You only get one chance to make a great first impression, so why waste an opportunity to get a leg up on other sellers?

Whether it's for better listing photos or to impress during showings, improving your home's curb appeal doesn't have to be expensive. Here are five cheap ways to boost your home's curb appeal:

Middle-aged gardens are easy to enjoy

New homes offer garden "potential," but "middle-aged" homes have the garden goods. They are packed with free stuff: plants, patios, fences and fixtures. But how do you look after mature gardens this month?

If your yard is a bar, mushrooms are the patrons and the wait staff

The phone call came during my regular CBC radio phone-in show.

The caller had heard Dr. Scholl's foot powder was a fungicide. She knew lawn mushrooms were a type of fungus, so she wondered if she could kill her lawn mushrooms with foot powder – active ingredient Tolfanate, a synthetic thiocarbamate.

"No, definitely not," I exclaimed.