I saw an interesting article on a guy running an enviro friendly lawn service, which he actually won in a franchise contest. He uses many electric tools that are charged from solar panels on his truck. More and more green companies like this are popping up to fill a niche in the lawn service and landscaping world.The full story is here.
Why is it that when one person in a neighborhood starts cutting their grass, other home owners start on their lawns? It gets everyone to thinking about their lawns when they were thinking about relaxing. It seems to be the same way when someone starts washing their car. I guess we are all a bunch of copy cats. 
Housing recovery could take a decade, economists warn – washingtonpost.com.
Good article on the housing bust. I would not take too much stock in any “experts” prediction though. If they were all so smart they would have predicted the housing bubble busting. To be fair some did predict it but not very many.
There are many, many homes still up for sale in Jackson County, GA. But it the number appears to be less than a few months ago. I still see many homes that are not being kept up and that hurts the chances of selling it when the time comes to do so.
Good article from last year on a good Samaritan Landscaper. Link is here.
We see state workers bush hogging roadsides here in Georgia quite often and it is easy to get used to them. But it is important to pay close attention. Same goes for mowers on the roadsides. The video below shows a fatal accident involving a roadside tractor.
Why are there fire ants in Georgia in the first place? We all hate fire ants but how did they get here. I have always heard they came to America on ships but wanted to find out for sure. So I read a UGA paper on them and sure enough fire ants first invaded Mobile Alabama at a port in the 1930′s. They just spread to the surrounding southern states after that. Fire ants do well in southern states like Georgia because of the mild winters and other conditions.
When trying to get more privacy for your back yard, two normal choices are fences and hedges. Both will work but have positive & negative attributes.
Hedges obviously look more natural and in my opinion are more pleasing to the eye. But they do require fertilizer, water, and trimming. The trimming is hard work and not something senior citizens want to do. I don’t even want to do it sometimes and I get paid to trim them . The trimming is not so bad if you can stay on top of them but if you are wanting them for privacy they need to be big. That means trimming up higher which is even worse than normal trimming.
Fences are the easier option if you need instant privacy. They come in different colors and styles also. But no matter what material they are made of they will need cleaning. I don’t care what the idiot selling the fence tells you. If it is outside, it gets dirty, period. I’ve had customers say that real estate agents told them their vinyl siding would never need cleaning! I personally like wood. You can stain it or paint it. So when you tire of one color just change it up.
Both options cost money to maintain. You can choose not to maintain them but your results will not be good.
Grass mowing cut back to three times annually could pose problems » Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
The article above points out another city cutting back on services now that times are tight, which is what should happen. But I find it interesting that the city can leave an area un mowed but when a homeowner does it they will get fined.
With rain and cold weather here now it makes me wonder how people in the North live and work. I know how office workers do it but I am talking about landscapers, construction workers, even DOT workers. The weather down here in Georgia is mild I know compared to up North. So maybe we are all just wimps but I don’t see how Northerners stand the cold.
Real Estate | Neighbors work together to take care of vacant homes | Seattle Times Newspaper.
Good story on homeowners working together to make their communities better in rough times. Are their abandoned homes in your sub division that need the grass cut or leaves blown off the driveway? Get together with 3 or 4 friends in the neighborhood and see what can be accomplished. If you and your friends are unable to do the work perhaps you can pool your money to pay someone to do it.
