Home and Garden

Are you looking to redecorate your home or find someone to rid you of that large ant family living in your kitchen cabinets? Check out our home and garden page to find everything from furniture, wall décor, window treatments, and more. You can also find other home necessities such as cleaning services, home security, and pest control.

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Home & Garden How To

Located on the southern-most tip of California, San Diego's climate is nearly perfect for agricultural uses. With warm summers and cool winters, the climate allows for a huge diversity of crops to be grown in San Diego such as tomatoes, strawberries, avocados and even palm trees!

With a few helpful hints, you can recreate your local supermarkets produce aisle in your very own backyard. Not to mention San Diego County ranks number one in the nation for its nursery and floriculture growth. Why not fill your garden with exotic flowers and foliage as well!

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Watering Your Garden:
For maintaining your new garden, use only as much water as needed for your lawn or garden, and periodically adjust your irrigation schedule to seasonal changes in temperature, wind and rainfall. Your gardening routine should only allow as much water as specifically needed for each grouping of plants.

San Diego's climate is far beyond perfect for growing a variety of fruits, vegetables, trees and flowers. If you are looking to start gardening or are already well into creating your ideal garden, be sure you are aware of the most recent restrictions on watering. The City of San Diego is currently in a Level 2 drought alert. Here are just a few restrictions that apply under a Level 2 drought:

1) There is a maximum of three watering days per week (June 1 - Oct. 31)

• Homes with odd-numbered addresses water on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
• Homes with even-numbered addresses water on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday.
• Apartments, condos and businesses water on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

2) On your watering day, you may only water your plants before 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m.

3) If you are using a sprinkler system, it may not run for more than 10 minutes per each watering station.

Don't be too alarmed by all these restrictions! With the help from the City of San Diego, you can create your very own custom watering schedule using the Landscape Watering Calculator. By entering your zip code, the types of plants you will be watering, the type of soil you are using and your watering tool, the calculator designs a weekly schedule for the maximum amount of water your plants will need for each month of the year. Start gardening today! (http://apps.sandiego.gov/landcalc/start.do)

Remodel Your Home:
Before you remodel your home, be prepared to get involved! It's a long process and one that could expand from just your kitchen to re-carpeting the whole house. Whether you're remodeling, expanding or even replacing a window, you must apply for a builders permit through the City of San Diego. In this first step, you may need to turn in sketches of your plan, the type of construction you will be using and a cost estimate. Once your plan is approved, you can begin building! If you stray from your plans or come upon a problem, you must inform the city of these changes so they can be re-approved. The third step is the final inspection once you have completed your remodeling. Once you pass the inspection, you're good to go!

For home improvement projects, a construction permit is needed for all new construction, such as replacing windows, or for larger plumbing, mechanical or electrical jobs like adding an electrical outlet. Items like wallpapering, painting or similar finish work do not require permits. Permit issuance periods vary - as quick as over-the-counter or a longer week or two for review - so be sure to check with the City of San Diego's Development Services before beginning any renovation. To determine if your project needs a permit, call (619) 446-5000.

Visit the San Diego County website for online forms:

Visit the City of San Diego website for more details:


Rid Pests, Inside and Outside Your Home:
We all know that when those little harmless bugs start crawling around your kitchen counters, lurking behind your bathroom sink and eating all your homegrown lettuce, all you want is a quick miracle to rid them! The key to riding these pests in the safest way possible is to catch them before there are too many. When there are large amounts of pests, most people just end up excessively spraying large amounts of pesticides, which can end up harming your garden, or even worse, running into the water that we drink!

Before choosing a pesticide, be sure that you need it - most pests cannot be eliminated entirely even with the use of pesticides. Make sure you can accurately identify the specific insect or weed that is harming your home or garden. If it's misidentified, you may not find an effective way to eliminate your pesty problem.

Check out our helpful tips or search through several companies in San Diego County that can help rid the pests for you!