Home Maintenance

Adorned with covered porches front and back, Palladian windows, and sweeping roofline, this 3321 sq. ft. design is picture perfect. An architectural style combining country and manor styles results in an elegant and pleasing home.

A discreet, side-entry garage ensures the handsome facade is uninterrupted. A home office is located conveniently close to the front foyer. Within, a sense of openness is achieved by an open staircase, vaulted ceiling and ample windows. The open family and dining room share the fireplace. The kitchen with island pairs with a cheerful breakfast room and convenient laundry.

Retire in elegance to a fantastic sleeping level. A mezzanine with skylights embraces a cozy seating area. Relax in the master suite featuring a 5-piece attached private bathroom, walk-in closet and Juliet balcony. Three additional bedrooms share a full bath.

The plan includes an unfinished basement which could be developed to suit. Perhaps a media room? Your choice!

When times are tough, people grow food even when it’s not about the money. Gardening gives us sense of security when we know where our food comes from and that it can be had just out the back door.

And with so many frightening recalls and food-borne diseases coming through the food chain, growing edibles is growing in popularity. Not to mention the foodies who know first hand that homegrown just taste better when it’s fully ripened the way nature intended.

Time to tend fruit treesCINDY MCNATT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Finding Gary Matsuoka

Matsuoka sells bare-root fruits and fruit trees, potting mix and more at:

Fridays: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mission Viejo Farmer’s Market

Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Old Town Orange Farmer’s and Artisans Market

Sundays: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Great Park Farmer’s Market

But beyond the fancy arugula and Cipollini onions, leave room in your landscape for fruit. Deciduous fruits such as apple, plum, peach, nectarine, apricot and all their brethren are the easiest edibles of all to grow.

You plant once, perform minor summer and winter maintenance, and harvest fruit for generations.

Gary Matsuoka (oh, so you thought he was gone since his nursery closed? He’s not, but more about him later) says the most important part about growing deciduous fruits in Southern California is choosing the right varieties in the first place.

We need to choose fruits with low chill requirements – in other words, plants that don’t need a deep freeze to induce fruiting buds. You can look to his website at LagunaHillsNursery.com for an extensive list of fruit trees appropriate for our warm winter climate.

Since it is January it is the time of year to plant bare-root fruit trees and maintain the ones we already have. The trees are dormant now and easy to handle for planting, pruning and winter spraying for pests that linger during cold weather.

“Dome shape is the new way to prune fruit trees,” said Matsuoka. “And you want to keep them small so maintenance and harvesting doesn’t require ladders.”

Commercial growers have discovered that farming without ladders reduces liability and it’s easier for all of us at home, too. The new normal for fruit trees is to aim for 5-feet high and wide. If yours are already taller than this, best to leave the height alone for now as the tips of the branches are typically where the fruiting buds are.

Copper, lime and oil sprays are considered organic and January is the time to apply these sprays to reduce peach leaf curl on peaches and nectarines and smother other over-wintering pests.

If you’re in the market for new fruit trees, start with bare-root for two reasons: they grab and grow better, and bare-root costs up to 40% less because you are not paying for the potting soil that comes with potted plants.

Matsuoka sells bare-root fruit trees at the 3 venues listed below. See the sidebar for his top 5 recommendations for beginners.

Whether you are maintaining the trees you already have or planning to add new, do these things this month:

•Prune in winter to open up the inside of your trees to sunlight and provide air circulation.

Remove branches that cross, suckers from the base of the tree, and dead wood from the inside of the tree.

Follow with an organic spray on bare branches to smother over-wintering pests and disease

Follow with a light pruning in the summer to maintain height. That way you are not removing the new growth that will be next summer’s fruit. Rule of thumb: height prune after harvest.

Plant new bare-root fruit trees this month in non-amended soil in as much sunshine as you can provide. Be sure to find out if any of the fruit trees you pick need a pollinator.

Matsuoka says you don’t need a large yard to grow fruit. On small properties you can fit 5 fruit trees, pruned to 5-feet by 5-feet wide in very little space. His picks for first time fruit growers:

Fig – Black Mission

Plum – Satsuma or Burgundy

Peach – Red Baron

Apple – Granny Smith

Apricot – Goldkist

Scott Jacobs is facing a question many homeowners wrestle with: How to get the most bang for the buck as he weighs his insulation options.

The 1,100-sq. ft. Cape has been gutted, and Jacobs has contacted three insulation contractors for bids on installing spray-foam insulation. Two recommend open-cell foam, the other suggests closed-cell foam. Closed-cell foam costs more, but it packs nearly twice the insulation value into the same space as low density open-cell foam.

