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Slavica/Getty Images Earlier this month, the National Association of Landscaping Professionals (NALP) announced that power tool manufacturer STIHL is now the exclusive partner of the NALP’s Young Professionals Network. Through this partnership, STIHL will help provide resources to young people looking to establish and develop careers in the landscaping industry. “STIHL is a great industry champion that is committed to supporting the next generation,” said Britt Wood, the NALP’s chief executive officer....

Gone are the days of carburetors and distributors, replaced by a variety of sensors that help a car’s computer get the maximum performance out of the engine. A camshaft position sensor (or any sensor) can fail due to wear-and-tear or an accident. Here’s what you need to know. What Is a Camshaft Position Sensor and What Does It Do? A camshaft position sensor is an electronic device that does what it suggests — monitor the camshaft position and speed — and feeds that data to the vehicle’s engine control module (ECM)....

If you’re seeing the telltale brown or yellow spots of blight showing up on your potato or tomato plants, try this unexpected and potential cure: a penny! Blight-Caused Famine Blight, caused by fungal spores, can be one of the most insidious gardening problems. It hits plants quickly and spreads easily through the air or the soil. The most famous blight — Ireland’s 1840s Potato Famine — ruined the majority of the potato crop for years and resulted in the death of roughly one million Irish....

It never fails: The ONE TIME you accidentally leave your windows down overnight, it rains. Or you forget to put the rear windows up all the way when you roll through the car wash. Even though it’s “just water,” your seat, whether cloth or leather, looks as though someone tried to watercolor paint on the upholstery. The good news: It’s possible it clean it up with basic ingredients and a little patience....

Short days, long nights, cooler temps, higher heating bills. All are good indications that winter is headed our way. If your thermostat is in prime working order, great! You’re one step ahead when it comes to winter preparedness. If not, now is the time to replace it. A modern, more efficient thermostat will make a huge difference in your comfort level and save you money. According to the United States Department of Energy, certain types of programmable thermostats can reduce heating/cooling costs by 10 percent....

New Year’s Day was traditionally a time for gift-giving. Romans celebrated with offerings to their god Janus for the sake of good fortune, according to the History Channel, and friends and neighbors exchanged gifts of figs and honey in the hopes of making a positive start on the near year. That’s where the New Year’s plant tradition comes from. Now, New Year’s gift-giving isn’t what it used to be. However, there’s still an emphasis on making a positive start (that’s where all those New Year’s resolutions come from!...

Lowe’s is going big on sales for pros this month. The retail store recently announced a month-long “PROvember” sales event celebrating Lowe’s growing pro customer base, featuring large discounts and deals on tools and gear. PROvember stems from a recent survey of Lowe’s pro customers, on topics ranging from their industry expectations to holiday shopping plans. “As part of our commitment to better understand what Pros want and need, we’re using methods like the Pro Pulse Survey to hear directly from Pros,” said Fred Stokes, Lowe’s senior vice president for pro sales and service....

SolStock/Getty Images Some people know right away that they want to work in the trades. Maybe they had an affinity for MAC trucks in sandboxes, or maybe they wanted to continue a family business. Others find their way into their careers in the trades in a much more roundabout way. Phil Sarros, an 18-year landscaping industry veteran, was part of the latter group. In fact, when he first started what would eventually become his landscaping company, it was not even a landscaping company – it was an apartment cleaning company....

If you care about keeping your vehicle in good shape, few things are more disheartening than seeing a patchwork of dents spread over your roof, hood and trunk after a hailstorm. Without the protection of a garage or carport, this sort of damage is always a possibility when hailstones start falling. Once the damage is done, you might think the only option is expensive bodywork done by professionals. Not necessarily so....

cunaplus/Shutterstock “What kind of toilet paper do you use?” That’s not the kind of question you often hear. But when it comes up, it sure makes for a great debate! There’s toilet paper made from trees, toilet paper made from recycled paper, one-ply, two-ply and even four-ply! There’s low-grade toilet paper that has one or two plies max and is very coarse. Mid-grade is two-ply and textured to provide softness and durability....

Despite its whimsical name, quackgrass is a formidable enemy that can take over a lawn quickly. Its strong, deep root system can grow into separate plant clumps if split, and no selective herbicide will kill it while leaving your lawn unaffected. That’s why quackgrass — also known as couch grass, twitch, quick grass, quitch grass, dog grass, scutch grass and witchgrass — is considered one of the hardest weeds to eradicate....

When was the last time you washed your bath mats? Whether they’re laying in front of your sink or next to your tub, the mats in your bathroom spend a lot of time in one of the germiest locations in your house. Bath mats are such a high-traffic germ hotspot that it’s actually recommended you clean them at least once a week. The good news is, ridding all of those germs and messes from your bath mats isn’t hard, even if you don’t have a washing machine....

This FH series introduces readers to a few of the women who make up 11 percent of the construction workforce in the U.S., spotlighting stories of their careers in the field. Know someone we should feature? Email us here. Renee Wilson is passionate about insulation. She was first introduced to it in the fifth grade, when her dad founded their family business. Through the years, she helped him on installation jobs and bookwork....

Shutterstock/Sergey Spritnyuk Rockler Bent Wood Challenge Rockler is opening its doors to see your creativity and skill at wood bending. They are giving away prizes of $500, $250 and $125 to the top three makers that demonstrate their art at this tough form of woodworking. There aren’t many more parameters to this challenge. Your project can be any size, feature a small amount of wood bending or a lot of it, and can include other materials such as metal and glass....

Anything is possible with the right tools! And soon you can rent whatever tool your job requires from Lowe’s. The home improvement retailer just announced a new tool rental program that will roll out nationwide over the next few years. For now, it’s available only at the Central Charlotte Lowe’s in North Carolina (located on Iverson Way). Lowe’s Tool Rental will be a whole department of newly-constructed space within an existing Lowe’s store or next to it....

According to a recent home improvement survey by Thumbtack, homeowners are expected to spend upwards of $1,000 on their backyards this summer. “Compared to the same time last year, we’re seeing an increase in interest for backyard upgrades and additions taking outdoor living to the next level,” the report states. If Instagram is any indication, much of this interest centers around the concept of stock tank pools (check out #stocktankpools to see what we mean)....

Question: Is it okay to use nonmetallic cable ties (zip ties) in an electrical panel? Answer: Sure, they are a great way to keep conductors tidy, grouped together and you end up with a professional looking project. In fact, where you have multiple neutrals in an enclosure with different circuits, you need to group the corresponding neutrals and hot conductors together, and using nonmetallic cable ties is an easy way to accomplish this task....

Are your brakes smoking? In most cases, the presence of smoke requires immediate corrective action. New brake pads represent an exception, but still require your attention. Smoke results from excessive heat; a brake system generates heat because of friction and the greatest source of friction in this system lies in the pad-rotor or pad-drum contact. Prevent an expensive repair: Here’s how to check your brake pads. First, How Are You Driving?...

With fears from the COVID-19 pandemic waning, it’s still important to stay vigilant with healthy practices as we observe Halloween. High-risk activities that could still put you at risk include door-to-door trick-or-treating, trunk-or-treating (handing out treats from the trunks of cars in a parking lot), indoor costume parties, crowded haunted houses and even hayrides. Even if you’re not as concerned with the COVID-19 virus, check out these health and safety tips for Halloween....

Small and prolific, the mold mite is emerging as the bug of the moment. Just like getting rid of clover mites is possible, you can also deal with this latest bug. “Mold mites are a general term for many species that have the ability to feed on fungi and grow large populations in a very short period,” says Ronald Ochoa, Ph.D., a research scientist specializing in mites for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)....