Tips and Information for your backyard garden that will help you and your family boost your sustainability.
Mosquitos. If you live in a semi-damp place with warm weather, you know what they are. We all hate those annoying little creatures sucking our blood, buzzing in our ears, and ruining our outdoor time. There are lots of ways to get rid of them, but mosquito foggers are the most common. But do mosquito…
Butterflies are beautiful creatures, and they’re also excellent pollinators. It’s no wonder so many people want to have them around. So, how exactly can we get butterflies into our backyard? Butterflies are most attracted to plants with flowers that are vibrant in color (especially blues and purples), have high nectar content, and have the easiest…
While working on Backyard Boosts and landscaping my home, I’ve been asked, “why do you plant so much lavender?” I love the smell of lavender, but I also love that bees and other pollinators love lavender just as much. Bees and wasps love lavender because of its scent, its color, the shape of it’s flower,…
Winter brings its own complications to the realm of feeding birds. To overcome these issues, I’ve come up with a list of suggestions for specific bird feeders that might be a bit more winter-friendly. The best bird feeders for winter are those made of metal or with a metal roof and possibly base, those that…
Every year I hear more and more people tell me what to do and what not to do when it comes to feeding birds during the winter. The most common myths about birds in winter: Birds will freeze All birds fly south If you stop feeding birds, they will die Nut butter can kill birds…
You’ve seen them out there all puffed up like little colorful snowballs in the wintertime, looking for food and scraping by. But should you feed the birds that are hanging around your yard? Because most birds need food during temperature extremes when their standard food supply is lacking or while on migration, it is helpful…
You know it’s a great thing to accomplish – making a home for bees, insects that are in danger all over the world due to climate changes, and the use of pesticides. Not only that, but if you have a garden or flowers of any kind, bees can help keep them pollinated and producing. But…
There are plenty of reasons for having to get a new queen for your beehive. The hive could be in decline because of an older queen, the queen may have died without a successor, or the queen may have swarmed and the successor wound up non-viable. So what to do? Requeening is the act of…
Yes, I will tell you how much a Queen Bee costs. I know there are a lot of backyard apiarists in our region and if you’ve ever had the curiosity and wanted to help out with the bee population, maybe you should look into it. A queen bee’s cost is directly influenced by the type…
We’ve probably all heard them. Some of us have seen them. They come around every year as the weather becomes warm again, just like clockwork. What are they? Your friendly neighborhood toads. Because toads are a natural form of pest control for insects, they are definitely beneficial to your backyard. Not only that, but their…
The material you choose for your raised garden beds all depends on your budget and what materials you might have access to. In some cases, we just used what we have available, and that’s fine. But the question is, what are the best materials available for building your raised garden beds? The best material for…
I’ve done it. I admit it. I’ve made a raised garden box and then realized I forgot to put reinforcement materials in it or forgot to anchor it before I filled it up. I’m here to tell you, that’s not the end of the world. It just complicates things a little. Adding soil can shift…
