January 21, 2012, 3:19 pm
We’ve talked about how to pick your seeds and we’ve talked a little about the soil to use, but when should you start your seeds? This is when good planning comes into play. You want your seeds ready to go when it’s safe to plant but you don’t want to start them too early, so how do you figure that? It’s actually pretty easy.
The easiest thing I can tell you is to look at the back of the seed starting package and see what it says! Post done right? Nope, I need to do better than that!
Should I Start My Seeds Indoors or In-ground?
There are two ways to start seeds: ahead of time in a pot or directly in the ground. Plants that like an early start are plants like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. Early starting plants are generally summer plants that need to start out of the cold but need a long growing season. There are some summer plants you can get an early start on but don’t like root disturbance. Cucumbers, melons, squash, and other cucurbits fit this description but are often best sowed directly in the soil. For these plants use biodegradable pots to avoid disturbing the roots when you plant them in the ground.
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January 20, 2012, 11:39 am
NEW YORK — Uncle Chichi, a toy poodle whose unusual longevity led to fame and an appearance on “Good Morning America,” died on Jan. 17 after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 26. Or 24. Or maybe 25.
The imprecision over his age led to debate over whether Chichi, or the Cheech, as he was sometimes known, had been the world’s oldest living dog.
He was remarkably old; that much was agreed upon by veterinarians, his owners and the animal shelter in Charleston, S.C., that offered him for adoption more than two decades ago.
But when his owners considered seeking a place for him in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2010, after he had a brush with death, the proof required — like puppy photos and veterinarian records — turned out to have been lost to the ages.
Chichi had begun showing signs of advancing age more than a decade ago; cataracts, glaucoma and a corneal ulcer required trips to the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan, N.Y. Yet h
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January 18, 2012, 3:56 pm
Today’s one-story house plans go well beyond the traditional ranch home. Architects and designers are taking the single story house plans to a whole new level by incorporating a variety of innovative and unique shapes and sizes to meet the needs, budget and lifestyle of future new home builders.
Consumers and builders can expect to find energy-efficient floor plans featuring flexible rooms, open kitchen, living and dining areas, extended outdoor living spaces, tons of amenities and simple, yet elegant exterior features to reflect various architectural styles.
Many single story house plans offer the ability to have a finished basement to extend the home’s living space. Bas
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January 15, 2012, 12:41 pm
Wireless payments, perhaps powered by NFC technology or something like it, are definitely inbound–for a bunch of reasons that start with consumer convenience and end with dynamic personalized advertising and shopper analytics. Odds are it’ll be a billion-dollar industry soon enough–which explains why there’s such a complex, layered, and consumer-hostile battle for the tech going on behind the scenes. Fascinating then that Visa, a master of the current plastic card payment paradigm, is so active in its wireless innovations.
To wit: Last week Visa chose the very public CES show as a great time to flex a little muscle, and announced that it had certified a bunch of Android-powered phones to be compatible with its PayWave systems.
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January 14, 2012, 11:17 pm
These days it seems that nearly everyone is concerned with saving energy, whether it’s over environmental concerns or more commonly, to save money.
One tip that’s usually offered is to unplug devices when they are not in use. This prevents “vampire energy” from leaking out when electronics are plugged in but not in use. The question is, how do you know which ones to unplug? With all of the different devices in the home these days, it could easily take a half hour to get it all done. Without me having to call in my local Brooklyn electrician how can I understand what appliance is wasting the most electricity?
Thankfully there is a little device called the Kill A Watt.
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