinklers weren’t getting enough water.   Yes, I could re-arrange the sprinklers or add a few more lines, but I’m just not up to that task.  During some internet Read More …

This is page 3 of Basement Waterproofing. See pages 1 & 2 A few other issues I’m contending with are regarding the sump pump:

This is page 2 of Basement Waterproofing. See pages 1 & 3 Before the rains started I did some inspecting. I discovered that MANY of the vertical joints in the cinder blocks were without mortar. Looks like the hydrostatic pressure and erosion over the years had taken their toll. I began to chisel out some Read More …

Back around 1979 my dad decided to add a basement to our house. It was to go behind the garage and above it he would build an addition. He dug the whole thing himself (with a back hoe) and poured the slab floor and poured the walls as much as he could. The remaining upper Read More …

About a year ago I was really getting into compost. I’ve got heavy clay soil and compost does an excellent job of loosening up the soil for my vegetable garden. Mother nature will compost pretty much anything if you give her enough time. Well, I’m pretty impatient so I’m doing all I can to speed Read More …

A few months ago (in mid winter) I was talking with my wife’s family and describing this really cool weed to them. “It peels off of the stem and then drills itself into the ground!” They looked at me like I was crazy…. I knew I would get my chance during the spring to prove Read More …

Okay, I admit it, I LOVE a nice sifted compost. The absence of rocks, twigs, leaves etc. make the virgin soil look perfect. I’ve had people marvel at how beautiful my planting beds look after running my compost and dirt through a screen. Yea, yeah, I know it isn’t necessary to screen compost before adding Read More …