Are your veggies, herbs and other garden plants attracting more than bees? If your plants are attracting the appetites of insects and small animals, don’t resort to chemical sprays or fencing. Instead, reach for two ingredients out of your kitchen pantry: flour and black pepper. Make a spicy mixture of the two, sprinkle it around the base of the plant and dust it where animals may nibble. The peppery mixture is unappetizing to critters, and the flour helps the pepper “stick.”

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

If you’re crafty, you may have small bottles or jars of colorful acrylic paint at home. When it comes time to clean up after you’ve made your DIY project, what do you do with the leftover paint? While it’s perfectly fine to wash your brushes in the sink and let the paint residue go down the drain, any leftover paint should not. Craft paint is a household hazardous waste, and it can also clump and clog pipes. If you must dispose of craft paint, let it dry out and place it in the trash. You can paint scrap paper and let it dry, or just leave the jars or bottles open and let them dry out naturally.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Forgoing chemical herbicides for your lawn is great for bees; the weeds that grow on lawns -- like clover and dandelions -- are very beneficial for them (and other pollinators like them, too). These short wildflowers thrive very easily and give honeybees needed nutrients. Other “weeds” like blackberry bushes can also be great flowers for bees. But if you want to get rid of wildflowers or weeds, do this: Let them come to bloom first, so bees can take advantage of them, and then cut them back before they seed. This will help you maintain weed control while helping bees and other pollinators at the same time.

ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION