At Home Living 090316

fall cleaning

Saturday, September 3, 2016 An advertising feature of The Topeka Capital-Journal

Garage grooming Decluttering to create extra space page 6

n Jamie Kidd on fall gardens, page 2 n Sign-up nears for free homebuyer class, page 6

homes.cjonline.com jake gatchell/special to THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

2 | Saturday, September 3, 2016 | The Topeka Capital-Journal | homes.cjonline.com

Add late-summer gardening jobs to the to-do list Fertilize strawberries; pick pears before ripening quarters of a pound of actual nitrogen per It’s getting to be that time of summer 100 feet of row. The nitrogen may be in the when we have to do a little housekeeping in form of a fertilizer mixture, such as 12-12-12, the yard to finish the season in a good way. or in a fertilizer containing I’m passing along some ideas only nitrogen, such as urea and suggestions from Kansas Jamie KiDD (46-0-0) or ammonium State University horticulture nitrate (33-0-0). specialist Ward Upham.

Increasing strawberry crop

Pear harvest

Pears need to be picked while still firm and ripened An August or early after harvest. Tree-ripened September application of fruits are of poor quality benitrogen on spring-bearing jamiehan@ksu.edu cause of the development of strawberries is important grit cells and the browning to increase the number of and softening of the inner flesh. strawberries produced next spring.

Commercial growers determine the best New runners, or daughter plants, are time to harvest pears by measuring the depromoted with plenty of daylight and warm crease in fruit firmness as the fruit matures, temperatures during June, July and August. which varies with growing conditions and As daylight hours dwindle and temperavariety. A Magness meter is used for testing tures cool in September and October, fruit and measures the pressure needed to push buds for the next year’s crop develop. a 5/16-inch tip a specified distance into an To get a good berry crop next spring, individual fruit. it’s important for strawberry plants to be vigorous during this period of fruit bud development.

Nitrogen, applied in mid-August, will help promote fruit bud development. A general application rate is one-half to three-

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Chad Bullock, of Premier Farm and Home Supply, will talk about weed problems and how best to spend your time and money combating them during “Fall Weed Control,” a presentation coordinated by the Shawnee County Extension Master Gardeners, at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, 1515 S.W. 10th Ave. Fall is the time to control many of the problem weeds that pop up in lawns each spring.

Home gardeners can use these other indicators: n A change in the fruit ground color from a dark green to light green or yellowish green. The ground color is the “background” color of the fruit. n Fruit should part easily from the branch when it is lifted up and twisted. n Corking over of lenticels. Lenticels are the breathing pores of the fruit. They start out as a white to greenish-white color and turn brown due to corking as the fruit nears maturity. n Development of characteristic pear aroma and taste of sampled fruit.

Pears ripen in one to three weeks after harvest if held at 60 to 65 degrees.

They can then be canned or preserved.

If you wish to store some for ripening later, fresh-picked fruit should be placed in cold storage at 29 to 31 degrees and 90-percent humidity. Ripen small amounts as needed by moving them to a warmer location and holding them at 60 to 65 degrees. Storing at too high a temperature — 75 degrees and warmer — will result in the fruit breaking down without ripening.

Fall garden planting

Crops that can be planted now include lettuce, radishes, spinach and similar crops.

There’s still time to raise another crop of green beans or summer squash. If you can find plants, there’s still time to grow cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower.

Planting a fall garden is just like planting a spring garden with some advantages: n Weed pressure is much less. n Insect problems are far fewer. n Seeds will germinate rapidly, so you’ll have crops growing in just a few days.

There are a few drawbacks to fall gardening: n You must provide regular, frequent watering — possibly daily — until the crops are up and growing. n It’s best to plant seeds deeper than you do for a spring garden, because soil is cooler and moister down a little deeper.

Lightly work the soil, just enough to establish a seedbed; reserve your deep tillage for later in the fall. Organic matter and fertilizer can be added later in preparation for winter.

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Reorganized garages can become useful spaces Evaluate usefulness of each item that’s been stored

By Angela Deines Special to The Capital-Journal

Even for the most organized among us, keeping a garage clean and tidy can be a challenge.

According to the 2014 Lehigh Group Home Safety and Security survey, nine out of 10 Americans use their garages — not for their cars — but as workshops, tool sheds or recreational areas.

“They are large spaces that can easily become dumping grounds for all the clutter we don’t want in our home,” said Rhonda Cathey, a Topeka-based personal organizer. “Because there is such a mixmatched collection of our

lives in these dark caves, it can be difficult to know where to begin.”

The beginning of the fall season is a good time to start thinking about cleaning out a garage to make space for your vehicles before the harsh winter months around the corner.

“It is time to store the summer gear and get the garage ready to move the car back in, so you’re not scraping ice and snow this winter,” Cathey said. “If your goal is to get the car back into the garage, then you cannot use your garage as a storage unit.”

Teresa Stearns, a secondgrade teacher at Avondale West Elementary in Topeka Unified School District

501, is in the midst of reorganizing her garage. Her ultimate goal is to get her car into her detached garage for the winter before she plans to buy a new one in the spring.

However, she also wants to create a work area in her garage where she can pursue her hobby of making furniture.

“My plan is to build a fold-down workshop table, so that I can put it out of the way, work on my things, build my furniture and whatever I want to do,” Stearns said. “Then I can fold it down and park the car in here. That’s the goal.”

