Fruit flies are nasty little pests, and an infestation—large or small—is an unwelcome sight in the kitchen. Aïda Mollenkamp demonstrates a quick, easy way to lure fruit flies away from your food in this home and garden how-to video. Video: .
In this gardening how to video. Dave looks at some of the options you have for controlling garden pests. This video teaches you some organic and not so organic ways to control bugs. Watch this video and you will be ridding your garden of insects the enviromentally friendly way.
Cucumbers are a tasty addition to any salad or sandwich. Why not add this yummy vegetable to your garden at home? They are easy to grow and will taste even better fresh from the ground! You Will Need • Topsoil • Garden area • Sunlight • Seeds • Trellis • Water • Organic ...more
Gardening is difficult, in the best of times. I was very inspired by this post from You Grow Girl about how she's not a perfect gardener, either, and no one is. Truth is, I forget to water, forget to trim, and am terrible at weeding. I don't even feed the compost properly. Nev ...more
Moths can be destructive to stored clothing and food items. Here's how to get rid of them. Watch this video to learn how to get rid of moths indoors. You Will Need * A vacuum * Airtight containers * Moth balls, flakes, or crystals * A dry cleaner WARNING: Products like moth ...more
In this series of gardening videos, our perennial plant expert Martha Cycz tells you how to design a great looking garden that is healthy and inexpensive. She discusses how to tell if your plants are getting enough sun and how to determine if you have left enough space for the ...more
In this Home and Garden video tutorial you will learn how to manage garden insects and pests in an eco-friendly way. For plant lice or aphids, blast them with a strong blast of water. That will dislodge them and they won’t climb back. You can also put some soap water in a yell ...more
A low tunnel is a kind of mini-greenhouse for your garden. Growing vegetables in a low tunnel requires proper ventilation. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to provide the right ventilation for your low tunnel, keeping your plants happy and healthy. Growing Wisdom is a weekl ...more
Garlic is great for spicing up your meals (and keeping vampires away!) and fall is a great time to grow it. In this video tutorial, you'll learn how to grow garlic in your garden. Get some garlic bulbs from a seed catalog, nursery or organic grower, and you'll soon have a garl ...more
With low garden tunnels you can protect your plants from frost and insects, and you can overwinter your crops. In this episode of Growing Wisdom, host Dave Epstein will look at how to build a garden low tunnel. He'll focus on using the Quick Hoops Bender for the project. Grow ...more
It truly is hard to sleep tight when the bed bugs bite, since these insidious creatures are very real, and very nasty. You’ll have to be persistent to get rid of them. Step 1: Know your enemy Know your bed bugs. They’re flat, oval-shaped, wingless, brownish—but will swell and ...more
Contrary to popular belief, eliminating household pests from your home can be accomplished without completely bombing your living space with a mess of toxic fumes. Whether you have annoying fruit flies in the kitchen, fleas on your beloved pet or silverfish lurking around your ...more
With rainfall comes unwanted plant growth in the form of weeds. Here's how to identify and control them. First is Nutsage which has a glossy green leaf, triangular stem and the rhizome sends up new plants whenever you cut away at it. Next is jungle rice which is an aquatic wee ...more
The first thing you have to understand is that the damage that comes to the spruce is mainly from the weather, moths, and caterpillars. The caterpillars and moths dry out the tree slowly, sometimes it is not noticed until the tree is on the verge of dying. One way to make sure ...more
This video is about showing you how to use feng shui in repairing your dysfunctional family and getting rid of the bad vibes that may be in your home, re-energizing the foundation of love. The family center is located on the left center of your home. The element for the family ...more
Don't let ants ruin your next outdoor outing. Picnics are a wonderful way to share yummy food in the great outdoors. Ants think so too! You can keep pesky ants away with just a few simple actions. You Will Need: • An outdoor insect fogger • Soap and water • A sponge • Garbage ...more
The video shows how to effectively be aware and get rid of possible webworms or aphids on your mesquites so they won't get damaged later. Here, John White invited Annete Peterson to show how to do so. She starts by informing from what she saw that many mesquites from her neigh ...more
Every once in a while, you will have a lot of work to do in FarmVille, and a lot of space to cover. Use the fullscreen option to make life easier and see more at once. This video tutorial shows how to use the full screen option in FarmVille. Whether you have a vast space to c ...more
Not everyone in Hollywood owes their nice complexion to a dermatologist. Here are some homespun beauty secrets you can steal. You Will Need: * Sugar * Extra virgin olive oil * Liquid vitamin C * Washcloths * Bag Balm * Honey * Petroleum jelly * Un-petroleum jelly (optional) S ...more
Driven creatures undermining the very structure of your life – it might sound like a sci-fi flick, but it's all too real when these pests go after your home. Watch this video to learn how to deal with termites. You Will Need * Elastomeric caulk * 6-mil polyethylene plastic s ...more
