Research plants to know what will work in the area that you live in. Not every plant at the store may thrive in the area you live in. This is especially true if you live far away from the store or nursery where you buy your plants. Research information about what plants will grow in the area you live in before you make a final decision on the plants.

Focus on finding plants that won’t grow overly large. When doing research, focus on finding plants that won’t grow overly large.  An overly large plant may make your small garden look out of scale.  Smaller plants are better for smaller gardens.

Be sure that the soil in the small space is good for planting. If you don’t have healthy soil, it may be difficult getting things to grow in your garden.  You may have to purchase a few bags of soil to help you plants thrive.

Remember that over time, the plants will get larger. Be sure to read the planting instructions that will come with the plants.  Keep in mind the planting distance for the different variety of plants that you choose.  Over time, the plants will fill in the empty spaces between them.

Add a touch of beauty with a great border. With a small garden, you can probably afford to spend the money to get really a really nice border for the garden.  Flag stone will add a nice touch to your garden.

The smaller the garden, the less water you will need. Once you have the garden planted, realize that you don’t have to use as much water to keep it alive.  Overwatering is often a problem with smaller gardens.  Use a timed water system for the best results.

Know when to fertilize the plants. Fertilizing plants is also important in keeping a healthy, space efficient garden.  Be sure to read the recommendations that come with your plants when you buy them so that you know when to fertilize the plants.  Be careful not to over fertilize your plants as this will actually do your garden more harm than good.

Keep the small space clean from debris and grasses that may hinder growing. It you want your garden to look good all year round, you must keep it from debris and grasses and that make it look messy.  Grasses can quickly take over your garden if you don’t immediately get it under control.

Have the right tools for the small space. If you are gardening in an extremely small space, you may to smaller tools to help get the job done.  Make sure you aren’t using tools that are too large and serve only to make gardening harder on you.

Mulching is important to protect plants in extreme climates. No garden is complete without mulch.  With many different colors and textures to choose from, you are sure to find  mulch that will look good in your garden.  Mulch also gives your garden a polished, professional look.

Clip dead areas of the plants away. Some plants will need to be pruned. Rose bushes are one example.  Set time aside each year to spend pruning the plants in your space efficient garden.

Visit a local nursery for advice on planning in tight spaces. If you just don’t know where to begin, seek the help of professional.  Nursery workers are trained to give you advice on planting. Best of all, this advice is often free if you are willing to buy your plants there.

Use the tips above to help you get started planning in small spaces. These 12 space efficient gardening tip for beginners will help you to be on your way to the perfect garden.

This post was written by Sarah from 1001 Sundials an online store to buy decorative garden sundials and pedestal bases.

Cooking
Making and sharing meals is one of the best ways to enjoy your outside space and entertain guests. Creating a cooking-ready outdoor room design can be as simple as adding a basic grill or as elaborate as building a full outdoor kitchen. Design ideas for outside kitchens often feature convenient amenities like a refrigerator, bar, oven, sink, ice maker and beverage cooler. If you plan to do a lot of outdoor entertainment and cooking, you may also want to consider incorporating storage ñ for cookware, dishes and other culinary supplies ñ into your outdoor room design.

Shelter
Shelter increases the versatility of your outdoor room design – allowing you to enjoy it in different weather conditions. Just as with cooking amenities, you have a wide range of options. You can purchase an umbrella, install a gazebo or even add a roof structure to provide protection from the elements. You may also want to consider adding a screened-in area to your outdoor room design so you have an insect-free place to get fresh air. At the very least, you should keep insect-repelling products on hand.

Landscaping
Colorful, aromatic plantings ignite the senses and help turn your outdoor room design into a relaxing escape. Landscaping can also serve practical functions. To create a more intimate space for outdoor entertainment, add privacy plantings. You can also incorporate greenery that will help attract orrepel certain insects or wildlife. Caring for surrounding nature is one of the best ways to enhance your outdoor room design. Use high-quality lawn mower parts and sharp lawn mower blades to keep the nearby landscape looking its best.

Furniture
Your outdoor space should be able to seat at least the number of people who will typically be enjoying it. If you want extra seating for outdoor entertainment but donít want to crowd the area at other times, tuck away foldable or stackable chairs. There are many outdoor seating options on the market today that mimic indoor furniture – offering a combination of durability, comfort, function and style. When youíre selecting furniture for your outdoor room design, think about how you plan to use the space. For dining and conversation, a patio table and chairs is a go-to choice. For lounging, outdoor couches and chairs are a great option. Other fun, comfortable possibilities include a hammock, chaise lounge and day bed – all perfect for an afternoon of reading or napping. To create the full effect of an outdoor living room, add small tables (such as a coffee table and/or end tables) and a television to your outdoor room design.

