Home and garden

Mallory Murphy Viscardi has made mistake after mistake in the garden. She’s overwatered. She planted a fig tree right next to her home, and its roots snaked under the patio. She sowed superspreading mint directly in the ground, so “every spring, the mint just laughs and laughs as it comes back” while she wrestles to contain its voracious, unwanted creep. She placed her vegetable garden in her dog’s favorite bathroom spot.

It was all Jenna Sutton could do to round up 3-year-old Henry as he raced through the new meadow garden at the Spokane Public Library’s Indian Trail branch on a recent – and hot – afternoon. Mom and son had visited the library and were off to other errands but not without a detour through the garden first.

I’m helping my son on the weekends to finish the basement in his 3-year-old house. He’ll be adding 1,300 square feet of finished living space. A few days ago, we met with the local building inspector. Donna gave us the thumbs up on the framing, plumbing and all the electrical rough installations. She’s been doing inspections in Nashua, New Hampshire, for 18 years.

Hydrangeas are the showy stars of the late-summer garden.

Rifle Paper Co. products are everywhere. Find party supplies at Target, bedding at Pottery Barn Kids, wallpaper at Anthropologie, and its eponymous stationery collections, well, all over. And they all bear the bright, playful patterns that have become the company’s calling card, each of which began with hand-painted art from Anna Bond, co-founder, CEO and chief creative officer.

Dr. Universe: Why do birds migrate? – Lebron, 9, Virginia

For some students, the days of racing to Bed Bath & Beyond the day before college starts, clutching a 20%-off coupon to snag a colorful crate and a snap-on desk lamp, are long gone.

I was blessed by God to learn my craft of building and remodeling in Cincinnati. The first few years of my career had me working on houses that were close to 100 years old. I have no recollection of seeing rusty roofing nails on any of the jobs where we had to strip off roofs. I had to spackle exposed nail heads on house siding and trim, but none of them were rusty.

You have purchased a vacation home. Now what?

I love fall. It’s my favorite time of the year. The cooler weather and return of the rain mean the garden work is winding down. It’s part of the cycle of nature but in the last few years things have been changing in ways that challenge my fall gardening routine.

There’s organizing a fridge, and then there’s fridgescaping: the art of decorating a fridge’s interior.

Roy subscribes to my free newsletter. He reached out to me about a month ago for one of my phone consultations. He needed help engineering a drainage system around his house to stop water from infiltrating his basement. My college degree is in geology with a focus on hydrogeology and geomorphology. Hydrogeology is the study of groundwater movement. Geomorphology is the study of the earth’s surface where we walk and build things.

It’s been a tough year for roses.

Some people collect comic books or vinyl records. I cultivate a few collections myself.

For a long time, the notion of a silent summer night has been alien to many people who live in the hot, poor parts of the planet. The road outside the house might be quiet, the sleeping residents indoors might never snore – but there is always the whirring whip of the ceiling fan above the bed.

Paula asked me a question about shrinkage cracks affecting her new deck. She sent me three photos showing all sorts of cracks in the handrails, railing posts, and the decking. The cracks were in brand new treated lumber installed in April of 2023. The wood has not been sealed since the day it was installed.

September is the best time of the year to do a lawn renovation or replacement. The soil is warm but the days are cooling down so that the seed and roots will germinate and grow quickly without the pressure of the hot, early summer weather.

White has long been viewed as a formal color, typically reserved for living and sitting rooms that are seldom used. These days, those searching for a look that is light, bright and minimalist are choosing winter white as the color of choice. Winter white, unlike stark, bright white, has cream and taupe properties that can serve as the ideal foundation color for those looking to achieve a neutral color palette.

Are you a serious DIYer? If so, you know that the quality and type of tools you use will not only determine when the project gets done, but also play a major part in the quality level of the job.