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The colder weather is coming and in Sacramento that means freezing temperatures and frost. There is no need to panic however, when it comes to protecting your plants. Below are six strategies from landscaper John Irwin to help your plants survive the winter.

Cold
Plunging temperatures make every homeowner worry about the safety of their plants. Choosing plants properly that can withstand the cold is the first and most important step. Place plants more vulnerable to the cold in protected areas. If you have plants that don't like the cold temperatures, then take extra steps to protect them, such as laying down extra mulch, or covering plants with sheets or cloth.

Mulch
A 4-inch layer of winter mulch placed after the ground freezes two inches deep will protect your more vulnerable plants. Mulch root area of larger plants. Cover or wrap plants and shrubs with cloth to insulate them. Don't use plastic as it suffocates the plants and will raise and lower their temperatures too quickly.

Salt Damage
Salt damage occurs when salt is used to melt ice and snow on driveways and walkways. It is also caused when salt is used on your streets, and then tossed onto plants by snowplows. To prevent damage from salt, use alternatives such as sand, kitty litter or an environmentally friendly salt mixture to de-ice walkways and driveways. Place only extra hardy plants in your snowplow zone, and avoid those varieties that are highly susceptible to salts.

Wind
Strong winds can cause plants to lose moisture in the winter. To avoid moisture loss, mulch around roots and cover or wrap plants with cloth. You should still water plants occasionally to prevent moisture loss.

Winter Pests
The biggest issue during the winter attends to be animals nibbling on trees and shrubs. There are a number of ways to prevent damage from pests, such as using environmentally safe products that repel pests, wrapping tree trunks with protective materials and placing fencing around valuable plants. You can also try leaving out food for the animals so they won't be tempted to eat your plants.

Containers
If you have perennials in containers or pots, you should move them into the garage or a shed during the winter. If the plants are not move, the soil can freeze and kill the plants. If you don't have a garage, add a layer of mulch around and over containers to protect plants, or move them indoors when temperatures are severe.

Roses
Winter is not generally a problem for roses if you have the right variety—especially if they were grown from their own roots.  Many antique and climbing roses are very hardy and don't require special attention. However in some climates with severe winters, roses need to be buried in a trench to survive the winter. Tree roses are very susceptible to cold, so they may need to be covered or buried.  When in doubt, it is best to consult your local horticulturist or garden center to know what is best for protecting plants in your climate.


John Irwin is a professional landscaper in the Sacramento area and has been in business for more than 18 years. For more tips and strategies on creating the yard of your dreams visit www.royalgardenlandscaping.com.
 

As we move closer to the holidays, many families are struggling with finances and wondering how they are going to manage. However, another reality many people deal with at this time of the year is a health crisis. Bob Livingstone, author of Journey to the Heart offers some helpful strategies if you find yourself in the middle of a health crisis.

As you get older, there is a good chance you will face a health crisis.  It could be an illness that comes on gradually or one that happens without notice.   You could be going about your normal routine and the next moment find yourself lying on the ground.  You may notice that you are not as energetic as you usually are and have difficulty breathing.  You may find yourself in the hospital emergency room plugged into several devices to determine your pulse, blood pressure and the state of your heart.

This is all a frightening scenario for anyone.   You wonder if you are going to live or die. You are free falling in unchartered waters and you don’t know what the next step will be. If you are fortunate enough to have adequate health insurance, you can put the worry of how you are going to pay for your health crisis out of your mind.   However, at this moment of the beginning of your health disorder you are in a state of shock and not sure of what will happen next.

Perhaps one of the most terrifying experiences in life is to know something is terribly wrong with you, but you have no idea what is causing you to feel so awful.  The time between feeling like you may die at any moment and being diagnosed is nothing short of sheer agony.

Once you are diagnosed, you can take the following steps:
•    Don’t be afraid to ask your physician questions.  If you are unsure of what he is talking about, let him know that you desire clarity and a written diagnosis and treatment plan.   It will be helpful to have a partner, relative or close friend with you so they can also ask questions that you may be too overwhelmed to ask.  You can also discuss this meeting afterwards with your support person to validate what your diagnosis and treatment plan are.

•    Talk about your fears and apprehensions with friends and loved ones.  It is easy to become isolated in this situation.   Sharing your feelings is a way of processing your trauma as well as developing a plan for dealing with it.