• we have updated our file upload mechanism that is used for adding photos of your home and spaces, as well as adding attachments to projects, facts and maintenance items.  Users should have a much more reliable experience uploading files to their HomeSpot accounts.
• we corrected a bug on the Register page where the security captcha was not shown if a user’s browser was not showing, which would cause an error when attempting to register.
• we made many updates to our mobile-optimized version of the site that is shown to users visiting www.homespothq.com from Android and iOs devices.

If you have any feedback on these updates or encounter any other types of issues, please let us know by using the Feedback form or letting us know at support@homespothq.com.

Tomato Trouble
There is nothing like eating a salad with fresh tomatoes you have grown in your garden during the summer. These juicy vegetables are a great source of lycopene and very helpful for your heart. That said, how many times have you gone out to check up on your tomatoes plants and found your seedlings have been “chopped” in half? This is due to cutworms. One DIY option TLC recommends is to, “make simple collars from empty toilet paper rolls to protect the stems until they are too large to sustain damage from cutworms. The rolls will break down in the soil, or you can compost them.”

Enlist the Help of Other Plants
Just like peanut butter goes well with jelly, there are plants that complement each other in the garden. I’m not talking about aesthetically, but in a scientific way. For instance, if you have a moth or lady bug problem in your garden plant some bay leaves. They deter both pests. Onions deter cabbage moths, aphids, weevils, carrot flies, moles, rust flies, worms and red spiders.

Cut the Clutter
Bugs thrive in foliage, under rocks and in the weeds. If you clear out your garden of any debris you are setting up your garden for success. If bugs can’t find a safe haven to live in your garden, they won’t be in there for the long haul.  Bird baths can also attract more than birds. Make sure you are checking your bird bath for bugs who may be finding safe harboring under the bath.

Stink Bugs
Also known as shield bugs, stink bugs can make life for your tomatoes troublesome. By mixing vegetable, olive or lavender oil with water in a 1:1 ratio you can spray the solution on your plants to rid yourself of these bugs. Another option is to plant decoy plants around your tomato garden (like the suggestion above). Some plants stink bugs like are marigolds, mustard and lavender.

Call in the Experts
If your bug problem escalates to the point where you can’t manage it any longer, it may be time to call in a pest control service. There are many of eco-friendly options for your garden if you are worried about chemicals in your garden (especially if you are growing vegetables/herbs). Many times professionals will know how to clear your bug problem efficiently and for good. This is a great option if you have tried on your own for too long with little to no results.

Have you battled bugs in your garden? If so give us your quick tips in the comments below.

Guest post courtesy of Frank Merryman and pest control Houston company Protext Pest Control, who has provided Houston pest control services since 1978.

It is a great honor for us to have been selected, and I encourage everyone to tune in to listen.  To find a station that carries the Kim Komando show, you can go to http://www.komando.com/listen

Thanks to all our users who have conftinued to help HomeSpot HQ get noticed around the country.

And just like you see on those TV shows, DIY home maintenance isn’t as hard as it looks – you don’t need to be a professional with gadgets and gizmos, hand carts and pallet jacks to make sure that your home and appliances are in good working condition.

What follows are a few simple ways to make sure that you aren’t spending any more money than you should be either in bills or in maintenance of your home.

Heads Up

How often do you check the state of your roof – or do any repairs?

Yeah. I thought so.

You’re going to want to check your roof a bit more often than “once a year…maybe,” because while roofs do have a longer lifespan – about 30 years – like anything – if you repair that one or two loose shingles before it becomes half your roof, it’s going to serve you well in the long run. Plus, it’ll save you a couple thousand dollars, probably.

And just below the roof is the gutter – and you’re going to want to check that quite often, as it is very easy for the gutter to get…cluttered. Overflowing gutters are never good, as you’re accumulating water all in one place – which is never a good thing for a home. And if it’s colder out, the freezing of that large amount of water can cause cracks in your foundation, which is really not good.

Simply grab a ladder every once in a while and take a peek at the state of your gutters. Don’t forget to grab a trash bag, too!

Caulking For The Win

A tube of caulking costs maybe $2. You’re probably spending a lot more than that in wasted energy if your house has any kind of draft. More than that, though, properly caulking your doors and windows seals out water – which is, as we know, the bane of homeowners.

You get two birds with one stone on this one – saving on energy expenses and working to protect your home from some very costly damages. So get to it! Buy some of that $2 caulk and get going.

