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How to Child-Proof Your Swimming Pool

. Posted by in • Austin
pool safety tips

Having a pool at your home can provide endless entertainment for your family, but there’s also the ever-present danger of injury and drowning, especially for young children. The privilege of a beautiful swimming pool comes with the responsibility of protecting those around you from harm. Adopt these pool safety practices below to ensure the well-being of swimmers of any age.

Follow these steps to keep swimmers safe while they are in the pool:

  • Maintain adult supervision of children in the swimming pool at all times.
  • Store a first aid kit in proximity to the pool for the treatment of minor injuries.
  • Keep life preservers, kickboards, rope, and a pole in the general vicinity of the pool for easy access.
  • Learn CPR, and encourage all adult members of your house to become certified as well. The city of Austin provides training in CPR to residents. Learn more.
  • Create a list of pool safety rules, communicate them to … Read Full Post »
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What To Pack For Your Trip to the Swimming Pool

. Posted by in • Austin
what to bring to the pool

We’re inching closer to Memorial Day weekend, and pool season is upon us – once the rains subside! Many of us have already been to a swimming pool in between the rain showers, or are ready to visit the public pool once the summer heat hits in earnest. We have a wide variety of neighborhood and municipal pools to choose from here in Austin – don’t forget to check the City of Austin’s website for a massive list of pools and splash pads to plan your trip.

What to Bring to The Pool

Before heading out to take a dip, take a look at our list of what to bring to the pool below. You may not need all of these items, but there are bound to be a few you might want that you didn’t consider bringing.

Standard issue: for a trip to a public pool (or any pool for that matter) … Read Full Post »

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Xeriscaping 101

. Posted by in • Austin
what is xeriscaping

When you water your lawn during hot Texas summers, you might as well be lining your hose with dollar bills.

Most of Texas, including the City of Austin, experienced historic drought conditions in 2010-2011, leading Austin to impose strict watering restrictions. Even with recent heavy rains, another drought could be right around the corner. Making matters worse, thousands of people are moving to Austin, which causes increased demand for water.

What this means is that water supplies in Central Texas are limited, and costs for water will continue to rise. In light of increased costs and watering restrictions, what’s the best way to keep your front yard looking great through our long, hot Texas summers?

At ABC Home and Commercial Services, we have a solution: xeriscaping.

What is Xeriscaping?

Xeriscaping replaces high-water, high-maintenance plants with native and adapted plants. It also introduces rock formations and other landscape features that require no supplemental watering.

You can incorporate … Read Full Post »

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9 Ways to Bring Butterflies to your Garden

. Posted by in • Corpus Christi
how to attract butterflies

Summer is nearly upon us in Corpus Christi. There’s nothing better in the summertime than a yard filled with flowers and butterflies. Did you know that attracting different species of butterflies can be as easy as adding a variety of flowering plants to your garden, as well as following a few safe gardening practices?

Below we’ll look at some of the ways you can turn your yard into your personal butterfly garden.

How to attract butterflies

There are a number of plants that attract butterflies, and they fall into a couple of categories.

First, there are plants that butterfly larvae (caterpillars) love to eat. Growing some of these plants ensures that butterflies will mark your yard as one of their favorite places to visit.

Second, butterflies are garden pollinators. Like bees and wasps, they help pollinate flowering plants by feeding on their nectar and transferring pollen from one flower to the next. Be sure to … Read Full Post »

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Lawn Fertilization Do’s and Dont’s

. Posted by in • Bryan-College Station
Lawn Fertilization

Weather extremes impact our lawns and landscaping.

With the recent drought followed by torrential rains here in Bryan-College Station, your lawn might be starved of essential nutrients. The dry conditions prevented many microbes and insects from doing their job to break down organic materials, and then recent rains likely washed away trace elements your lawn needs to be healthy.

As we greet another spring in Bryan-College Station, let’s look at how you can start your lawn off right. In this article, we’ll examine some of the things you can do to improve the condition of your lawn right now, especially how and when to fertilize your lawn in the spring.

Lawn Fertilization Do’s

There’s a lot of things you can do to give your lawn a boost this spring.

