Pittwater Online News

Christmas-New Years Checklist: Preparing the Garden & Home For Visitors + Entertaining + Gift Ideas For Every Budget

Preparing for Christmas and that long relax that commences Boxing Day is a great way to relieve stress and take the hassle out of 'getting it all done'. We prepare a few lists each year and just tick everything off as it gets done; the jobs around the house, the jobs around the garden, the food list, the guests list and of course, the gifts list - with an emphasis on getting it all locally so time isn't wasted sitting in traffic. This Issue a few tips to ensure you enjoy your holidays and keep the youngsters busy. All examples shown are from the Johnson Brothers stores at Mona Vale and Avalon Beach. 

In the Garden: Summer and Christmas Garden checklist

Minimise tick bites: As many living in Pittwater know by now, warm weather and lots of rain makes for lots of ticks. To make your garden safer this Summer and festive season, trim back any branches and hedges and clean up any fallen bark and leaves into the compost bin. You could also plant out some of those species known to repel ticks; Rosemary, Garlic, Lavender, Mint, Lemongrass. Oil of citronella is great too; a study that analysed 11 essential oils found that a combination of thyme and citronella essential oil was the most effective against ticks.

Pittwater, with all the humidity, is experiencing some mosquitoes at present. NSW Health advises no being outdoors at dusk when they are prevalent, wearing long sleeves so they cannot bite, and using a good insect repellent.

If you are going to host people outdoors some citronella candles or a good mozzie zapper will increase mozzie safety - especially as they can be carrying diseases that will make people ill. For those who cannot bear citronella, the mozzie zappers will help keep your family and Christmas-New Years visitors safe and keep safe those beneficial insects we all need to help our gardens flourish.

To leave windows open to catch those cooling breezes as it heats up, but keep the mozzies away, repair any damage to flyscreens. See previous Johnson Brothers Mitre 10 DIY Page: DIY Flyscreens

Residents are also sending in that ticks are also high across the area. If you have pets or are going to have visitors you may like to have a look at these tips for keeping ticks at bay from a few years back before they head over:

Reducing Ticks in Your Garden: Garden care, Plants that Repel, What to Wear Outdoors 

Attracting Insectivore Birds to Your Garden: DIY Natural Tick Control 

If you get stuck into organising these details over the next week or so you will be ready for the Christmas- New Years rush.

Flower beds: Dead head any flowering plants such as Roses and annuals to encourage them to bloom again. In the case of annuals, if they are really at their end, replace them with new plants to ensure your garden is bright and colourful for the big day.

Mulch: If you have not done so already, mulch to prepare for the hot weather ahead and to also reduce weeds and to just make the garden look fresh. Don’t forget an application of a soil wetter as this will ensure the garden is hydrated and ready for the hot months ahead.

Lawns: It's time to lift the mower height. This will give the lawn a little extra surface area to retain moisture and protect the soil beneath from the hot sun. A light dressing of lawn food will ensure the lawn stays at its best. If you have dry patches in the lawn an application of a wetting agent will fix that. Keep an eye out for lawn grubs and beetles that become active this time of the year.

Pots and Hanging Baskets:  Having masses of colour around your house and patio look great during Christmas so make sure all your plants are well fed and that water is penetrating into the soil.  To check just dig into the top 50mm of the soil on top of the pot and also check the sides to ensure the potting mix is not dry, if it is, apply a soil wetter. These also make a great Christmas present as well as they will gladden the eye long after the festive season has passed to those you gift them to. If you have some spare pots why not take a few cuttings and pot them up to give to friends and relatives.

Garden Furniture: Now is a good time to spruce up that garden furniture and give it a good clean. Timber furniture may need an extra application of stain at this time of year. Also think about getting some nice cushions to make for a colourful and comfortable welcome. A combination of white vinegar and detergent is great for cleaning plastic furniture.

Clean decks, paths: A wet Spring has meant some paths will have a green slippery mossy covering. The same will be true in paved areas. Give them all a good blast with a water pressure cleaner to make these areas safe for family and visitors. More tips in:  Preparing Al Fresco Areas for Christmas Get-Togethers and Summer Visitors 

Install some shade: While we're fortunate to have cooling sea breezes where we live the intensity of the sun bouncing off hard areas like patios and verandahs where tiles have been installed can make these places too hot for comfort. Putting a a shade cloth, market umbrellas, gazebo or even installing an outdoor blind can ensure you can still use these areas during the time you will want to - at lunch.

