If you are like most people you will notice that the retail stores are all decked out for the Christmas and Holiday season approaching. They are banking on higher sales as the economy picks up, so they are adding more lights to catch our attention. If you like the look of the Holidays like me, these decorations are getting us in the Spirit of the Season. This can only mean one thing… time to think about decorating my home.

Before you go out and buy lights to hang on everything not moving, let me give you some tips first.

Here are my dos and donts for using Holiday Lights.

1) Do pick a theme for your decor, like all white lights or blue or red. This will make more of an impact and ads some design style. No offense to the multi-color lovers out there. That is a different look all together that is equally charming. Those people might use jewel tones for candles and ornaments to add to the colorful scene.

2) Do not use different light sets together. Some people mix up their old and new lighting and I don’t like to see this. When you are dealing with electricity, even this low voltage type, you need to think about fire safety. Before you string up the lights outdoors and indoors, maybe you can take your kids or a small group of kids to your local firehouse to teach them some things about fire safety. This time of year is high on the list for fires caused by dried live trees lit up with faulty lighting. Call the fire house first to see when they could give you the tour and talk to your group. Then, throw out those old lights and buy them all from one place. GKI Bethlehem Lighting is my favorite if you can find them, but GE or another brand name would be a safe bet too.

3) Do wrap the lights loose around the branches or railings. Some times lighting gets too tight and can cause those blackouts in the strands we hate to see. One tip is to string your lights while they are on. Yes, this is not a hazard unless you get a call or a visitor. In that case, turn them off until you can get back to decorating. This keeps them cool and you can be sure to see any outages before you finish decorating. Once all the lights are in, then add the BLING!

Are you interested in growing vegetables in your garden? Growing vegetables in the vegetable garden is much easier than you imagine.

To grow vegetables, you do not need a large site.

You can grow in containers without any need for a piece of land.

In fact, growing vegetables need a careful planning and some simple planting tips with which you can grow your own vegetables in no time!

1. For a successful growth of vegetables, a healthy soil is very important. Use a high-quality soil or improve the existing one through the addition of organic materials such as sphagnum peat moss, leaf mold, compost, and rotted manure in large quantities. For a clay type soil, add some sand to provide a clear drainage. Add these materials into the soil using till or spade.

2. Good soil with better drainage is best for growing vegetables healthily. So, get your soil tested prior to using it for vegetable plants. Also, ensure that soil has all essential nutrients required for a plant growth.

3. Location of the garden is the key to the vegetable garden planning process. As almost all vegetables needs a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight for a healthy growth, choose a sunny spot with full of sunlight–south, southeast or south west facing is best spot.

4. In a partially shady location where you get less sunlight, it is best to grow leaf crops like lettuce, coriander, and spinach than tomatoes or other vegetables.

5. For a vegetable garden, choose a location away from trees and shrubs as far as possible. This is because the roots of trees and shrubs, near the vegetable plants, will deprive the essential nutrients and water of the vegetable plants.