•    Exercise as much as you are medically cleared to do.  Exercise will help alleviate stress and make you feel more positive about your health.

•    Make sure you eat a healthy diet and get enough sleep. Eating and sleeping right will enhance your recovery as well as give you a sense of well being.

•    Don’t spend too much time investigating your medical condition on the internet.   You can eventually find the worst case scenario for any illness and this will only increase you worry.

•     Have faith that you will eventually recover from your illness. 

•    Understand that your recovery isn’t necessarily a linear process.  It is possible that the journey to getting better will be filled with extreme ups and downs.  You may discover that other medical issues come up during this time.  Being patient with your self is imperative here.

Click on www.journeyfromtheheart.com for Bob Livingstone’s new eBook and a free gift.

Allowances are a great tool when used properly to teach kids how to manage money. Its critical to set allowances up as an ongoing process for earning money, not as a method to demonstrate love or to reward kids for actions that are naturally expected in a family unit. Here are some guidelines to help you teach your kids how to handle money on a day-to-day basis.

1. Don’t wait until college to start
Experts say most 4 year-olds are ready and eager to learn about money and how things are bought and sold. Start to educate your child by having them hand the clerk the money when you make a purchase, or to look for the purchase amount on the product. By the time they are six, a regular weekly allowance can begin.

2. Establish clear guidelines
Each child should understand why an allowance is given and what expenditures it’s intended to cover. If you’ve decided to pay an allowance to your children simply because they are members of the family explain this philosophy to them. Remind them of the general responsibilities they have as members of the family for which they do not receive an allowance.  Allowances should be a set amount given every week as a way to share in the family resources and not be related to everyday chores. Increase their allowance as they age and their needs change. Offer to share the expense of more costly items…don’t make their spending and saving goals too far out of their reach.

3. Pay regularly
Paying on schedule will teach your children the value of honoring one’s agreements. Pick one day and pay them the same day each week.

4. Accountability
Design a system for how the money will be used. Many experts favor the 40/30/30 rule. Forty percent of the money goes into savings, thirty percent goes into charitable funds and the other thirty percent can be spent as they please. Don’t oversee every expenditure they make, just set up a general guideline and then follow up on their progress periodically.

Activities
Chore Jar - Fill a clear jar with chores and when kids want extra money, let them pick a chore from the jar.

Chore Calendar - Have fun taking turns assigning each other different chores to do each week on specific days. Every member of the family can participate and trade chores.

It’s crucial to help kids see earning an allowance, and then saving and spending that money as a positive experience. It can be a great virtue booster to teach responsibility, accountability and other virtues like generosity and caring for others. Money is a tool, and if used wisely and respectfully can enhance even a young child’s life.

As school is now back in full swing life is back into a routine, which I highly prefer. However with that predictability comes one of the not so great parts of my children's academic life..homework. We don't have too big of an issue with it in my home but it does create occasional chaos and I know it does for dozens of other families. Author's Chick Moorman and Thomas Haller have some great suggestions on what to say and not say to your kids about homework. I hope they help!

Homework can be a battle or a breeze. It can create conflict or cooperation. It can produce tension or focused attention.  Which of these outcomes occurs in your home depends in great measure on how you talk to your children during that important time period. To help your child's homework experience be productive and stress free, consider the following ten best things to say to him or her during homework time.
 
1.  "It's study time." Don’t even mention the word "homework." Have a study time, a study table, and study materials. Study time occurs whether there is homework or not. This eliminates the common child response, “But I don’t have any homework.” Some parents prefer to call this time period feed the brain time. Whether you call it study time or feed the brain time, it is important to make this a family commitment.  We all feed our brains during this time. If you are not willing to make this commitment as a parent to feed your own brain during this important family time, don’t ask your child to. 
 
2.  "Let me know if you want my help." Refrain from giving unsolicited help. Help that is not asked for is resented and is often not even needed.  Give your child the space to ask for help if he needs it. Learning to ask for help is an important skill that every child needs to learn. So is struggling on your own for a while.
 
3.  "Act as if you know." Children will often tell you, "I don't know how to do it." Resist showing them right away. They are doing their "I can't" act. Know that it is an act. Encourage them to choose a different act by saying, "Act as if you can." Other ways to send the same message include: "Pretend like you know how." "Play like you know." "If you did know how to begin, how would you begin?" "If you did know what to write, what would you write?" Asking children to "act as if" does not mean they will do it correctly. It gets them started. It gets them doing something. You can correct incorrect doing. Not doing anything is impossible to correct.
 