Many ways to help the environment are costly, but using less electricity is one measure that will save you money. Learn how to lower your electric bill with this how to video. You Will Need * Awareness of how you’re wasting electricity * Self-discipline Step 1: Turn it off G ...more
Quit hogging your own backyard. Make it a haven for your fine feathered friends. Learn how to attract birds to your yard. You Will Need * Undisturbed trees or shrubs large enough to provide bird shelter * Native plants that provide seeds, berries, and nectar * A water source ...more
Life stinks. Literally. Daily living leads to lots of lingering smells. Household odors from cooking, kids, pets, bathrooms, and guests can accumulate. Get rid of them with some simple remedies. You Will Need *Baking soda *Essential oil *Cotton balls *Plastic containers *Lem ...more
WonderHowTo is a how-to website made up of niche communities called Worlds, with topics ranging from Minecraft to science experiments to Scrabble and everything in-between. Check in every Wednesday evening for a roundup of user-run activities and how-to projects from the most ...more
Do you do last minute cramming before you go to the dentist? No, I don't mean reading up on orthodontia in hopes of having an intellectual conversation about crowns with your dentist (how you can talk at all with all those tools in your mouth is beyond me, though dentists alwa ...more
Over the past few months I've written up several helpful How-To guides to help you with various FarmVille related issues. It's about time I put them all in one place so they are easy to find, learn from and share! It has been a pleasure writing for you all and I do hope I have ...more
Roses, the world’s favorite flowers, are great garden performers that, if well cared for, will live for many years and produce thousands of exquisite blooms. Here are a few helpful hints on growing roses in your own yard or garden: Grow roses in a sunny spot with plenty of a ...more
It can be a real challenge to plant your seeds in evenly-spaced lines. In this episode of Growing Wisdom, Dave Epstein will show you how to use a four-row pinpoint seeder to plenty your seeds. Using devices like this, planting seeds in even lines will be a whole lot easier. G ...more
How to Get Rid of Crabs Knowing how to get rid of crabs is very simple. The crabs talked about here are not the ones you find in the sea, but they are the crabs people get from sex. The technical name for these troublesome creatures is pubic lice. Below, you will see how to g ...more
A cold frame is a great way to extend the growing season in your garden. When you set up a cold frame, you can keep your plants healthy and growing, even when it's cold outside. In this video tutorial, you'll learn how to set up and use a cold frame. Growing Wisdom is a weekl ...more
The best way to keep rats out is by making it difficult and unappealing for them to come inside. Keep your house clean and free of anything that a rat might want to eat. Rats can fit through very small opening so go on the defensive and keep rats where they belong. Simply put ...more
Growing populations and higher temperatures put pressure on world food supplies. Naturally occurring soil bacteria may save crops in drought-stressed areas, put more land into crop production, and produce more food. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra ...more
Originally discovered in dry lake beds in Tibet, borax is a mineral and a salt of boric acid, and is usually sold in white powder form in drugstores. Like baking soda, borax has many household cleaning uses, and can also be used to get rid of insects and pests from your living ...more
While we've already covered several good ways to tame the itch of a mosquito bite, you're much better off preventing them from biting in the first place than dealing with the itchy aftermath. Unfortunately, commercial mosquito repellents smell terrible and can be rather expen ...more
Tell the truth. The bat picture creeps you out. You are not alone. But in reality, bats truly are some of our best friends. They gobble thousands of disease-spreading bugs a night. But they also carry viruses that can be deadly to humans. So, bats — friend or foe? There are o ...more
Your freezer is no one-trick pony. While it does excel at keeping your food fresh for as long as possible, it has a few secret talents it doesn't want you to know about. Like making soda slushies and pyro-friendly smoke mix, as well as reviving dead hard drives. Even better—it ...more
If you're anything like me, you probably think it's borderline sacrilege to even think about a sandwich or a burger that doesn't have a layer of smooth mayonnaise. But I don't just keep a jar of it in my fridge for lunch—it's also there for practical purposes. I learned this ...more
No one can dispute the evolutionary success of bugs. The oldest insect fossils were found encased in crystallized mineral silica in Scotland in 1926, and they're between 396 and 407 million years old. Insects have seen dinosaurs come and go. They have survived disruptions to ...more
Bed bugs are parasites not yet known to spread disease — but they cause plenty of irritation. As scientists and landlords search for new ways to deal with the pests, a new study examines how we can deter bed bugs without so many chemicals. While they don't infect us with anyt ...more
A tiny louse is responsible for decimating the citrus industry. Diaphorina citri, the louse in question, better known as the Asian citrus psyllid, harbors and spreads the "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus" bacteria that causes citrus greening disease. It's one of the more se ...more
