So here it is… I don’t like to cook much.  Fortunately my mother-in-law used to cook for several restaurants and she lives with me.  She still practices her profession, so it’s not necessary for me to write out menus and follow-through.

I am the person, however, who does all the outdoor grilling during the summer.  Don’t tell my mother-in-law, but apparently you can grill during the winter months too.  From Backyard Fire Pits,

Since its winter, there’s the likelihood that you won’t want to spend a lot of time outdoors cooking meat so it would make sense to grill steaks or pork chops because they cook faster than something large. Place a little more charcoal on the grill than you would use in the spring or summer.

The outside temperature does make a difference in the length of time it takes to cook your meat. Watch your rib eyes or center cut pork chops carefully so that they’re cooked to your specifications when you take them off the grill. Cook the meat a little longer.

Okey dokey. Dont’ tell my mother-in-law!

Photo by Rochelle et al via Flickr Creative Commons.

It always amazes me to see people meticulously plan and create Christmas light shows on the outsides of their houses and yards.  I truly appreciate their hard work and dedication, but it just seems like such an overwhelming project to take on.  Maybe some year when my kids are all grown up and I don’t spend 80 percent of my time carting them around, I’ll give it a try.

If you’re ready to do it this year, here are directions from WikiHow,

Decide how big you want it. A channel is a unit of lights that can be controlled individually. For example, a single bush in your yard may be a channel. All the lights in a channel work as a unit (you can’t flash an individual light bulb). 32 to 64 channels is a good size to start with.

There are a lot more good tips if you click through!  Meanwhile, here’s an example of someone’s light show already done!

This is not me, but I love the high energy.  And the editing!

One of the things on my to-do list this weekend is to get the outdoor faucet covers installed so my outside faucets don’t freeze over the winter. Making sure these outside faucets are covered helps fend against broken pipes. One thing I did last year was to insulate the pipes under my house. It was a simple job, I just wrapped the pipes in insulation and used handy dandy duct tape to tape it all together. The whole job took about 2 hours. Of course, I’m lucky and have a crawl space that’s big enough to stand up in!

What are your other outside pre-winter projects?

[Image credit: Amazon.com]

I gave my grandma a Christmas cactus for her birthday a couple of years ago, and every time it would go into bloom, she’d point it out to me and tell me what a great idea it was to give me a Christmas cactus.

It seemed to bloom fairly randomly throughout the year, but since she died on August 31st, it has not bloomed since, even though I have been trying to take good care of it so it would bloom.

So, this morning when I was cruising around the gardening blogosphere, I came across Mr. Brown Thumb’s blog and saw a post on getting your Christmas cactus to bloom. "Oooh!", I thought, "Now I can figure out how to get Grandma’s cactus to bloom!"

I was pleased to find that I have been doing the right thing all along, and glad that I haven’t resorted to any mumbo-jombo to get it to bloom. Hit the link to find out what I’ve been doing right.

If you are selling your house remember that first impressions are lasting impressions. Your front yard
is the first and last thing a prospective buyer sees. Make sure they
arrive and leave with a positive view.

If you are looking for a great tip for enhancing your home’s curb appeal, drop by Shak In Style and  read the article on Fabulous Fall Foliage.

Well, if you have to weed them anyway (I don’t), might as well make something useful out of your dandelions. Here are 30 recipes for dandelion wine.

Has anybody ever had any dandelion wine? Is it any good?

Growing up, my parents didn’t drink, but my dad kept beer in the refrigerator- he used it as part of a mix he used to fertilize the garden with. I was fairly old before I realized beer was for drinking, not fertilizer. Feel free to tee-hee at me all you want.

Over the years, he has toyed with different recipes to make his grass grow greener, and he has finally come up with his favorite- based heavily on Jerry Baker’s recipe from his book Green Grass Magic, with only minor changes. I finally got dad to share his recipe with me, so I could pass it on to you, lucky Shakyard readers!

You can use this during any season to make your lawn greener, to give your vegetables and other plants a kick, or as a regular fertilizer. If you use this regularly, do it about every 3 weeks.

12 oz. beer- any kind is fine, even Nasty Light. Just whatever you happen to have.
8 oz. ammonia
6 oz. liquid dish soap (Make sure it doesn’t have any degreasers and is not anti-bacterial. Just a cheap-o brand is best)
6 oz. liquid lawn food
6 oz clear corn syrup (like Karo Syrup)

Mix these in a bucket and pour it into a hose end sprayer, and spray away!

Why does this work? The beer acts as an enzyme activator, and the ammonia is an easily digestible form of nitrogen. The soap cleans the grass and softens the soil, and the corn syrup helps it all stick.  Happy fertilizing!

Chemical weedkiller is expensive, stinky, and potentially hazardous. Fortunately, there is a better weedkiller out there, and it is one you can make yourself using comon household items.

Combine an ounce of white vinegar, an ounce of cheap gin, and 8 ounces of water. Pour the mixture on the weeds, and they will die.

Now, some of my friends and relatives would consider this a complete waste of gin, but I’m a bigger fan of having a weed-free garden than I am a fan of cheap gin!

It’s spring, which means it’s spring cleaning time for both the inside and the outside of your home. Now is a great time to get out there and pressure wash your deck. You can generally rent a pressure washer from most home improvement centers quite inexpensively.

When you wash your deck, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. The minimum pressure you will need to effectively clean your deck is 1500 pounds per square inch (psi).

2. There are several different nozzle tips you can use with the pressure washer. Use a wide-angle tip of 25-40 degrees for best results. Do not use a 0 deg. tip on wood. It will cause pitting.
3. Clean the deck with a solution meant to be used with your type of power washer. Use a swinging motion like you are swinging a golf club. Let the solution sit for several minutes.
4. Never let the cleaning solution sit on your deck for longer than 15
   minutes. It will start to dry and will leave residue on your deck.
   Rinse with plenty of fresh water to get all the chemical off.
5. Wear goggles or glasses to protect your eyes from the chemicals.
6. Keep the jet in motion at all times to keep from pitting the wood.
7. Make sure not to get the jet too close to the wood. This can cause pitting or scarring of the wood.
8. Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s specifications when using the pressure washer.

Allow 48 hours for your deck to thoroughly dry. Then you can stain or seal your deck. It will look totally revitalized!