Outdoor Living on your Patio or Balcony

Have a seat…

A key to fun outdoor space is seating. It’s hard to hang out on your balcony for long periods of time if you’re always standing. As you have a small space to work with, consider multipurpose seating like a storage bench that can store your extra items and provide a great place to relax as well. If you don’t need storage, a cute bistro set offers both seating opportunities and a surface on which to put things—you might even find yourself having breakfast outside on the patio for the first time ever.

Make it pretty…

Balcony gardening has always been popular among apartment dwellers, and we have some spectacular gardeners at Union Manor! Balcony gardening is a great way to lend color and excitement to your outdoor space and is a good way to get outside into the fresh air. The more you enjoy your outside space, the harder you’ll work to keep it beautiful. Make your own unique containers for gardening, and work on using a variety of colors in your planting. Whether you like richly colored trees, bright little marigolds, or hardy hostas, a little planting will go a long way toward making your balcony a more attractive and appealing place to be. Your neighbors will enjoy it as well!

Great seating and pretty plants in cute containers are just the starting points for a beautiful balcony. Once you have these fundamentals in place, adding accessories like cute outdoor sculptures, birdhouses, or even specially designed, weather-resistant outdoor art prints are all ways to make your outdoor space fun and enjoyable, so don’t wait another day before decorating your balcony!

Tips to Keeping An Indoor Garden with An Indoor Kitty

Keeping an indoor garden in an apartment with cats can pose several problems. Use the following tips to avoid harm to your critters and plants as well as the headaches that come from cleaning up messes that result from a curious kitty:

* Use a Spray Formula

One of the easiest ways to keep cats away from an indoor garden is to spray the plants with a specially-formulated spray that’s safe for the plants and emits an unpleasant odor (to them, not you!). These sprays are generally effective and won’t leave a scent that will bother people in the apartment. However, some cats may continue to investigate the plants despite the use of a spray.

* Correct the Behavior

If you’re able to watch your indoor garden, you can teach your pet to stay away with discipline. When you see your cat near the plants, shout a clear “No!” Don’t use the animal’s name. Doing so for both positive and negative circumstances can be confusing to puss.

If a verbal command is not enough, associate it with an action that the pet doesn’t like, such as a loud noise or a mist of water. Most cats don’t like being sprayed with water, so keep a spray bottle of clean water near your plants. Not only can you use this bottle to mist your plants, but you can spray your cats if they get too close. (Avoid their eyes and ears.)

* Use Cayenne Pepper

Keep your animals away from your plants with a mixture of 1 cup water to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Mix thoroughly and spray the dirt around the plants (not the plants itself) with the mixture.

* Wrap Aluminum Foil around the Planters

Cats especially are not fond of the noise that aluminum foil makes when crinkled or the feel of it on their pads. Wrapping planters with aluminum foil means that kitty will feel the foil anytime it tries to stand on the planter to sniff or eat the garden. This works to keep cats away from the plants even when unsupervised, as the cat itself will activate the foil.

* Keep the Plants out of Reach

Placing plants high on a window sill or shelf with access to direct light might help to keep cats away from plants, especially if you make sure there are no “stepping stones” (such as lower shelves, tables, etc.) that kitty can use to jump up to the high location.

Pets and indoor gardens can exist in harmony in an apartment if you take the proper precautions to keep the pet away from the plants. Still, just to be on the safe side, avoid keeping plants that are poisonous to pets, such as lilies, hollies, ivys and azaleas.

Dear Residents

Being neighborly can mean different things to different people. Each of us may have an individualized notion of the ideal residents in our community, and these ideas can vary pretty widely. Some people work at being neighborly, while others simply focus on living their own lives with disregard for noise or disturbances they may cause. Neighbors come in all sizes, shapes, and styles.

We all have different kinds of neighbors. Some keep a close eye on everyone’s comings and goings, while others remain reclusive inside. You might have someone living beside you that continually runs in and out, like some of those pesky but humorous supporting characters in the sitcoms. Your neighbors may seem to be invisible except for a quick wave while getting the mail. Some neighbors may go out of their way to help you with unexpected needs, like watching your cat while you are on vacation.

Whatever the case, simply being kind and considerate to all of those around you will go a lot further than rudeness.

Just stop and think: What kind of neighbor am I, and what kind of neighbor do I want to be?

Visitor Parking

The visitor parking area is reserved for non-resident vehicles, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. Resident vehicles need to have a permit and should be parked in assigned spaces only. We do keep records of vehicles that repeatedly park in the visitor lot, and are trying our best to make sure that visitor parking is not abused by any resident. Make sure that your guests are not parking in the visitor lot for a long period of time, as there is a 4 hour time limit on ALL visitor stalls.

Car Ports

Please remember that storage is not permitted in your carports outside of your storage locker. Any items, such as tires, furniture, bicycles, etc., cannot be stored in your carport for any amount of time. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Have a maintenance issue? We're here to help! Please fill out the form below and our maintenance staff will address your issue.