4.  "You have a lot of assignments to do here. Which two do you think are the most important?" Do not let your children study for long periods of time. Family time is MORE important than study time. When the teachers give more than is doable in the study time you have structured (90 minutes for high school, 60 minutes for middle school, 30 minutes for elementary school), call the teachers and let them know they are assigning too much material. Ask your child, "Which two of your assignments do you think are most important?" This requires her to think and to set priorities, teaching her a valuable life skill in the process.
 
5.  "Study time is over." Pushing beyond the set study time creates diminished results. Set a limit and stick to it. Hold to the set time schedule for study time.       &n bsp;       &nb sp; 
 
6.  "It's time for a time out." Frustration may occur. Suggest your child take a time out if you see her becoming overstressed. Shoot some baskets, ride bikes, go for a walk. Get away from the schoolwork for a while. When she comes back to study time, she will bring a fresh mind and a fresh attitude.
 
7.  Refrain from making evaluative comments such as "good job" or "excellent paper." These global remarks do little to teach why the effort was good or excellent. Instead, make your praise descriptive. Simply describe. "I can read every word." "This sentence got my attention and I wanted to keep reading." "You stayed right on it and finished that section in ten minutes." These factual statements give valuable information.  Descriptive praise also allows the child to make the evaluation. When he says to himself, "I did a good job," the evaluation is coming from the inside out. 
 
8.  "Do you want me to check it?" Sometimes children want your checking help. Sometimes they do not. Let them make this decision.
 
9.  "Let me show you an example."  This is teaching, not doing it for them. Show your child a sample, example, or possibility. Allow her to decide how to apply your idea. Let her do the problems she was assigned.
 
10."Would you be willing to put your name on it?" This statement is not used to check whether your son or daughter remembered to put their name on the paper. It is a statement about the relationship between pride and effort. "Would you be willing to put your name on it?" really means, "Are you proud enough of it to sign it?" Help your children learn to develop an internal standard of excellence so they know how this piece of work stacks up against their personal standard.
 
Your Parent Talk around study time and school assignments is critical. It can help or hinder, motivate or discourage, inspire or wound. Use the statements above to help you create a helpful study time for all. In fact, why not study these suggestions and put them to use during your next family feed the brain time?
 

Thomas Haller and Chick Moorman are co-authors of The 10 Commitments: Parenting with Purpose. Visit their blog at: www.uncommon-parenting.com.

I love Fall...it is the time of year when I get to be outdoors with my kids, take walks and play around the house. With the cooler weather on the way, we love to sit outside, talk about their days and play games. Keeping our lawn and yard looking nice for Fall is a huge boost and provides a perfect setting that is both economical and fun to spend quality time together.

Sacramento Landscape Contractor John Irwin from Royal Garden Landscaping offers some great tips on keeping your lawn in great shape and protecting it from the coming winter.

Fall is here and its time to take the necessary steps to keep your lawn looking healthy for the coming year. Here are four steps to take to protect your lawn through the winter months.

1. Raise Your Mower
The first task is to make changes to your mowing method. Raise the height of your mower cut by ¼ inch above your summer mowing height, which will give you an ultimate mowing height of 1¼ inch. This will slow the rate of the grass growth. In addition, mow just once a week once the growth begins to slow.

2. Feed Your Lawn
Lawns sometimes suffer from slow growth in the spring or during dry spells in the summer, so you may want to consider applying a lawn fertilizer to help develop strong roots and hardiness. Be sure the fertilizer you use is specifically formulated for autumn application. These fertilizers contain phosphates and potash, and omit nitrogen, which would cause unwanted growth.

3. Beaten Pathways
Many gardens may have beaten pathways that are tread-bare, sparsely populated by grass or compacted. Address these now to have them looking great for next season. Begin by driving the prongs of a garden fork approximately 6 inches into the compacted turf at various points throughout the affected area. This is a form of aeration and allows more air to reach the roots on compacted soils.