Vegetable Gardens: By now your tomatoes and vegetables should be looking good and your lemon trees should be showing early signs of fruit. This is the time to keep an eye out for pests. If you have caterpillars or moths on your plants, an application of an Insect Spray or a wipe down will deter these. Also keep feeding your plants, a little and often is the ideal way to go.

Vegetables to sow or transplant as seedlings now include: sweet corn, rockmelon, watermelon, cucumber, squash, eggplant, peas, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, leeks, radicchio, carrots, fennel, tomatoes, English spinach, capsicum, chilli, celeriac, choko (plant the fruit), rocket, beetroot, spring onions, lettuce and radish. Now is also the time to put in some new herbs to add to summer salads and drinks. Add in some basil, dill, borage, chamomile, chervil, coriander, tarragon, parsley, chives, rue, lavender, sage, fennel, sweet marjoram, lemon balm, oregano and thyme. When watering your crop at this time of year choose to do so early in the morning so your plants have a good amount of time to absorb this drink before sun hits them. This also avoids leaving too much water on plants overnight which can also promote mould.

Final clean up: A day or two before Christmas, do a last-minute clean-up (trim edges, mow) and sweep everything including all paths and paving. Tip out any containers where water can collect and mosquitoes can breed. Remember your eaves and undersides of outdoor areas where there may be spider webs and apply that soft broom. If you're planning on having a barbecue, remember to check the gas bottle to make sure it will go the distance during cook time.

In the home: Summer and Garden Checklist

Furniture, wooden features and architraves: This damp muggy weather means mould can collect on wooden surfaces. Before you put out any Christmas decorations clear the surfaces of any knick-knacks and give all your wooden surfaces and furniture a good polish - ditto wooden architraves if you have these. Getting these jobs done now will mean once you get to Boxing Day the home will be pleasantly clean and you're 'off-duty' until after New Years.

Top to bottom clean: Using this simple method of working from the ceiling to the floors means you won't be cleaning dust or cobwebs onto a just washed floor. Get out that duster and step-stool and reach those high ceilings. Next is window ledges, then glass, then vacuuming and finally a floor wash if you have hard surfaces such as wooden or tiled floors. That way all you will need to do is a quick whisk around at the last minute or not even worry as you know it's already clean. Giving the bathroom a good scrub now is also a good idea, that way, if you get caught up in last minute preparations in the kitchen, all it will need is a wipe down and fresh hand towels being put out for guests.

Food: Before you load up the pantry with new items it's a good idea to rotate those that are reaching a used by date. To keep those pantry moths at bay at this time of year put a few bay leaves out among the bottles and cans. Ditto the fridge; it may get a bit full in there during the coming weeks, so a good clean out and wipe down with a vanilla based cleaner will keep it fresh and make it ready for all those lovely Summer fruits and what you may cook on Christmas Day.

Entertaining: Christmas and Summer checklist

Make a Menu: Start thinking about what you want to serve to eat on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and even a few extras for that gap between then and New Years. Decide on what recipes you want to use, including the side dishes, and write yourself a list. Also stock up on staples like flour, salt, butter and sugar to avoid that last minute dash to the shops for Christmas Eve biscuit making and decorating with youngsters or Boxing Day breakfast pancakes or eggs and bacon or turning those leftovers into a scrumptious pie. If you can do an online order, save yourself the stress of the supermarket carpark and aisles and get it sent in to you.

The Great Outdoors: If you're cooking outdoors; check if you have enough charcoal, cooking implements, BBQ cleaner, serving dishes. Are there enough seats for everyone, do you need to replace the canvas on umbrellas?

If you are planning on getting a new BBQ for this Summer there's a few tips in BBQ Season: some tips to keep your New or Old BBQ Clean 

Napkins, candles, table dressing, mozzie bugs off: Do yourself a favour and make a list of who is coming and how many place settings you will need. Also think about your table - dressing this nicely with a centre feature of potted colour, cloth napkins and glassware makes sitting at the table a pleasant experience that will make guests want to linger over the fruit and cheese. If you're eating outdoors you will also need to think about keeping the flies at bay and the mozzies off ankles, especially for late afternoon feasts. 

Put up the lights and Decorations: Nothing brightens the mood and makes a home more welcoming than a Christmas Wreath on the front door, lights through the garden and those delightful little Santa and reindeer trinkets around the home. Dedicate one corner to a Christmas Tree to put gifts under and put some potted poinsettias out near entrances or on tables. It's also a good idea to wrap presents when you can rather than leaving it all until Christmas Eve. There's some tips in Christmas Lights Time: Deck Your Home With Rows Of Jolly! 

