One of the worst things that can happen to a pair of nylons is a run. This is frustrating and can be embarrassing if you don’t see the run before you leave the house. Before you put on your nylons make sure to check each leg for any hint of a snag or tear in the material. The quicker you catch these snags, the easier it will be to repair them.

Many people already know that snags – if they are caught early on – can be repaired. All you need is a cheap bottle of nail polishes. While colored nail polish will get the job done, you probably want to stick with a bottle of clear so your patch work goes unnoticed. Just simply brush a bit of the polish around the snag and it will not spread!

If you wear trouser stockings you may find that you have another problem. You end up losing one of the stockings that make up the pair. Eventually you may find that you have accumulated a collection of stockings that are missing their pair. These stockings are all probably different shades too! Believe it or not you can actually fix this problem.

Get a bowl big enough to hold two stockings that you want to create a pair with. Add hot tea to the bowl. Your stockings will actually turn the color of the tea. If you want your stockings to be a bit darker, just add more tea bags!

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Missing ingredients are one of the most frustrating things that can happen when you are cooking. You’re half way through the recipe and you realize you don’t have a crucial ingredient. Luckily, many common ingredients can easily be substituted with something else!

Beer: If your recipe calls for beer but you don’t have any – try substituting chicken broth instead!

Breadcrumbs: If you run out of breadcrumbs there are several alternative options that you can use. Try substituting crushed butter crackers or corn flakes to complete your recipe!

Cream of Tarter: Try substituting an equal amount of lemon juice.

Evaporated Milk: Use an equal portion of half and half as a substitute for evaporated milk.

Half and Half: Add two tablespoons of butter to approximately 1 cup of whole milk.

Lemon Juice: You can use white vinegar as a substitute for lemon juice. Simply use half the required amount to complete your recipe. Do not use vinegar if the lemon serves as flavoring!

Mayonnaise: You can substitute an equal amount of either sour cream or yogurt. If you are attempting to make a sandwich with a mayonnaise substitute, you might want to reconsider!

Molasses: There are at least two alternative ingredients that can be used as a substitute for molasses – maple syrup and honey. Both ingredients should be used in equal proportions to the molasses.

Plain Yogurt: Believe it or not you can substitute an equal amount of sour cream for plain yogurt.

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So if you are forced to purchase your bananas from your local grocer or a farmers market, it is important to really make the most of this fruit. This will at least help you save some extra money in your budget!

Once your bananas are ripe, consider storing them in your refrigerator. You may notice that the skin of your bananas take on a brown color. For some this may be a deterrent to using the refrigerator as a way to extend the life of your bananas. Although the skin does turn brown, the actual fruit inside is fine and will still taste delicious.

Many people prefer to buy their bananas while they are still green in order to maximize their lifespan. The problem with this tactic is that they might not be ripe when you want to eat one. Luckily there are also things you can do to speed up the ripening process.

One of the easiest ways to get your banana to ripen is to simply put a green banana next to a yellow one. For whatever reason, this actually encourages the green banana to ripen faster! You want to use a banana that is over ripened. The skin may have brown spots at this point!

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In order to maximize the lifespan of each bag of coffee, you will want to start with a bag of whole beans. Buying coffee that is already ground is more expensive and it goes stale at a faster rate that whole beans.

If you typically grind your coffee beans for 2 minutes, grind them for an extra minute. This will create much finer coffee. The finer coffee beans are ground, the fewer whole beans you will use in each pot of coffee.

Have you ever considered running your coffee through the grinds a second time? Try using roughly half the amount of grinds you typically would in your filter. If you run your water through the grinds a second time it will become strong and effectively makeup for the reduction in grinds.

If you really want to get creative – try allowing your used coffee grounds to dry out. This works best if you’ve only used your grinds once. You can combine the dried coffee with new fresh coffee to brew a pot of coffee. This is a useful technique if you don’t have the time to run your water through the grinds twice!

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There are several different ways you can collect rainwater. All you really need to get started is a large barrel that you can attach to the bottom of a downspout on your home. When the rain starts to fall, your home’s gutter system will automatically route the water into your barrel.

Now if you don’t want to build a rain collection system that attaches to your homes downspout, you have an alternative. Place your rain barrel in an unobstructed area in your yard where rain is free to fall directly into. In order to capture the most possible water during a rain shower, you will want to create a large funnel that can be placed in the top of your barrel. While the funnel certainly won’t have the ability to capture as much water as your home’s gutter system, you’ll be impressed by how quickly your barrel does fill up!

