The Fall Gardener

Just because it's fall, the leaves are turning colors and the garden is turning brown, does not mean that your garden duties are done with. There are a great many things that you needs to be done when the growing season is over.

For one thing, it is always a good idea to go ahead and clean your beds of dead plants and debris before the winter sets in. It will save you a lot of grief in the spring if you go on ahead and pull up all the dead plants rather than letting them sit in the beds all winter.

One thing we do is to take advantage of all the fallen leaves and use them to mulch the vegetable beds. Another fall garden chore is to clean our gardening tools, repair broken ones and order new ones if needed.

GreenGardenTools.com is a great destination when you're shopping for garden tools. You can find great Green Garden Tools discounts and also useful tips and articles on how to do things around the yard. For instance, right now there is a great article on alternative methods of gathering up fall leaves other than raking them up.

By the way, another reason that fall is a great time to replenish your gardening tools and supplies is because a lot of the stores have great home and garden promos and sales this time of year as they make room for the holiday inventory that's coming. So don't go into hibernation mode quite yet, there's still things to do in the garden!

Fall is Here!

Yes, it's cooler and the leaves are changing colors. Fall is definitely here.

Pink Rose

Flower Fireworks

Leeks flowers. These large flower balls remind me of fireworks. Click on the photo for a closer view.

Bathroom Woes Anyone?

We have been having one sort of plumbing problem or other for the past year. I guess that's the price you pay for living in an old house. Our house was built in the 40's and hadn't really gone through any major renovations since it was built. Now that it's approaching its half century mark, it's finally showing its age. Things are starting to go one at a time.

Last year, it was the laundry room. Now, we're in the midst of tackling the bathrooms which have slowly developed faucet leaks, peeling paints and inefficient design for today's lifestyle. Believe it or not, one of the bathrooms still has only a claw foot tub to wash in. No shower. Now we're not getting rid of the tub, mind you. I love that cast iron monstrosity! I just want to add a shower. My girls are teenagers and have gotten past the tub baths stage. They just want to take their showers and go.

So. For the last few months we have been canvassing for bathroom accessories. They are high! Who would have thought a faucet or shower head would cost over $100! Well I guess they have always been that way, I just never had much of an opportunity to shop for them before.

Anyway, we've been finding some cool places for bathroom paraphernalia. I think we've finally decided on a look we want to go for. Since our house is old, I think we're sticking to more traditional designs although some of the new, sleek designs are really pretty.

Now the next step is finding the right contractor to do the job. Someone who will do a good job but not be too expensive. I have a feeling this will be another woe to worry about :)

Ivarest Gave Away Summer Survival Kits

Ivarest gave us three Summer Survival Kits comprised of full sized Ivarest Cleansing Foam and Ivarest Poison Ivy Itch Relief to give away to three lucky winners. We posted the IVAREST SUMMER SURVIVAL KIT GIVEAWAY in our new backyard and here are the three lucky winners:
Nikki of Nik Snacks
Jo of Jo’s Blog Spot
Janet of Grammy Janet’s Place

I'm just starting to get into this giveaway game and I'm having a blast giving stuff away! Stay tuned for more fun giveaways. Also, don't forget to check the new backyard for photosg on how our garden is doing.

Fight Poison Ivy with Ivarest

Early this spring I received samples of a new product called Ivarest. I received both the Ivarest Poison Ivy Cleansing Foam and the Ivarest Cream Poison Ivy Itch Relief. When I first received the samples, I knew this was a set of products that I will definitely be using soon.

Later that month, the girls and I went fishing so I packed up this duo in our first aid bag for just in case. Luckily, we didn't come into contact with anything that would have needed these products.

Unfortunately, a couple of weeks later while my husband was clearing the back of the garden under the trees, he came into contact with poison oak and poison ivy. Of course, typical of him, he doesn't come in right away but rather finished the job first before coming in to complain about his arms. By the time he came in, he was sweaty, dirty and miserable. His arms had started to itch and a rash was already in full bloom. We immediately went into the bathroom where he rinsed his arms and we put the Ivarest foam all over both arms. He then rinsed them off again and immediately got in the shower. When he came out, we applied some of the Ivarest cream all over his arms.

I'd love to say the itch and rash went away, but no. His arms stayed itchy and even started developing welts. It stayed this way for almost a week! The good thing is, that he did get some relief from the itching every time we applied more Ivarest cream. He was grateful for that on nights when he wasn't awakened by the itching on his arms. He said that was the worst time was at night when he didn't have anything else to distract him from the itch.

If you're likely to run into poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak and the likes, make sure you keep some Ivarest on hand. I have a feeling that the itch would not have lasted as long if my husband had just come in immediately to wash off allergens and toxins before they had a chance to get under his skin.

Ivarest Poison Ivy Cleansing Foam, offers 50 percent more product than leading cleansers and retails for $5.97-$8.99. Ivarest Double Relief Formula retails for $4.37 - $6.99. Both products are available at select drug stores, supermarkets and mass retailers nationwide.