There's nothing in this life that we love more than making one ingredient or one food tool do multiple things. It saves money! It saves time! It makes us look smart at cocktail parties! Without further ado, here are several ways to save money, waste less food, and make the mo ...more
The possibility of the Sriracha factory in Irwindale, CA being shut down was one of the biggest food stories of 2013. Huy Fong Foods was almost forced to close the plant due to complaints about the factory's smell, but luckily the brand emerged triumphant. Then, a new state r ...more
That soil under your feet is not just dirt. It is teeming with life that may not change as fast as we would like when challenged by global warming. The warming climate has people wondering about the future. But soil scientists have found a way to look forward — by looking bac ...more
Brought to you by Tomcat. Falling snow, warm fireplace, delicious hot cocoa, quiet reading time, mouse. Quick quiz - which one is not like the other? Nothing can ruin a perfectly cozy afternoon in your home like a pest on the loose. With dropping temperatures, you may have so ...more
Even the best-maintained kitchens occasionally get a fruit fly infestation. These critters descend, lay eggs (up to 500 at a time!), and then disappear usually only after extreme cleaning efforts (i.e., finally attacking that weird puddle of goo behind your refrigerator). And ...more
There's no shortage of ways to filter water, but it doesn't get much simpler than this. Researchers at MIT have found that you can turn dirty water into drinking water with nothing more than a stick. Mechanical engineer Rohit Karnik figured out that the xylem tissue in plants ...more
Once when I was a kid, my dad used a glue trap to catch a mouse in our basement. The result was so awful for the mouse that my mom and I made him promise to never use that kind of trap again. Call me a softy, but I'm a firm believer that you don't have to kill pests to get rid ...more
Despite being disgusting, houseflies are actually beneficial to humans in a few ways. As scavengers, they help the environment by eating rotting organic matter, and make great food for pet tarantulas. Regardless of the advantages to their existence, having them in your home ca ...more
If you've been to a farmer's market during tomato season, chances are you know that heirloom tomatoes are pricier (and funnier-looking) than their hybrid counterparts. Heirloom tomatoes, bursting at the seams.. These eccentric tomatoes have become a sought-after alternative to ...more
Chances are that you've been using your microwave just to nuke leftovers, but they can do so much more than heat up last night's dinner—microwaves can help you peel garlic more quickly, get more juice out of lemons, disinfect your kitchen, dry out herbs, give beauty products n ...more
Mitochondria are known as the powerhouses of our cells because they generate energy to power them. But they also play a key role in the death of cells when they're damaged, infected, stressed, no longer needed, or at the end of their life. Some infections, like chlamydia, are ...more
Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment, but it is also one of the most commonly found heavy metals in wastewater, deposited there by inappropriate disposal and arsenical pesticides, for example. Whether by nature or contamination, an estimated 200 million people worldwid ...more
Keeping apples or avocados from browning after being cut is impossible; within minutes of being exposed to air, these fruits (yes, avocado is a fruit) begin to brown. No matter what you try—adding lemon juice, keeping the pits in place, immediately sealing the produce in an ai ...more
Of all the places you'd think to check for bed bugs, I doubt that library books would be at the top of your list. As odd as it sounds, though, libraries and library books are some of the most common places for bed bug infestations. Libraries all over the country have reported ...more
A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but one annoying invasive weed may hold the answer to treating the superbug MRSA. Researchers from Emory University have found that the red berries of the Brazilian peppertree contain a compound that turns off a gene vital to the dr ...more
The search for the causative agent of colony collapse—the mass die off of honey bees throughout the US and Europe—has escalated with increasing confusion lately. Everything from pesticides and stress to viruses and mites have been implicated, and some researchers think that ma ...more
If you drop your smartphone in water, take it apart as much as you can and place it in rice. It's been the most recommended method of cell phone rescue since the days of clamshells. In fact, it's usually the only thing recommended when searching for "how to save your wet phone ...more
Are you searching for a homemade cat repellent solution? This article will cover natural indoor and outdoor deterrents for every scenario where cats are causing trouble. The first part will cover home remedies for training cats to stay away from furniture and other restricted ...more
What can't coconut oil do? This edible oil, extracted from the copra or meat of a coconut, has done what most other food, beauty, and health trends have not: demonstrated real lasting power. Indeed, the "superfood" continues to make headlines, with its many uses the subject of ...more
When you think of all the fun and games smartphones have to offer, it's easy to forget that they also make a great tool for getting things done. With utilities like document scanners, calendars, to-do lists, office apps, and password managers, that little computer you carry ar ...more