Rain water is very useful once it has been collected. If you have a lot of house plants that need to be watered, you can rely on the rain water to take care of this. Collected rain water is also useful in your garden. Store it up during the off season and use it during the dry months!

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Have you ever wanted to vacuum something up with the hose attachment, but you were afraid it would suck up the wrong thing? All you need to do is cover the hose attachment with the nylons. Make sure they are pulled taught and secure it to the hose with a rubber band. This will allow you to suck up dirt and debris through the mesh of the nylon without taking something valuable along with it.

The mesh quality of nylons makes them particularly useful in the kitchen too. Do you have something that needs to be strained, but your colander is simply too big to get the job done? Nylons are great for straining out fine materials. You can add a second layer of nylon to increase the effectiveness of the straining.

Don’t be afraid to take advantage of the elastic quality of nylons. If you need to tie something up, nylons are a great alternative to twine. How about those tomato plants that need to be tied to a stake? Simply cut a large enough section from the nylons and wrap them around your tomato plant and the stake. This will save you from having to buy tomato tape at the store!

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Think about all of the eggs you have cracked over the last year. What do you do with the egg shells? A number of people likely throw their egg shells straight into the compost bin. This is a great place for them and your plants will eventually reap the benefits.

For those of us who are looking for a great way to boost the plants in our garden now, egg shells have another use. If you take your eggshells and crush them into little pieces, you can easily add them right into the soil of your garden beds.

Egg shells are actually a great source of calcium. The plants in your garden need calcium in order to grow and flourish. If you notice that your plants aren’t doing well, try adding the crushed shells to the soil around them and see if they don’t improve.

The trick to the egg shells is crunching them into pieces. You can always throw in large chunks of egg shell, but it will take much longer for them to break down and release their calcium!

Tip: If you are looking for some rocks to put at the bottom of a flower pot to improve drainage, you can also substitute them for egg shells!

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This article is designed to help you overcome issues with cross pollination so you can reuse your seeds without worrying about pumpkourds growing in your back yard. If you haven’t already read my article about the differences between male and female flowers, you will want to do so now!

Okay so grab a roll of masking tape and head out to the garden. Every time you see a female flower that is going to open the following morning, carefully wrap the top of the bud together with the masking tape. Find a male flower that is also scheduled to open the next morning and tape its bud closed too.

When morning comes, carefully snap off the male flower and remove the tape and all of its petals. You should be holding the stamen which contains all of the pollen. Now carefully unwrap your female flower. Try to leave as much of the petals behind as you can. Carefully dust the pistil of the female flower with the stamen making sure to touch all areas of it thoroughly. Once it has been pollinated, use the petals to cover it back up and tape them back together.

Eventually the flower will die off and you will notice the fruit beginning to grow if pollination has successfully occurred.

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The answers are a bit complicated. For starters, some pumpkins and gourds can cross pollinate with each other. In order for this to happen, both vegetables need to be a member of the same species. Pay attention to the specific variety of seeds you purchase because this will allow you to determine their species.

Okay so you picked pumpkins and gourds that belong to the same species. They are already in the ground and taking over your garden as you read. What now? Will they cross pollinate. That depends. Do you have a lot of bees and insects buzzing around your garden? Many people have to hand pollinate their pumpkin and gourd vines due to a lack of natural pollinators.

If you do have a lot of bees in the neighborhood, it is very possible they will cross pollinate. Don’t worry this isn’t completely a bad thing. Oddly enough, even if your pumpkins and gourds cross pollinate, you won’t know it during this growing season. Both types of fruits will develop normally.

The real secret is in the seeds. If you plan on drying out your seeds and using them next year, cross pollination could be an issue. This is when you will see any difference in the plant.

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You will spend your whole summer watching your gourds grow. When you see them change from their standard green color into a pale tan color, they are ripe and ready to be picked from the vine. Be careful when you do this. You want to leave at least 4 inches of stem on your bottleneck gourd which you will later use to hang it!

Now you have to wait. Take your gourd and place it in a safe location for it to dry out. The location should provide the fruit with good air circulation and should be a bit warm. After a couple months, give your gourd a shake. If you here seeds rattling around inside, your gourd is ready to be turned into a birdhouse.

Wash the skin of your gourd well with warm soapy water and dry it thoroughly. Use a drill with a 1.5” bit to create a hole in the side for the birds. Take a small spoon and insert it through the opening and clean out any gourd guts that are still in side. You can also drill several tiny holes in the bottom of your gourd for drainage purposes.

Now that your bottleneck gourd has been prepped, you can have a bit of fun with it. Take some paints and create a design on the exterior. That’s really all there is to it!

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