The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
Sloped yards offer unique beauty and dimension, but they also come with a particular set of challenges. Uncontrolled erosion, uneven walkways, and limited usability are common issues that make landscaping on an incline a complicated affair. Fortunately, retaining walls are more than just a practical solution—they’re an opportunity to shape your outdoor space into something both functional and beautiful.
Continue reading Designing Sloped Yards: Retaining Wall Ideas That Blend Form and Function
Maintaining your home and outdoor spaces can often feel like an overwhelming task. Whether it’s tending to your garden, repairing equipment, or keeping your house in top shape, regular maintenance is necessary. However, it doesn’t have to be exhausting. With the right strategies and mindset, you can manage home and outdoor maintenance with ease, preserving both your property’s value and your peace of mind.
Continue reading The Key to Effortless Outdoor and Home Maintenance
When people are at home and the weather is warm, most folks like to spend a lot of time outdoors. Whether they’re enjoying a cookout with friends and family or just soaking up the sun, it’s important to have a backyard that meets your requirements. A well-designed outdoor area can be a great place to relax and escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life. In this article, we’ll discuss 8 ways to upgrade your outdoor area and make it more enjoyable for you and your guests.
Continue reading 8 Amazing Ways To Upgrade Your Outdoor Area
Gardening and Landscaping by William Thomas
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Make a backyard staycation plan. Put together a gentle schedule with a mixture of activities that your family will enjoy like dining, camping and games. Add a theme for the week, day or evening. A luau theme can be carried through with costumes, food and activities. A sports theme can have everyone in team jerseys and doing sports activities. Use creative names for meals and activities to spice things up. Even you don’t have a pool, children’s water play misters or sprinklers can help everyone cool off in the backyard (provided your area is not under drought conditions).
photos by William Thomas
the staff of the ridgewood blog
East Greenwich RI ,While global communities are practicing physical distancing, birds are actively socializing outside our windows, in our trees, bird baths, and feeders. Depending on where you live, birds of all species are migrating, singing, preening, mating, feeding, flying, and building nests. KingBirder, the first online contest to combine the skills of birding with photography, wants you to capture photos of the birds you see safely from your homes or yard in its free bird photography competition entitled “Shelter and Snap!”
May 6,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to the NJ Health Department ,the number of Lyme disease cases increased by 17 percent from 2016 to 2017 and they’ve more than doubled since 2006, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 2,432 cases in New Jersey. Last year, there were 5,091!
It seems every year we get dire warning of tick bits and Lyme disease, so what is a resident to do if you still want to enjoy the great outdoors during the summer months ?
The CDC has put out a Create a Tick-Safe Zone Through Landscaping. So if you can make your yard less attractive to ticks depending on how you landscape. Here are some simple landscaping techniques that can help reduce tick populations:
Clear tall grasses and brush around homes and at the edge of lawns.
Place a 3-ft wide barrier of wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas and around patios and play equipment. This will restrict tick migration into recreational areas.
Mow the lawn frequently and keep leaves raked.
Stack wood neatly and in a dry area (discourages rodents that ticks feed on).
Keep playground equipment, decks, and patios away from yard edges and trees and place them in a sunny location, if possible.
Remove any old furniture, mattresses, or trash from the yard that may give ticks a place to hide.
Refer to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station’s Tick Management Handbook[PDF – 8.53 MB] for a comprehensive guide to preventing ticks and their bites through landscaping.
Apply Pesticides Outdoors to Control Ticks
Use of acaricides (tick pesticides) can reduce the number of ticks in treated areas of your yard. However, you should not rely on spraying to reduce your risk of infection.
If you have concerns about applying acaricides:
Check with local health officials about the best time to apply acaricide in your area.
Identify rules and regulations related to pesticide application on residential properties (Environmental Protection Agency and your state determine the availability of pesticides).
Consider using a professional pesticide company to apply pesticides at your home.
