How a small nursery thrives in a big-box world

At some point in a gardener’s life, you realize you will never have enough room to plant everything you’d like to and, moreover, you will never live long enough to discover all the fabulous plants that are out there. This is . . .

Posted: 2017-08-05

ARI MARANTZ: Repair leaking roof before the snow flies

Question: Our house is a split-level built in the early 60s, with an open-beam ceiling over two-thirds of the house. Ice damming and leakage into the house has been a problem during winter since we acquired the house three . . .

Posted: 2010-09-04

Pipe nightmares

Water damage is an expensive disaster

It’s hard to tell what’s going to burst on the scene in 2017.Let’s hope it’s not your pipes.Water damage is the leading expense for home damage. It has the ability to demolish the interior of a house.As water turns into . . .

Posted: 2017-01-14

Sticking with what’s familiar goes a long way

No need to reinvent the wheel with this classy bathroom reno

All along, the homeowner had heeded my advice to reposition, reorient and enlarge the shower stall for an impending main floor bathroom remodel. During demolition, it soon became clear that our intended design layout may fall short of expectations. . . .

Posted: 2023-01-07

An easy recipe worth remembering for cleaner showers

Question: My mom once used a recipe of yours to clean her shower, and it worked wonders. Unfortunately, she misplaced the recipe. It was a shower cleaner that she sprayed on and left on and it cleaned well. Can you . . .

Posted: 2018-09-29

Rare sight to much delight

Though tough to get ahold of, Helleborus are proving to be hardier to our climate than once thought

Unlike the hosta, which claims much of the space in shady sites in the typical Prairie garden, the Helleborus up until now has had a rare presence. As a growing legion of cold-climate gardeners are seduced by these splendid spring-flowering . . .

Posted: 2017-03-11

Turning down mortgage insurance can be costly

June Jell will never forget the time she and her husband John sat down with their agent and turned mortgage insurance down flat. Six months later, he died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 59, leaving her struggling . . .

Posted: 2009-05-17

Lettuce not forget to thin out seedlings

A new gardener, who is trying her hand at vegetable gardening, planted seeds of lettuce, carrot and radish. Now that they're all sprouting, she's not sure how many to leave growing and how many to thin out. In fact, she and . . .

Posted: 2008-07-06

ASK THE INSPECTOR: When fixing someone else's mistake, get it right the second time

QUESTION: I have a bit of a problem I was hoping you could help me with. I bought my first house approximately three years ago. The basement is finished and has a bathroom with a corner shower unit. Unfortunately, when . . .

Posted: 2013-01-26

Almost time to sow seeds

Growing your own vegetables means enjoying summer salads filled with the fruits of your labours.To help decode how you get there, here's a cheat sheet of when and how to start seeds for the most common edibles inside as bedding . . .

Posted: 2015-03-14