Home & Garden

Home and Garden

Spruce up your outdoor space

With spring finally here, now’s a good time to give your outdoor space some TLC before the warmer weather arrives. Here’s some quick and easy tips for sprucing up your outdoor space…. • Don the rubber gloves and get set to clear out any outdoor drains that might have been clogged up with leaves and mud. While you’re at it, give the gutters a clear out too. • Get the jet wash out and make sure the driveway and patio are looking spick and span. • Turn your attention to adding interest to your garden: ideas include making a path to your garden shed or the bottom of your garden; clearing out your potted plants and repotting with some new colourful alternatives; making a mini vegetable patch using planters for your garden (great veggies to sow in April include carrots, parsnips, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, broad beans, cucumber and peas); and introducing a living wall featuring your favourite herbs. • Try a new upcycling project! You can spruce up some wooden crates with a paint job and use them to display trinkets or small potted plants. Or how about upcycling a pallet into a low level table? • Repair any broken items that are not going to get binned and update any doors, windowsills, planters with new paintwork. • Add the final touches – string lights in bushes, hammocks from trees and pillows and cushions on seats. Hey presto – a garden ready for summer!

KEEP YOUR HOME TICKING OVER WHILE YOU’RE AWAY…

• Make it look like you’re home by programming timer switches for lights. • Check your household insurance covers you while away and, if you rent, you may need to let your landlord know. • Clear out your fridge and remember to empty bins – you could ask the neighbour to put them out while you’re away and return the favour for them. • Make sure you have someone lined up to look after any pets. • You could buy a home monitoring system to check in on the house from your mobile while away. Consider installing a smart doorbell like Zmodo or Ring, which allows you to speak with door knockers while you’re away. • Feed smaller pot plants by sitting them on a sheet of capillary matting dipped in a sink or bath filled with water. The matting soaks up water like a sponge then transfers it to plants from the bottom up. Larger pot plants can be watered via the wick method – again using capillary matting. • Sign up for the Royal Mail’s Keepsafe service (at least 5 days before departure), which allows you to put the mail on hold for between 10-100 days. • Avoid posting on social media that you’re away, keep valuables in a safe and give a spare key to a family member or trusted neighbour.

3 WAYS WITH VINEGAR 1. Clean your dishwasher: Put two cups of distilled white vinegar in a glass bowl or jug and put on the top rack of your dishwasher – run a cycle without adding a tablet.

2. Repair cloudy glasses: If your glasses have gone cloudy, soak them for five minutes in distilled white vinegar.

3. Help with limescale: Use white vinegar in a spray bottle (one part water to one part vinegar) and spray regularly on tiles, basins and taps.

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