Love Your Fridge

We all know how awful it is when the power goes out and we’re just staring at the clock, counting down the hours until all our food spoils or starts defrosting. It’s a fun time. But your fridge needs love even when you aren’t praying for the power to come back on.

You’re going to want to clean your refrigerator coils regularly (usually every 5 years) – though some recommend cleaning your coils at least once or twice a year. It depends on how temperamental your fridge is, I guess.

Give Your Toilet a Break

Hearing your toilet run isn’t just annoying – and it isn’t just water going down the drain, either, but money! Cliche, I know, but it’s amazing how much stopping a running toilet (by replacing the fill valve for a measly $20 or so) can save you in energy bills.

Replacing the fill valve is pretty straightforward, but the biggest thing to remember is to make sure that you turn off the water, otherwise it’s going to be a very messy, wet, process which probably won’t end well for you…or your bathroom.

This is a guest post from Jackie Ryan.  Jackie is a freelance writer that works to supply home repair professionals with the supplies that they need – everything from platform trucks to Nexel shelving. She hopes that everyone becomes a handyman (or woman) when it comes to their own home.

Why Are You Renovating?
Your reasons for renovating the bathroom can help you determine which products to purchase and how much money to allocate toward the changes. If you are remodeling to increase the value of your home prior to putting it on the market, you should focus on items and changes that appeal to a variety of people rather than your personal taste. A bright blue bathtub may appeal to you, but a white one is more likely to match the tastes of prospective buyers.

If you are renovating to make the room more accessible or comfortable, consider which items have the greatest priority. A total overhaul can become a costly endeavor. If you prioritize certain renovations, you can make the most important ones first and gradually make other changes as your budget allows. For example, if you need to make the shower area more accessible for an aging parent but also want to redo the wallpaper, you may want to purchase a walk-in bathtub before overwhelming yourself with wallpaper options and supplies. Walk in bathtubs are useful additions to bathroom space and can be paired with a shower curtain that suits your taste.

Minimizing the Mess
Focusing on the large and more expensive items first also helps you minimize the mess. It’s much easier to remove and replace all the fixtures first than it is to work on them after you make cosmetic changes to the walls. When dealing with plumbing, you are likely to encounter lots of dampness, and there is also the possibility of encountering mold and mildew. Getting this out of the way from the beginning will make the rest of your renovations easier and less stressful.

Choosing a Contractor
There are lots of questions you should ask before selecting a contractor. You want to be sure that you and your contractor are on the same page regarding your renovations before any work begins. Interview the local contractors. Ask your friends and family for recommendations. Depending on your schedule and ideal timeframe for the work to be completed, you may also need to discuss the contractors’ schedules. Without knowing their schedules before work begins, you could end up dealing with a dismantled bathroom for far longer than you had hoped or planned.

Discuss costs and warranties or guarantees as well. You may find a large price difference in the estimates provided by different contractors. Cheaper is not always better, however, so ask for detailed estimates. Some contractors may have connections for better prices on fixtures, whereas others may offer low labor rates because of inexperience.

Making It a Hassle-Free Experience
The bathroom is one of the most important and most frequently used rooms in the house. Prior to starting the renovations, make plans for managing your daily routine without having access to that room. If you have two bathrooms in your home, there is no need for this. However, if you have only one, you may want to make arrangements to spend a few days elsewhere.

1. Do you hold a contractor’s license? If your locality requires that contractors be licensed, then ask to see the contractor’s license. A licensed contractor must meet certain requirements to obtain the license, generally providing you with the assurance that he or she is capable of completing the work.

2. Do you carry liability and workers’ compensation insurance? Make sure the contractor has liability insurance and carries workers’ compensation insurance on employees. The last thing you need is a worker getting injured while working on your property and wanting your homeowner’s insurance to pay for those injuries.

3. Will you obtain and pay for all necessary permits? As a general courtesy, most contractors will take responsibility for obtaining the necessary permits and will include the cost in their bids.

4. Will you give me a detailed written estimate? Get everything in writing, including all of the minor details. You don’t want to accept a verbal bid and then have the contractor come in with his crew and say, “That’s not what I said.”

5. Will you perform the actual work? A lot of contractors subcontract their work. They may farm out plumbing, electricity, or some other major aspect of the job. You’ll want to find out who the subcontractors are who will be working on your house plans. This way you can check their reputations with the Better Business Bureau.

6. Will you get lien waivers from suppliers and subcontractors? Make sure your contractor is willing to provide you with lien waivers from his or her subcontractors and suppliers. These waivers will prove that everyone was paid via the money you paid the contractor.

