WACP Business Blog

May 29, 2009

How to Landscape Your Own Yard and Save Money

Landscaping basics:

All of us love a garden that has been beautifully landscaped, but affording professional guidance to have our own gardens done is often very expensive. If you cannot afford a landscape designer, you can learn to do it. The Internet is a wonderful source where you can find a large number of ideas and help. Here are some tips for those of you who wish to do it on your own.

Use keywords like ‘landscaping ideas ‘or ‘landscape designs’ to initiate your search. You could even try something like ‘diy landscaping’. Most sites will offer a fair dose of effective tips you can use.

A visit to any plant nursery in your area will offer a lot of information about plants that grow in shade and those that thrive in sunlight. The workers in such places are generally pretty well informed about such things and may even offer better advice than a large well-known department store or a garden center.

You can also get the tools you require at a nursery and advice about how to use them. The right tools will make your gardening tasks easier and struggle free.

While considering landscaping, think of including the following in your gardening space.

• A rock garden. This needs thinking and can be done beautifully with proper designing and planning.

• A fountain. Flowing water is good energy and a fine Feng Shui idea.

• Beds that are raised, especially for flowers.

• A separate area where children can play. Having a sand pit is also a good idea for very young children.

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• A pond for water plants. You can add some colorful fish to it.

• A vegetable garden preferably in your backyard. Fresh herbs and seasonal vegetables are a source of immense joy and can add garden fresh flavors and a special touch to any meal.

Ideas for landscaping:

Before starting you will need to take a proper view of the land and its formation. You must remember that any changes you think of effecting should blend well with the surroundings.

Small water bodies like a fountain or a pond will beautify as well as cool surroundings, providing moisture that will help plants to thrive and also encourage animals and birds to visit. Water has a wonderful energy about it that enhances natural beauty when used in the right manner.

Erecting a structure like a trellis or a gazebo will provide shelter against rain. However, keep in mind the size of such a structure so that it can blend with the design of the landscape without affecting the general aesthetic appeal of the garden.

Choosing the right plants for landscaping:

The following tips may be beneficial in helping you choose the right plants.

If your gardening area is small go for plants that are small and slow on growth too. Fast growing plants will prevent smaller plants from growing and this could mar the beautiful effect you have in mind and hope for.

If you are an avid gardener and love to spend time outdoors indulging in this very satisfying hobby, it’s okay to choose plants that require a lot of care and tending. If not, choose those plants that require minimum care.

Once you initiate your own landscaping, you will soon find that experience is adding to your learning and knowledge once you have got hold of the basics. This will be immensely satisfying and bring a sense of achievement. You will soon be amazed that an arid, barren plot has become a lovely patch of green that is pleasing sight to any beholder and a source of pride to you.

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Save Money with Food Dehydrators

Filed under: Food and Drink — Tags: , , — cloud @ 12:14 am

The thought of having to discard food because it turned rotten must have made you cringe. There is a wide range of dehydrators available to help you extend the shelf life of foods and affect savings because food gets used and need not be thrown before it turns rotten. Dehydrators are an easy way to store food cost effectively and can help you make the most of your visits to a grocery store.

Fruit stays fresh and good only for about a day or two. If you can dry them then you can use them longer. You save money by using all the stuff you purchase without having to throw anything because it turned rotten. You also can consume the dried fruit before your next shopping trip. You may feel like trying a recipe that may require raisins and apples and if these are dehydrated at home, you save on a shopping trip. A dehydrator is a great way to make fruit available at all times so that you can try out a recipe or have a snack at short notice.

Vegetables when dried stayed longer and are ideal for soups. You can have them anytime you wish. Drying homegrown vegetables and fruits helps you stretch them longer. You save money by drying them and as a result there is no wastage. Dried vegetables can always be re-hydrated by keeping them in water before cooking. Homegrown vegetables are always available to you fresh from the garden and these can make a meal more flavorsome and interesting. You would not like your own grown vegetables to be wasted ever, because of the efforts that have gone into growing them. There is a variety of dehydrators to chose from that will save both money and food wastage.

Herbs too can be expensive at times. Drying your own spices and herbs will reduce grocery bills. A dehydrator will help you in this endeavor. Drying will help you keep them as long as you wish, making them available anytime you wish. Drying them is not time consuming for you even if the herbs themselves take long to dry. Drying them will save money.

Any product that prevents food wastage is a money saver for any home. With the right gadgets it is easy to dry food. Dehydrators have a lot of features that make drying very easy. No fruit or vegetable need ever be wasted if you own a dehydrator. Consider getting one to save money and prevent food from going waste.

Take some time to surf the Internet and find out more about dehydrators and then make a considered choice about buying one that suits your needs. You will soon begin to believe that you made a wise decision going in for one.

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May 28, 2009

Save Money on Food – Interesting Facts on How to Keep Your Food Fresh

Some time or the other you must have thrown off rotten food from the fridge and felt terrible about the wastage. Here are some tips to help you save money by keeping fruits and vegetables fresh and making them last longer.

We never really bother about the temperatures in our fridge. Ideally it should be maintained between 32F and 41F. If the temperature is too warm food will go bad under bacterial attack and if too cold then icicles will form in the food.

Fresh vegetables and fruits should have air circulating round them to help them stay fresh. This also prevents them turning soggy from sweating. Do not store in packaged plastic in which they are purchased.
Here are some tips for storing fruits and vegetables.

Apples:
Throw out rotten, blemished ones. They could contaminate the good ones and cause them to rot.

Lettuce:
Lettuce stays fresh if stored in a loose large plastic bag. To revive lettuce leaves that have gone limp, remove a thin slice of its stem and store in a container of ice-cold water. Each leaf can be sprinkled with cold water, wrapped up in a tea towel and stored in the refrigerator for about an hour. This will keep them fresh.

