Garden tip: Outsmart the squirrels with a green solution!

Ahh, Spring is officially here in beautiful St. Louis. The ice cream man appears daily after school, winding in and out of our neighborhood...

Miss Poppy just returned from her annual Summer Shave down at the groomer...

We can barely coax the boys inside in the evening from the fun and horseplay of gorgeous, warm weather...

I even planted our annuals, in addition to the veggies/herbs, as we have passed the likelihood of a late frost at this point...

The yard has hit a new level of lovely this year due to our early warm Spring and lack of cold spells. 

Lush, bountiful, magical! 

That being said, Spring in Casa de Nenonen would not possibly be devoid of a post like this.    An early AM walk out to our front porch, coffee in hand, found this...

ACK!  So irritating.  The worst part?  The voice in my head waving a finger in my face while saying "Carrie, you knew better!"

I did.  sigh. I knew better!

I have been planting annuals for years and KNOW what I need to do to keep the pests away until the roots are established.  I know what to do and simply, didn't do it this year.  

As a result, yes...

...the squirrels enjoyed a feast of roots on my new front porch impatiens.

So, in replanting my poor brutalized flowers, I will share my fool-proof planting tip and vow to never skip it again. 

After you pot your annuals, clean your family hairbrushes and scatter human hair over the top of the soil and around the entire circumference of the plant before your final watering.  The human scent keeps squirrels and other varmints away from your vulnerable plants until the roots are well-established and the flowers have grown...

For demonstration sake, I realize that having a family of blondies is a little gross in the photo, though it does help to indicate the approximate amount of hair needed. While up close, your pots may look a tad strange for you  fellow blondes...

Within 2 weeks, however, the flowers will be sizable /lush enough that the hair will no longer be visible.  Trust me, this tip works for not only container planting, but bed planting as well.   

Human hair is a green solution and will keep your plants and family safe devoid of icky chemicals.

Carpenter Bees- What they are and how to get rid of them

In prepping a new listing scheduled to hit the market in May, I noticed several of these...

On the underside of this...

I have been through enough building inspections over the course of 10+ years in real estate to immediately identify the problem...

Carpenter Bees!  When you observe holes that are perfectly round and approximately 1/4 inch in diameter on a wooden structure, you can almost guarantee it to be Carpenter Bees. 

Much larger than the standard bumblebee, think more along the size of a Queen Bee, Carpenter Bees are solitary bees.  While they boast stingers like bumblebees, they rarely use them unless they feel their eggs are directly threatened.  What makes the Carpenter unique is an alarmingly strong mandible.

During the warmer months, Carpenters use this mandible to tunnel into wood and create taverns to lay their eggs, leaving wood partitions in the tunnel walls for double protection. In fact, it only takes a couple of hours for a Carpenter Bee to drill a hole several inches deep.

Obviously, as a home owner, this is a serious concern as enough Carpenter Bee holes in the right place could seriously compromise the integrity of structure.  Hence, I made a quick call to my favorite local pest company, who I use for most of my local pest inspections...

In 20 minutes, the Bi-State contractor injected each hole with silica and treated the underside of each beam with a solution to detract further carpenter bee activity...

As professional treatment is only $125...

... this issue is not worth treating yourself.  $125 is money well spent and ensures you to be Carpenter Bee free for awhile.

Common Home Owner Mistake...

As we welcome the gorgeous crisp Fall weather, sadly this sight becomes more and more prevalent:Though I completely understand the desire to keep your firewood handy (and dry under the eaves), I beg you to please resist the temptation to... ... store your firewood up against the structure of your house. Both of these wood piles, seen in my neighborhood en route to my daily trek to drop my son off at school, may as well have a "Free 24 hour Termite Buffet" sign posted above them.

One of the biggest perks of being a Realtor, is the opportunity to accompany several Buyers per year on their ASHI certified inspections, as part of the standard residential contract process. One of the most valuable tools a good Realtor has is their cornucopia of information attained from years of inspections.

The pics I posted above not only raise red flags, but sound off bells and whistles with !!exclamation points!! for a termite infestation.

Termites, super common in St. Louis thanks to our temperate and moisture rich climate, are the number one cause of home damage in the United States. In fact, they do more damage each year than fires, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined in the U.S..