7. Will you sign a written contract? The estimate is not a contract and cannot be viewed as such. Get a written contract from the contractor that details everything in the estimate. It should include the work to be performed, payment terms, an estimated date of completion, and instructions for incorporating necessary changes.

8. How will you handle necessary changes? Seldom does a homeowner get through a home renovation process without changing the original plans. If changes are to be made, make sure they are put in writing and include the price of the changes.

9. What is the payment schedule? The contractor may ask for a down payment, which should not exceed 50 percent of the total cost of the project. Do not pay a contractor in full at the start of the project. If the work will take months, arrange to pay the contractor over the course of the project.

10. Can you provide references? Ask the contractor to provide you with the names and phone numbers of former clients. Be sure to call them. If possible, drive by and look at some of the contractor’s completed work.

These basic questions will help you avoid the situation where work is completed  but does not satisfy your expectations, or if there are any disputes about payment or what work was agreed upon to be completed.  Unfortunately there are many unethical and unscrupulous construction organizations that can and will take advantage of unsuspecting homeowners.  You can avoid these situations by performing your due diligence as you evaluate potential service providers.

If you are like most of the estimated 54 million homeowners who cut their grass every weekend, then you have a lawn mower powered by a gasoline engine.  Just like the engine in your car, there are a few key maintenance items you can take care of to restore your mower to peak performance.

1. Change the Oil: Most mowers will have a drain plug underneath the engine.  Lift your mower on to a pair of saw-horses to get easy access.  Drain the old oil out, remember to put the plug back in, then fill with new oil.  An of course, take the old oil to a legitimate waste or recycling station.  Cost: $5 or less for new oil.  Time: 15-30 minutes.

2. Replace the air filter: Gasoline engines need to breath, and your mower’s air filter keeps it from wheezing like a broken accordion.  The air filter should be replaced every year, and cleaned after every 3 or 4 mowings.  Cost: $5-10 depending on your engine.  Time: 10 minutes.

3. Replace the Spark Plug: Unlike your car, which probably has 4 or 6 spark plugs, your mower has only one.  On most mowers you will not need a special wrench or socket to get the spark plug out, an adjustable wrench should do. It is very important to get an exact match for the spark plug part number.  If your mower has a hard time starting up, a new spark plug will probably help.  Cost: $5-10 depending on your engine.  Time: 20 minutes.

4. Sharpen or replace the blade. In truth, your mower doesn’t care if it is spinning a razor sharp blade or a butter knife dull blade.  But your grass sure does.  A sharp blade will actually cut the grass, instead of tearing it, and that will lead to a healthier lawn.  Under your mower where the blade mounts to the engine there is normally only 1 or 2 bolts to remove.  Be sure to put the blade on facing the right direction – most blades are marked with what side should face the grass.  Cost: $10-20.  Time: 30 minutes.

5.  Generally clean and polish: A basic cleaning of your mower will help prevent grass and dirt and dust from causing problems in the long run.  Use a putty knife to scrape the underside of the mower deck to get any caked on grass.  You can wash the rest with soapy water.  Cost: $0.  Time: 20 minutes.

With a well spent hour in the cold of winter, you can get your mower ready for the long spring and summer months.  Or, if you would prefer to outsource, many local hardware stores offer small engine repair services and can do a full tune up for between $50-75.  Either way, your mower (and your grass) will thank you!

1. Zillow Zestimate® Integration: Your HomeSpot home profile now comes with a direct link to your home’s valuation provided by Zillow.  To see your Zillow details, click on the ‘Details’ link shown below your home’s photo and address on the ‘My Home’ dashboard page.  If Zillow can find your address, your Property Valuation details will be shown on the ‘Location Details’ tab.

2. Printable Home History Report: We received plenty of requests from users about having a way to generate a printable report from your HomeSpot account.  Well, we’ve put forth the first edition of the HomeSpot HQ Home History.  To generate your report, click on the ‘My Account’ link in the upper right hand corner, then click on the ‘Reports’ tab.  You’ll see a link there to generate your Home History Report.  The report will open in a new browser window, and has been pre-formatted for printing.

3. Default Avatars for Locations and Spaces: In order to dress up your HomeSpot account a bit, we’ve now set up default photos for your location and spaces.  You can still upload your own image, but let’s face it, that pale green placeholder image got old quick.

We also did our best to go through any bug reports we’d received and address those issues.

Here’s a few of the features we are working on for our next release:

• support for multiple properties
• Optimizations for tablet and mobile devices
• Improved image uploader
• Improved catalog of projects and maintenance items

As always, when new releases are made, we’ll post updates like this to the blog.