For Stearns, as with many people, the thought

of cleaning out and organizing her garage is overwhelming.

“I have a really hard time, especially if I have a sentimental attachment to things, just stuff you’ve had for 40 years,” she said.

“I have a hard time with that.”

Stearns said belongings can pile up quickly in her garage. She still has things from when she moved 10 years ago from a 3,600square-foot house to her current 936-square-foot bungalow built in 1923. She knows a person has to be “merciless” and “ruthless” when it comes to deciding what to keep and what to donate or throw away.

Breaking it down in steps helps.

GARAGES continues on 4

jake gatchell/special to THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Teresa Stearns, a second-grade teacher at Avondale West Elementary in Topeka Unified School District 501, is in the midst of reorganizing her garage. Her ultimate goal is to get her car into her detached garage before winter comes.

4 | Saturday, September 3, 2016 | The Topeka Capital-Journal | homes.cjonline.com

Garages: First step is to remove everything from space Continued from 3 “That’s a hard thing to do, I think,” she said, “but clearly you can’t just keep stuffing things in your garage if you want it to be multi-purpose besides just storing stuff that doesn’t fit in your house anymore.”

Getting started

Cathey said the first step in organizing a garage is to pull everything out and start with an empty space.

While you’re doing that, create clusters of similar things.

“Pile all the sporting equipment, household

paint and chemicals, lawn care items and outdoor toys with like items,” she said. “Throw away anything that is broken, rusty or leaking.”

Then evaluate the usefulness of each item and ask yourself the following questions: n Is it still something that needs to stay? n Could it be sold or donated? n Are there duplicates of things? n Which items do I need frequently, and which items can be stored a little more out of the way?

Once the items are

sorted and purged, decide what type of storage system will work best in your garage, Cathey said. Every garage needs some type of shelving, whether it’s open shelves or cabinets with doors.

“Always think vertical,” she said.

“You can create a loftlike space near the ceiling to store seasonal decorations. Traditional peg boards work great for holding tools and garden equipment.”

Creating locker-type space for children in a garage for their ball gloves, soccer shoes, swim gear

or other belongings helps teach children to be responsible for their items, she said.

If children are in the home or visit frequently, for safety reasons, paint and other chemicals should be stored in a metal cabinet.

Cathey also has some advice for dealing with leftover paint.

“Instead of saving a can of paint that is half full, save some out in a Mason jar for touchups and donate the remainder of the can to a local theater department or drop it off at the Shaw-

GARAGES continues on 5

Jake gatchell/special to THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Teresa Stearns wants to create a work area in her garage where she can pursue her hobby of making furniture.

homes.cjonline.com | The Topeka Capital-Journal | Saturday, September 3, 2016 | 5

Garages: Labeling all containers can prove helpful Continued from 4 nee County Household (Hazardous Waste) materials drop-off site,” she said.

Leftover building materials from a remodeling project can be donated to Topeka Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore.

“That is also a great place to look for old kitchen cabinets that could be repurposed in your garage or garden shed,” she said.

“They also usually have a stock of file cabinets that can be used for storing paint and power tools.”

Easy tips

The keys to any organization

project are to label all containers clearly and to take a few extra minutes to put tools, equipment and other items away after you are done with them, Cathey said.

“By creating an environment where everything has a space, clean up can be done quickly,” she said, adding you also save time by not having to look for an item and you save money by not having to buy an item you have but couldn’t find.

If you need a little extra motivation to clean out your garage, Sept. 10 is National Clean Out Your Garage Day. “We established National Clean Out Your Garage Day to

occur on the first weekend after Labor Day, a time when much of America moves from summer to fall, and items such as bikes, outdoor toys, sports and camping gear, lawnmowers and garden tools are put away for the season,” Deborah Hanson, director of external affairs for The Lehigh Group, said in a statement disseminated by PR Newswire.

“This is a great time to take stock of the safety of your garage and to declutter and reorganize as needed to make this space safer and more functional.”

Angela Deines is a freelance writer from Topeka. She can be reached at angela. deines@gmail.com.

jake gatchell/special to THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

As part of organizing her garage, Teresa Stearns is determining what she wants to keep and what she wants to donate or discard.

6 | Saturday, September 3, 2016 | The Topeka Capital-Journal | homes.cjonline.com

Class offers homebuyer tips Free four-hour workshop slated for Sept. 24 The Capital-Journal “Homebuyer 101,” a free homebuyer education class, will be offered from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 24 at Housing and Credit Counseling Inc., 1195 S.W. Buchanan.

The four-hour workshop provides information

and encourages discussion about how to purchase a home. Instructors will cover such topics as budgeting, insurance, credit, how to avoid loan scams known as “predatory lending” and loan options.

Information on inspection and maintenance of property, before and after

buying, also will be discussed.

Certificates are awarded upon completion of the class for various mortgage loan assisted grants.

To register, call (785) 234-0217 or email hcci@ hcci-ks.org. The homebuyer class schedule can be found at www.hcci-ks.org.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Abrasion during washing and drying can cause small fuzz balls to cling to cotton towels. To prevent the fuzz balls from happening, place a large piece of nylon netting in the dryer with the towels. The netting will cause the fuzz balls to fall off. Towels that are labeled “combed cotton” are less likely to form fuzz balls during the washing and drying process.

Source: www.goodhousekeeping.com

Service Directory

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