4. Thicken Your Lawn
To thicken up lawn in high traffic areas introduce fresh seed. To do this properly first create a seedbed. Add a light layer of clean loamy topsoil. Rake to the consistency of large cake crumbs and follow by shaking on lawn seed at a rate of 40 to 50g per square meter. Tamp down lightly with the flat of the rake to ensure firm seed-soil contact. For larger areas use a light garden roller. Try to avoid mowing the reseeded area until next season, as most lawnmowers tend to unsettle the new seed due to their vacuum action.

As well as being a good month for reseeding bare areas, September is a good time to plant new lawn from seed.

John Irwin is a professional landscaper in the Sacramento area and has been in business for more than 18 years. For more tips and strategies on creating the yard of your dreams visit www.royalgardenlandscaping.com.

Every year at this time we begin the round of trying to decide which sports my girls want to participate in, how many and what is the real value to them of each one they ultimately leap into and pursue. Author Jody Pawel offers some great tips on how to keep it all in perspective.

‘Tis the season for Fall sports — when parents spend more time at playing fields or driving to games than they spend at home. At the game, parents enthusiastically cheer their child’s team and discuss the game on the car ride home. While most parents have good intentions, they can inadvertently discourage a child and promote unhealthy competition if they don’t choose their words carefully.

First, let’s define the difference between "healthy" and "unhealthy" competition:
Healthy competition focuses on doing one’s best, having fun, and learning skills. It promotes teamwork and positive participation. Those who give a strong effort and strive to improve themselves usually advance. If learning or improving is the goal, children always reach it. If they happen to win, it’s icing on the cake.

Unhealthy competition focuses on winning, being the best, or being better than others. The pressure to win is more important than the fun of playing or learning skills. If children put forth their best effort but still "lose," they may still feel like a failure. They miss important lessons losing can teach them, because winning is the goal.

Three ways parents tend to promote unhealthy competition:
1.    "Let’s race!" Many parents encourage racing to motivate children into action.
2.    "The first one to finish wins!" Usually, the youngest or weakest child loses, which only discourages the child more. Racing differs from doing something fast with no winners.
3.    "Let’s see how many toys we can pick up before this song is over."    

Comparisons: All comparisons promote unhealthy competition. Negative comparisons, like "I wish you could be more like John," are not motivating. They make children feel inferior and are discouraging. Children usually resent the other child, even if the child did not participate in the comparison. This increases the competition and rivalry between them.

Positive comparisons are also problematic. When we try to build children up by putting others down, we increase the child’s ego, not his self-esteem. Children may feel sorry for the inferior child or feel better than the child in a conceited way. Children could also feel pressure to always be better than others.

Any time you are tempted to compare a child, remember this rule of thumb from Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish, in their book Siblings Without Rivalry: Whatever you want to tell a child can be said directly, without any reference to another child.

Even when parents don’t compare them, children may compare themselves as they compete for a place in the family or peer group. If one child is good in some area, another child might believe that role is taken and pursue something else — even if they are interested in that activity!

When children compare themselves, focus on the child’s feelings, interest or performance, not the comparison. For example, if a child says, "Susan’s such a good violin player. I’ll never be as good as she is," the parent can say, "How Susan plays has nothing to do with whether you should play or not. If you want to play the violin, do it!"

Being a poor role model: Most parents know that unhealthy competition promotes selfishness and poor sportsmanship. Unfortunately, in their enthusiasm, some parents model poor sportsmanship by standing on the sidelines yelling insults at their children and the referees. These parents teach their children to make excuses or blame others for their mistakes. They are also an embarrassment to their children and an irritation to other parents who want to be encouraging.

If you yell during a game, make it encouraging: "Way to go!" "Nice kick!" "Keep it up!" If you see something that needs improvement and can’t keep quiet, tell children what to do in a positive way: "Spread out!" "Work together!" "Center it!"

After an event, restrict your comments to descriptions of how the child or team did well, made an effort, or improved. Don’t focus exclusively on the score or outcome. If children bring this up, acknowledge their feelings and comment on their effort or improvement.

In the long run, families who focus on competition usually increase the differences and resentment among family members. Families who encourage best-efforts, focus on skill improvement and doing one’s best usually have children who are more confident and cooperative with others.


Jody Johnston Pawel is a Licensed Social Worker, Certified Family Life Educator, second-generation parent educator, founder of The Family Network, and President of Parents Toolshop Consulting.

Content provided by Parentingbookmark.com.