More Gardening Tips

If you read our first post on the gardening mistakes you don’t want to make, check out the rest of our list!

• You planted in invasive variety, like a horseradish plant, Mexican feathergrass or English ivy.

o How to fix it: When ordering seeds from a catalog, words like “vigorous growth” and “prolific reseeder” are giveaways that the plant might be invasive tendencies. If you decide to go with the plant anyway, make sure to weed diligently, and consider solarizing.

• Your plants don’t have enough sun.

o How to fix it: Plants like tomatoes need a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight. Veggie plants like eggplants, chilies and most herbs also need a lot of sun, while lettuces and peas can survive in a shady area.

• You didn’t think about wildlife – and now animals are eating your plants.

o How to fix it: Install a fence around your garden to safeguard your garden from raccoons, deer and other animals. We’re your source for iron gate installation and repair. Daffodils contain poisonous crystals, so squirrels will avoid them, while snowdrops, fritillaries and winter aconite are also poisonous.

Check back for more tips on window manufacturing in North Riverdale and other areas and more!

Don’t Make These Garden Mistakes

We may be experts in installing replacement windows in your Bronx home, but did you know that at 3rd Avenue Window Supply, we’re also full of tips to make your home better? Including gardening tips?

Read our list of gardening mistakes so you don’t make them in your garden!

• Planting your garden in the wrong location.

o How to fix it: Don’t worry, you don’t have to tear out the beds entirely. If you have raised beds, empty them and spread a level of gravel evenly over the planters. This will improve the drainage. Refill the planters with fresh organic compost and you are all set!

• You neglected to prepare your soil last year and wound up with an entire vegetable patch that either died or never produced anything.

o How to fix it: Test your soil each year to find out what type you have and what it needs based on what you are growing.

• Whoops, you accidentally pulled up flowers rather than weeds!

o How to fix it: Tracking plants is a common mistake, so make sure to mark your plants using the nursery tags plants come with.

• You overwatered, and killed everything!

o How to fix it: Sure, underwatering can dehydrate your plants, but overwatering can drown plant roots and cause them to rot. Invest in an irrigation system with a “smart” controller for an easy fix.

Once you follow our gardening tips, you’ll be looking at a beautiful garden through your window replacements!

How to Create a Window Stepped Prop Stick

Summer is in full swing, and as home window installation experts in Manhattan, we know a thing or two about windows and how they can keep you cool during the warmer months.


A stepped prop stick is a simple tool that will let you prop open your window replacements in a variety of positions, which is essential to letting the breeze flow through your New York home. Although most windows have springs built into them, they wear out or aren’t strong enough to hold the weight of the window. Your solution? To wedge a stepped prop stick between the window and the sill. By doing this, you can adjust the space as you like it.

You’ll need a ruler, pencil, jiqsaw or pullsaw, 1- by 2-inch slat (18 inches long), wood file, sandpaper and goggles. Follow these steps and you’ll be feeling the breeze before you know it:

1. Make two marks perpendicular to the long edge, thus dividing the slat into thirds (each mark should extend ½ inch into the slat). Using a ruler, draw a diagonal line from the top corner to the interior point of your first mark. Draw another diagonal from the edge point of the first mark to the interior point of the second mark.

2. Using the jigsaw, carefully cut the slat along your markings to create the notchings.

3. After filing, sand the newly cut edges to eliminate any loose splinters.

Get Rid of Water Spots

Imagine this scenario: you’re outside enjoying a glass of wine with friends when suddenly you see them—water spots—on your bay windows. This is irritating, especially if you just had bay windows installed in your Belle Harbor home.


So how do you get rid of them? It’s easy! Make a mixture of 2 ounces water and 10 drops lemongrass or lavender oil and use it to wipe the windows. The essential oils may even repel flies, as an added bonus!

If you don’t have any oil, mix together ¼ cup vinegar, 2 cups water, and a squirt of liquid Castile soap. Put it in a spray bottle and lightly mist your window replacements. Then wipe them down with a sheet of newspapers—paper towels will leave streaks.

If your windows are too high to be reached with ease, use an expandable rod to clean hard-to-reach areas.

Refinishing Your Door

If your front door is showing wear and tear, window replacements will help, but you’ll still need to refinish your door in order to make it really shine. Wood entry doors everywhere suffer from the effects of water and sun, and most of the time people throw away the doors and replace them with low-maintenance (read: cheap!) replacements, but this doesn’t have to happen! Read our tips for saving your door:


1. First thing’s first, you’ll have to take off the hardware before refinishing the entry door and installing replacement windows in your Bronx home.

2. Rest the door on padded sawhorses and sand the flats with a random-orbit sander with 80-grit paper. Then, sand the wood again with 100-grit paper followed by 120-grit.

3. Use small, sharp scrapers to gain access into corners, narrow profiles and on the end grain of raised panels (parts not accessible by rotary sanders). Use two hands to pull the scraper with the grain.

4. Next, hand-sand profiles using a half sheet of 100-grit sandpaper folded into thirds. Use a sanding sponge on inside corners and then clear away dust.

5. Before rehanging, seal the door’s bottom and top edges with a coat of finish. Put the door back on its hinges before applying the first coat.

6. Pour finish into a clean bucket and dip the bristles of a new China-bristle brush 1/3 of the way into the liquid. Be sure to soak the brush in paint thinner for a few minutes before. Start with the panels and move to the surrounding moldings, horizontal rails and vertical stiles.

7. Be sure to let the door dry overnight before closing it.