These pesky rascals build colonies underground and enter a property from the foundation, mud tunneling their way up and through the teeny crevices of your structure. Exterior conditions, such as mulch covering the bulk of the foundation, provides the perfect coverage and disguise for termites to sneak their way in and wreak TOTAL havoc before a homeowner even detects them.

A woodpile against a home?

A virtual 5 star Ritz Carlton suite, complete with white fluffy robes and Godiva chocolates left on the goose down pillows at turn-down service.

For good measure, all woodpiles should be kept as far away from your structure as possible. Inconvenient? Yes. Proactive measure against expensive structural damage to your property? YES!

To learn more about termites, please click HERE.

Garden tip...

I love to garden. Period.

It is not uncommon to catch me outside alone in the evening, soil between my fingers, winding down from the daily grind. It is my therapy. Truly.

That being said, every year like clockwork, I wage the SAME frustrating battle against a few of Mother Nature's creatures. I have already dealt with the chipmunk AND deer situation this year, and have managed to dramatically slow the damage down (at least caused by the deer) thanks to this product. (Swear by it!)

This week, however, my least favorite garden pest reemerged in the yard (as it has now 3 years in a row)...


If you don't know recognize this guy, it is a Japanese Beetle. Better yet, TWO Japanese Beatles making Japanese Beetle BABIES on my flowering Crape Myrtle.

AGH!!

No, no, no!
If you want to learn more about this pesky character, knock yourself out... OR, just trust me when I say that if you know them... you hate them. Period. Once you have an infestation, it is almost impossible to get rid of it before your entire garden is WRECKED.

To give you an idea of the damage they are capable of, this is ONE of my okra plants after ONE afternoon with the ONE and ONLY beetle I could find on it... I know. Evil, evil, evil. Regardless, this is where my friendly tip comes in:

After trying EVERYTHING under the sun (and wasting beau coup bucks over the years with little to no success), I have found a solution...

Veggie Pharm is an all natural and biodegradable insecticide made from certified organic peppermint oil, garlic, cottonseed oil, rosemary and carrot juice. It is safe for humans, plants, pets... just not beetles and their pesky counterparts.

I randomly bumped into this product last year and figured it was worth a shot. Within 3 days... Beetles GONE! I said GONE!

Yes!

As Whole Foods no longer carries the product, the ONLY local St. Louis store I have found that currently sells it is the gift shop at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Random I know, but worth the hassle.

Steve discovered the beetles last night in the yard and I made my annual run to stock up on Veggie Pharm this AM between appointments.

A bottle of Veggie Pharm will cost you $20, and is worth every penny if the Japanese Beetle has declared war on your garden, as well.

Just paying it forward, peeps...

I love Spring...

*sigh*

Don't you love Spring???

As Mother Nature renews herself and everything starts to come alive again, the rejuvenation is contagious, isn't it?! Goodbye coats, seasonal depression, and chapped lips. HELLOOO warm balmy nights and chilled Sauvignon Blanc on the tiki-lit deck, kiddie laughter echoing through the neighborhood, and sun kissed cheeks.

Yes, yes, yes!!

No matter how bad the day, it is nothing that warm sunny weather can't heal?! Period.

Regardless, despite my recent super busy weekends full of Spring Shopping with my Buyers... there are several other tell-tale signs that Spring is in full-force and summer is drawing near in the Nenonen Household.

The freezer is stocked...

Poppy already boasts her annual "summer shave-down"...


We are about one week from HUNDREDS of beautiful Tiger Lillies...


My Hydrangeas (personal fav) are about to burst, as well...


Sadly, the deer have already discovered my Hostas (agh!)...


And the Chipmunks have already initiated their annual invasion on my flowerbeds (double agh!)...


Hence, so begins my annual desperate, lame, and almost always unsuccessful attempt to outsmart and outwit Mother Nature and her lovely creatures...


(Except for these cuties, who have a new home in my potted hibiscus ...)


We are getting closer and closer to red, juicy homegrown tomatoes...


And my fresh herb pot is going BONKERS...

Now that they are officially on summer vacay until August, the kiddies arise early in the AM to tackle their fun Spring activities like this...

And this...

While Steve and I tackle our not-so-fun Spring activities like this...

Yes, it gets worse before it gets better, but SO WORTH the mess!

Late Spring/early Summer Nenonen frenzy at its finest and I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING in the world. Er, well except for maybe a few more afternoons like this... ;)