Gift Ideas for Every Budget

For the Gardener: 

The best gifts to receive are those that have had some thought taken about who they are being given to. There are also some that can keep giving all year round. Making up a nice herb garden in a window-box planter, giving a lemon or lime tree or even a fig tree (keep in the pot, these can spread roots everywhere in no time) will remind those you give to of yourself and a lovely Christmas spent together. A nice pot of colourful flowers or an Australian native for their garden will give immediate and everlasting joy.

You could also choose something practical and useful - if the person has tools everywhere and can never find them; how about a tool box or even a tool belt - they don't have to be a Tradie to appreciate the tools and accessories that make the job easier and will appreciate finally being able to find everything in one place and ready to use.

Although some may groan, those practical tools you use everyday such as spades and forks make a great gift. Just be sure you tell them you're not saying they should do more around the garden but are hoping to support their love of getting out and getting their hands in the dirt. Older recipients will find a garden trolley to push around for weeds or moving plants is helpful, or even a great new pair of gardening gloves will be appreciated.

Even just a nice water feature, a park bench or a great BIG pot to put whatever they like in it to enjoy their garden further will be appreciated. 

If you get 'spoiled for choice' and cannot choose, opt for a gift card, that way they can choose for themselves.

For the DIYer:

If you have someone who likes to do it for themselves the options of what you could gift them are endless. Everything from screwdriver sets to that certain chisel will be welcome. Try having a conversation about what tools are missing from their shed or what they have been 'making do' with. This doesn't mean you have to go and spend thousands on that new fangled complete set of everything - if you have noticed they are always saying 'where's my Stanley head screwdriver?' or 'this handle is too hard to grip now my fingers are getting old' a nice alternative is available at a great price.

For the car lover:

Those who like things that go 'vroom vroom' will appreciate a car-care kit, a nice new car seat or even, if you are a youngster, a gifted set of 'I will clean your car 5 times' voucher. You can make and decorate that card yourself.

For the Littlies and Biggies:

The youngsters are not left out, whether they want a playhouse for the garden, like digging around in the veggie plot or want to build their own horizontal or vertical surf-board stacker, there is something to suit everyone. This one at our place is simply a couple of lengths of Treated Pine timber and some thick dowel inserted - an easy to do project for all those in the family that surf:

Johnson Brothers Mitre 10 stores are filled with everything you will need to get your home and garden visitor-ready, as well as great gift ideas for everyone and every budget. Just pop in and talk to their friendly trained staff about what is on your 'to do' list for this year and do it all a bit at a time instead of all at once so your loved ones get the best of you, not what's left of you after all those preparations - that's what they really want.

Whatever you choose to do this Christmas Season and New Years' the best gift we will have this year is each others' company - splurge on those hugs and kisses and conversations with all your loved ones and have a great Festive Season.

Johnson Brothers Mona Vale E-Waste Recycle Program

Johnson Brothers have become a FREE e-waste recycling collection point at our Mona Vale store.

The bins for disposal are at the start of the parking for our Trade customers, but it’s free for all to use (during business hours).

From December 4th 2023, you can drop off any unwanted electrical items at Johnson Bros Mitre 10 Mona Vale for recycling by our e-waste management partner, Sircel

E-waste is anything with an electrical plug or battery. This includes electric power tools, household appliances, computers and mobile phones.

We cannot accept gas, petrol or diesel appliances.

When you bring your stockpile of old power tools, tablets and TVs to our e-waste collection bins, what happens then?

Our recycling partner, Sircel, collects the waste each week and transports it to a facility in Western Sydney. There, Sircel deploys their world-leading and proprietary refining solution to: 

• Triage all electronics that may have a future useful life, such as TVs and computers
• Securely data-erase all electronics to remove all information in preparation for reuse
• For products with no viable future use, Sircel safely removes any batteries and sends them downstream to a dedicated, authorised battery recycling partner
• All e-waste is then mechanically destroyed
• Individual commodities are recovered and returned to the circular economy for re-use as regenerated resources.

Give your old power tools, household appliances and computers a new life in the circular economy. 

Plastic tool casings could become bench seats, copper cabling could become a new copper pipe, and the gold, silver and palladium in your old phone could be transformed into fuel cells in your car.

Together, we can make finite resources infinite.

Johnson Brothers Family