Below you will find a selection of the most recent entries from bloggers in the Your Home section.
To view the entries from individual bloggers, click on the links below:
Anna Lascols, Organizing Geneva
Her mission as a professional organizer is to improve people’s lives by coaching them how to set up and maintain efficient systems to keep their time and space in order. Anna helps her clients to visualize their ideal lifestyle and works side-by-side with tem to reach their goals. These can range from redesigning their closet à la Marie Kondo to getting their paperwork under control, improving their time management skills or preparing for the arrival of a baby. Anna is a KonMari Consultant and a member of the Swiss Association of Professional Organizers (Swiss-APO). She works in and around Geneva and provides her services is English, French, German and Spanish. She offers personal organizing sessions, virtual coaching and organizes workshops on various organizing and zero waste topics.
Liz Forest - EMF Management
Liz Forest is the founder and owner of EMF Management, a Swiss-registered renovation project management company servicing the international community in the greater Lake Geneva / Vaud region. EMF handles the heavy lifting so clients do not have to learn a new trade, take time off work, or sacrifice family holidays or their sanity just to make their house a home.
Virginie Dor - Space of Mine
As founder of Space of Mine, a professional business specializing in residential organizing, Virginie Dor is committed to helping individuals and families better their lives, take control of their surroundings and time by creating organizing solutions that are individually tailored to each client. As a proud member of NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers), she is an expert in clutter control, work flow, space planning and time management.
Tara Lissner - Swiss Gardening School
An enthusiastic, self-taught gardener, Tara Lissner is passionate about gardening and eager to share her zeal and knowledge with other gardening fans. In 2012, she joined forces with Hester Macdonald, a British-trained landscape designer, to launch the Swiss Gardening School.
Aislinn Delmotte - Settling Here
Aislinn Delmotte runs Settling Here, a company which aims to provide practical help and advice to individuals, couples and families relocating to the Pays de Gex, a region where some of the customs are similar to those in neighbouring Switzerland, but where many aspects of living are entirely different.
Sophia Kelly - Sophia Kelly Home Design
Responding to the growing demand for home design services in the international community, Sophia Kelly provides a range of tailor-made services, which are perfect for clients who have just moved into a new home or who simply need help reorganizing one that they have lived in for many years!
By Aislinn Delmotte, Settling Here
At a recent information session, Settling Here shared the basics and details for the local ski resorts; including Les Monts Jura, which is just 25- 40 minutes from Geneva.
Les Monts Jura Is a multi-activity resort, during the winter: 3 downhill skiing areas, 2 cross country skiing areas, a dozen snowshoeing trails, 3 ski schools with 4 special child areas, sledge runs as well as restaurants and shops. There are 60 km of slopes made up from 47 slopes (15 greens, 15 blues, 12 reds & 5 blacks). The resort comprises:
LELEX-CROZET:
Dedicated to downhill skiing. Whether beginner or expert, there is something for everyone here. You’ll recognise the resort from the Geneva airport runway as you can see the path the cable car takes up to the slopes.
By Tara Lissner, Swiss Gardening School
Well you have to admit we have had the most wonderful Indian summer; mild sunny days with above average temperatures, but with the first dusting of snow on the Jura this week autumn has most definitely arrived! Flocks of migrating birds, heavy dew in the mornings and a rainbow of coloured leaves encourage us to spend every last productive moment in the garden before the freezing temperatures of winter arrive.
Raking fallen leaves, pruning back the roses, enjoying piping hot, spiced pumpkin soup and planting bulbs and perennials before the soil becomes too heavy to walk on – my ever expanding to do list of things to keep busy with over the next few weeks.
Timely Tips
This time last year I suggested making leafmould compost from all the fallen leaves in the garden. If you managed to do this check your black sacks now and see the results. If you’d like to give it a go this year rake up all the leaves from the lawn and bag them in large black sacks perforated with air holes. Tie up the bags and pop them somewhere out of sight for at least 12 months. If you are storing them in a rain shadow water them occasionally and forget about them until this time next year when you will discover heaps of beneficial leafmould compost - perfect for adding to your beds as mulch.
October is all about pumpkins if you’ve had a successful season now is the time to think about harvesting them. They should sound hollow when tapped. Leave a good amount of now hardened stalk attached and store them in a cool dry cave or garage until you are ready to enjoy them. If you haven’t grown any this year there are plenty of opportunities to see and buy them locally from the supermarkets, who have an ever increasing variety for sale, to some of these local farms: http://www.fermecourtois.ch/46/le-marche in Versoix, http://www.lafermedespralies.ch/joo15/index.php in Arnex sur Nyon, http://www.schilliger.com in Gland, and a little further afield above Lausanne: http://www.1001courges.ch/
Pumpkins are a particularly easy crop to grow, why not try some new varieties this autumn with a thought to planting them at the end of the spring next year.
Continue to clear out the old summer bedding and fallen leaves. If you can resist the temptation don’t completely cut back everything in your borders. It is preferable to leave the dried seed heads of perennial plants like Echinacea to not only provide food for the birds but to create a little interest in the borders, they will look amazing covered with frost and or snow.
Get your bulbs in the ground or into their pots for a spectacular show in the spring - now is the time.