Begin fertilizing warm season grasses such as St. Augustine as soon as three weeks after the last frost. In Central Texas that’s usually mid-April, so get … Read Full Post »

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Preparing a Storm-Resistant Yard

. Posted by in , • Corpus Christi

Here in Corpus Christi, it’s possible to maintain a beautiful yard and landscape despite severe thunderstorms and hurricane season that bring hail, high winds and torrential rain to our backyards.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can make sure your yard can withstand the forces of Mother Nature year-round.

Lawn

If you plan to reseed your lawn in the spring, be sure to check the weather forecast to ensure that rainy weather isn’t right around the corner. It’s never a good idea to plant seeds or small bedding plants right before severe storms. Heavy rains will wash away seed and fertilizer, and hail and winds will destroy tender bedding plants that haven’t had a chance to get established.

When possible, apply mulches or ground cloth, such as hemp netting, to further protect fragile topsoil from pounding rains. These will hold plantings in place as well as prevent rainwater from washing … Read Full Post »

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Hot Rebates & Coupons for Summer Maintenance in San Antonio

. Posted by in • San Antonio
SAWS rebates

Ah, spring is lovely in sunny San Antonio. The temperatures have hit the 70’s and 80’s and the weather is finally perfect for lounging in the yard. But there may be one thing you didn’t account for: Unsightly weeds, overgrown grass, and hedges and trees that need some work.

You haven’t landscaped your yard in a while and it is not looking so good. Worry not! We have you covered with some great coupons and rebates to get your lawn looking its best for less. To be clear, landscaping coupons are used before the purchase while rebates are money returned to you after the landscaping work is finished or planned.

The very best coupons and rebates from San Antonio Water Saver (SAWS)

WaterSaver Patioscape Coupon: Thinking of changing your backyard into a nice patioscape? Then this coupon is perfect for you! With the WaterSaver Patioscape Coupon you can save $100 or $200 per … Read Full Post »

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Corpus Christi’s Best Garden Stores

. Posted by in • Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi Garden Supplies

Spring is a lovely time to re-think that backyard garden patch.

Have you considered planting a vegetable garden, but you just don’t know where to start? The idea of starting a garden from scratch can seem like a daunting task. Take it one step at a time and figure out what materials you need and where to get them.

These three gardening stores in Corpus Christi carry all the necessary materials to get you started with your vegetable garden.

Gill Landscape Nursery

Gill Landscape Nursery has 2 locations in Corpus Christi – one just north of 358 on Alameda Street, and one south of 358 on Airline Road. Sally Munroe and James Gill, a local couple with a flair for commercial and residential landscaping, established the first location on Airline Road in 1979. They opened the second location on Alameda Street in 1987.

Both locations offer a variety of gardening supplies, knowledgeable staff, ponds, water … Read Full Post »

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3 Landscape Rebates in Austin that can Save You Money!

. Posted by in • Austin

Summer is approaching and with it comes the time for hot days, relaxing by a poolside, reading a book in your yard and of course summer landscaping. Summer is the time in which you spend most of your day enjoying the nice weather and you will most likely want your yard to look perfect to set the mood. Luckily for you, Austin has some amazing rebates to reduce the cost of your summer landscaping. A rebate is money that is refunded to you by the city for taking cost or energy-saving measures with your home or yard maintenance.

Fixing your yard for the summer in Austin? Check out these rebates that could be available for you!

Landscape Survival Tools Rebates

If you use any of the following techniques or a combination of them for your home you could qualify for this rebate and also save money by reducing your need for water. The … Read Full Post »

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Are Bed Bugs Resistant to Pesticide?

. Posted by in • Bryan-College Station
how to kill bed bugs

Bed bugs are a painful nuisance, and can be tough to eradicate in your living space. Below we’ll examine what bed bugs are, what they need to survive, and how you can get rid of them if you’re unlucky enough to have them in your home.

What are bed bugs?

Bed bugs are small bugs about the size of an apple seed, and may either appear flat or rounded depending on when they had their last meal. They can look like ticks, but don’t attach to the skin. They are nocturnal, and can be difficult to find during the day, when they hide in crevices, within floorboards, and under cushions. Their bites commonly cause itchy welts or rashes, and can leave a trail of bites across the skin.

When trying to determine whether or not bed bugs are the cause of your bites (that can also be mosquitoes, fleas, spiders, or other insect … Read Full Post »

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