In a post in the Q&A forum at GreenBuildingAdvisor, Jacobs looks for advice.

A key concern is whether using open-cell foam in fairly shallow rafter bays will allow Jacobs to meet energy code recommendations for his climate zone.

But is that essential? Not really, some posts argue. In fact, some claim, using more than a few inches of foam is a waste of money, and the codes themselves are written by office-bound experts rather than contractors.

That conversation is the topic of this month’s Q&A Spotlight.

  contemporary hall design by denver architect Forum Phi

When looking to make changes in our homes’ decor, we often think of making improvements on a larger scale. I’m always excited about opportunities for a decorating overhaul, but what also excites me is the look on clients’ faces when they realize that little changes make all the difference.

We hear “design is in the details” so much it seems cliche, but this ideabook proves it is an everlasting truth. Add a little here, subtract a little there, and you find the right balance of style that satisfies your need for change.

Follow this slide show for some great examples:

Small Ideas for Big Results Houzz- Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel and More» Browse Home Office Products on Houzz- For Example: Bulletin Board · Cable Management · Desk Accessories · Desks · Filing Cabinets And Carts · Task Chairs ·

This is the time of year that my voicemail fills up with calls about blooming agave.

You know, century plants – those giant, native succulents that bloom once every 100 years or so before they kick the bucket?

While many people might be allergic to the latex sap exuded from the stems and leaves, eating a poinsettia leaf is more likely to cause a digestive problem than death. MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

In truth, agaves bloom about every 10 years, while some take up to 20. And yes, it is true that they die after their bloom period with those giant flower stalks that can reach 20 feet into the sky.

It’s always amazing, because underneath the dying agave, you’ll find new ones waiting for their turn in the sun. Life goes on for these magnificent succulents.

There are lots of garden myths around, enough to fill a compost bin. One of my faves? Don’t water during midday or you’ll burn your plants. Here’s a look at some of them.

Midday water causes leaf scorch

Linda Chalker-Scott is an extension horticulturist and associate professor at the Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Washington State University. She says it’s not true.

Nurseries water their plants throughout the day, or how else could we expect them to keep their large inventories alive in hot weather And farmers get perfectly acceptable crops despite summer rains.

Poinsettias are poisonous

The Mayo Clinic says it’s not true. While many people might be allergic to the latex sap exuded from the stems and leaves, eating a poinsettia leaf is more likely to cause a digestive problem than death.

Poinsettia’s close euphorbia cousin, pencil plant, will burn your eyes. This is true. You remember the news about Rick Warren getting pencil plant sap in his eyes? I’ve heard that this is some of the worst pain known in horticulture.

Cocoa mulch will kill your dog

It depends, says the ASPCA. “To date, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center has not received any cases involving animal deaths due to cocoa mulch ingestion.”

But they do agree it can cause digestive upset similar to chocolate poisoning.

Drought-tolerant plants don’t need watering

This is false. The key word here is “tolerant.” Well-established plants (three to four or more years) can tolerate periods of drought. But they don’t prefer them.

You’ll need to water your drought-tolerant plants until they are established.

Bone meal is good for plants

Here is one you might not have heard. Chalker-Scott says it’s not true. While bone meal encourages root growth, it also discourages mycorrhizae – the valuable soil organisms that do the bulk of the work for the roots. She also says our soils are rarely lacking in the phosphorus boost they provides. Don’t use bone meal before you’ve done a thorough soil test. 

ART+COM (a group of designers specializing in designing spaces with new media) has broken down the abstract concept of sustainability for the average person with a tangible digital media exhibition located at Autostadt, Volkswagen’s communications platform in Wolfsburg, Denmark. As a visitor navigates the “Level Green: The Concept of Sustainability” exhibit, they can learn about climate change and its consequences, the importance of sustainability to the planet’s economic and social health, and Volkswagen’s specific approach to the concept. J. Mayer H. designed the center with its 25 media exhibits, all which allow visitors to actively engage in learning not only about the concept, but how they can practice it themselves and implement it into their own lives. Data sculptures enable visitors to visualize and compare the facts and figures more easily. Interactive media walls explain important themes and encourage interaction with playful access to data via touching. The installations even foster a personal connection to the issue by prompting visitors to reflect on their own lifestyles. We think these images provide good fodder for futuristic style enthusiasts.

Recommended reading: Futuristic Minimalist Furniture