5/16/13

Birdhouses are an excellent way to help our feathered friends with shelter to raise their brood, but these houses need to be cleaned every year, since parasites and illness-causing bacteria can live inside. Wearing rubber gloves, remove the old nest from inside the birdhouse; you can leave it in the grass to decompose naturally. Then use a mixture of 1 part bleach to 9 parts hot water and spray the birdhouse to disinfect it. Scrub it with a sponge. Place the birdhouse in a sunny spot to dry out. Once you reinstall it, new birds will quickly make it their home.

5/15/13

Spring gardens often leave leftover plastic pots and trays from nurseries. To easily recycle them, you can take these items to any Lowe's stores to be recycled, even if you didn't purchase your plants there. Once the pots and plastic trays are collected, they are sorted based on what can be reused and what needs to be crushed and sent for plastic recycling. Learn more at lowes.com.

5/14/13

Not all essential oils in the supermarket are actually natural. If the words “naturally derived” are on the bottle, the molecular structure of whatever flower or plant the oil is was created in a laboratory. Choose oils like peppermint or rosemary, which are plentiful, inexpensive and good choices for a healthy, natural scent at home.