What’s on in November
Vente de Tubercules de Dahlias – 1-2 November, 10:00-16:00 The huge annual dahlia tuber sale organized by the Morges tourism office will be held in the gardens of the Chateau de Morges. Tubers are Chf 5 each and a list of the available varieties is available on the website: http://www.morges-tourisme.ch/fr/floralies-nature/event-dahlias
Les ateliers verts, Conservatoire et Jardins Bontanique de Genève – if you have children from the ages 8-11 who understand French this is an ideal way for them to spend a Wednesday afternoon. There are 17 individual afternoon programmes running from end October to June encouraging discovery and exploration of the plant and animal world: http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/accueil_ateliers_verts.php
As we have been so distracted by the warm temperatures it seems the end of year and Christmas preparations have being going on all around in some of our favourite places. Here are a few dates for your dairies:
Schilliger Garden Centre, Gland, Plan-les-Ouates, La Praille - Saturday 1 November sees the official inauguration of their Christmas markets, although they have been open since mid October: http://www.schilliger.com
Vernissage de Noël, R. Jaggi, Trélex - Saturday 15 17:00-21:00 & Sunday 16 16:00-21:00 November, R. Jaggi, Trélex
Possibly one of the most spectacular holiday plant and floral displays of the region, enjoy a glass of hot wine or a drop of soup with the talented team in Trélex: http://www.remyjaggi.ch
Forthcoming course information
Beyond Daffodils
Morning course, Thursday 30 October, 09:00-13:00, R. Jaggi Nursery, Trélex
http://swissgardeningschool.com/events/beyond-daffodils/
We are tremendously excited to announce this new course on integrating perennials and unusual bulbs to the garden. If you need inspiration to redesign a tired border this morning will be packed with practical advice and inspiring guidance. This course is sponsored by one of the leading perennial growers in the region. We will spend the morning in Trélex (above Nyon) with the team at the R. Jaggi Nursery where students will be immersed in a sea of inspirational plants. Full details and inscriptions are now on the website.
Pruning Techniques, sponsored by FELCO
Evening course, Monday 3 November, 18:30-22:00, Founex
http://swissgardeningschool.com/events/evening-course-pruning-techniques-2/
Although considered to be an essential skill for the amateur gardener pruning can be a daunting undertaking for the uninitiated. Join us and discover how to prune, when to prune and what to use. Get some hands-on experience and sound advice for your own garden from our resident arborist with tools provided by our Swiss sponsor FELCO, the world-leading manufacturer of professional pruning shears and cable cutters since 1945. http://www.felco.com
Redesigning the garden – value for money
Evening course, Monday 17 November, 18:30-22:00, Founex
http://swissgardeningschool.com/events/evening-course-redesigning-the-garden-value-for-money/
Designing your own garden or rejuvenating a tired corner may seem like a very expensive exercise but it need not be. Creating a beautiful outdoor space without spending a fortune is not as impossible as you might think. With advice from the experts join us to learn some clever ways to keep the finances under control, where to cut corners and when to invest - put your imagination to work.
I hope you enjoy the remaining sunshine and manage to keep busy in your garden.
Author's bio
An enthusiastic, self-taught gardener, Tara Lissner is passionate about gardening and eager to share her zeal and knowledge with other gardening fans.
In 2012, she joined forces with Hester Macdonald, a British-trained landscape designer, to launch the Swiss Gardening School.
(Photo by Jean-Luc Pasquier)
Swiss Gardening School
www.swissgardeningschool.com
By Tara Lissner, Swiss Gardening School
You have to love September for the still warm sun shining in the hazy blue sky of early autumn providing the most perfect soft light for admiring the changing colours of plants. The sound of gardeners out with their hedge trimmers and the sight of birds devouring the tiny but pesky caterpillars on our roses – such an end of summer feeling. May we be so lucky in October.
Timely Tips
If ever you thought the autumn was a time to relax before the snow fall of winter, be prepared for a long list of things to do this month. The question is where to start: give the lawn a little tlc (scarify, aerate, top dress and reseed until the first frost); remove all the summer bedding (difficult to do when the flowers keep coming but very unpleasant once the rain starts and they begin to rot!), plant new perennials, think about planting a fruit tree; give the hedges their final trim; plant bulbs in borders, lawns, pots and containers (available everywhere now and already on sale in some places), finally clear the vegetable plot and consider planting a green manure. As I said it is a very busy time.
I have been thinking about getting my paintbrushes, acrylics and art box out for months, and preparing a new piece of art for my bare wall.
Whilst I was walking round IKEA, I saw a huge photographic framed art piece reduced to half price and then I got thinking. What if I were to paint over this and create my own original piece of art? At the asking price, I couldn’t leave it behind. The cost of a prepared canvas of this scale, would have been four times the price.
So with a bit of imagination and much excitement, I set off by priming over the art piece with white gesso. It took about 4 coats but then it was ready for whatever medium or material I wanted to add to it.
It’s that time of the year when flowers are blooming, the sun is beaming into your home and you look around and clearly see that you have much freshening up to do.
Here are a few tips to kick-start your spring-cleaning before the busy season of summer begins:
DE-CLUTTERING
Take time to review all your home items purchased over the years. Decide whether you actually need these items, when was the last time you used them and would you actually miss them. You are then ready to put the clutter into 3 categories or boxes:
- Items that must be thrown away
- Items that can be given away or sold
- Items to be stored or put away