Carrots, turnips and beetroot:
Remove the leaves to avoid them drawing nutrients from roots. Store in cold dry place that is dark and well ventilated.

Celery:
Celery will stay well if stood upright on its stalk in a tumbler of water and then placed in the fridge. It can lose flavor immediately on washing.

Lemons:
Place cut lemons with cut side downward keeping them under an inverted glass on top and in a place that is cool.

Mushrooms:
Mushrooms remain fresh if stored in a place that is dark and cool. Do not store in the fridge. Wipe dry and keep on a paper towel to store longer.

Onions:
Onions remain fresh if stored in wire racks, keeping bulbs apart to encourage air circulation and thereby prevent rotting.

Potatoes:
To keep potatoes from sprouting store them with apples in a cool dry place. If you are peeling them for cooking, peel only as many as you need and put them in water till you cook to prevent them turning brown or place peeled ones in a bowl of water in the fridge till cooking time.

Tomatoes:
It depends on how you prefer your tomatoes, soft or rock hard. Green tomatoes or unripe ones stay fresh when stored in the dark. When exposed to sunlight they will soften instead of ripening. If you wish them to ripen then store in a drawer in a paper bag along with an apple till then turn a pretty rosy red.

If you follow the above tips, you will keep your vegetables and fruits fresh till your next visit to the grocery. You never need to worry about wastage and rotting. The saving will also make you feel happy.

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How to Save Money on Hydroponics & Plant Nutrients

Whether you are tending you garden in the normal fashion or using hydroponics, it is wise to make your efforts pay off through the judicious use of cash. You will be able to effect good savings, and can use them for adding more variety to your garden. This will permit you to grow more and yield better results all within a sensible, well thought of budget. You can save on gardening nutrients and those used for hydroponics if you know how to go about buying them.

Here are a few smart ways to do it.

Closely follow directions of the Manufacturer:

Haphazard use of nutrients will result in wastage. It is wiser to first go through the instructions on the packet. Manufacturers after all want their customers to go back and buy their stuff once it has proved useful and hence give elaborate, correct directions about how to use the nutrients, most of which have been carefully determined after systematic testing. They are therefore, the best you could follow, so that nutrients when used judiciously produce optimum results.

Ascertain maximize absorption:

Monitoring the pH levels and temperature of the nutrient solution is one way to find out if the plants are absorbing the nutrients fed to them. The root formation of the plant also requires attention. All these are parameters that will guide your use of plant nutrients. Constantly monitoring and reviewing will help you use the nutrients wisely so that you get the desired results. With proper attention you will save money on all other supplies over and above the saving effected on hydroponic nutrients.

Purchasing through Online sources:

Buying hydroponic nutrients online gets you directly in touch with the manufacturer and saves overheads and may be even on shipping costs. You can affect substantial savings in this way. Time spent shopping is also saved and you have the privilege of receiving things at your doorstep.

Go for Quality:

It is worthwhile realizing that there is a difference in shopping for a price and trying to effect a bargain while buying. Shopping for a price could also entail getting cheap stuff that is low on quality and not as effective in producing the desired results. You will end up using more of the cheap stuff to get results and the yields also may be inferior in quality. If price becomes your focus then you may end up actually losing money, because you are not getting your money’s worth. This could also result in more spending to get results.

It is wiser to focus on the value that the money you spend will bring you. Hydroponic nutrients that are well balanced will give you very good results with minimum use of the product, thus effecting money saving. Even if you spend more to get the right stuff, you save money over a period of time. If you are gardening for profit, it is wiser to choose quality over price, as this will prove more profitable and cost effective in the long run.

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Eat Raw Foods and Save Money

Some people find the idea of eating raw food rather weird. Most of your favorite foods must have been fried, baked, broiled food or food cooked any other way. You may be a little surprised to know that people who are switching over to eating uncooked, raw food are thrilled with the benefits they experience. Your experience being different makes this idea difficult to accept. Once you begin eating raw food you will soon find that it is better for health and economical too.

Raw food connoisseurs recommend organic food, raw nuts even though these are expensive and super foods that are difficult to find. But consuming raw stuff is better on your budget. Eating raw foods can cut costs on groceries and medicines. Read the following tips and find out more.

Raw foods are enzyme rich and healthier on the body than processed stuff that is low on nutrition. Raw foods help you rid yourself of ailments like diabetes, obesity, allergies and even depression. Many who have switched over to eating raw food have made reported better health and even disappearance of old health problems. This means indirectly saving on the cost of medicines.

Generally fresh fruits and vegetables are cheaper than processed stuff and even dairy and meat products. You need not avoid meat, but it could be difficult to procure dairy products and meat of an excellent quality. Raw food diets generally minimize consumption of dairy products and meat that are expensive. Raw food enthusiasts claim they eat less food and therefore spend less money on it.

There is no one who does not like to feel good with a complexion that is radiant and speaks of health. If you eat raw foods you will find your skin glowing, vibrant and well hydrated: this could mean spending less of toiletries and personal care products like creams and moisturizers. You can use avocados and coconut oil for home treatment of skin and hair when you stock these in your fridge and pantry. Avocados are known to make fine face packs! With your skin looking and feeling better you could even dispense with make up all together!

Eating raw also effects saving on water bills as there is not much utensil washing to do. All you will need when you are on a raw food diet is a chopping board or a mixer both of which can be easily cleaned. You even save water on washing hair because hair remains shinning and healthy, thus requiring shampooing less often.

When you consider the monetary and health benefits of having only raw foods, you may soon decide to learn more about it so as to adopt it as a lifestyle.

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