Q: Can you give some tips on how to survive this latest bout of heat? Is it simply too hot right now for plants? Is shade cloth the answer?
Home and Garden
Amidst a background of debate, the controversy over climate change and global warming continues to rage on with no clear winner in sight, despite the fact that researchers say that the deadly heat waves such as the one we’re experiencing now are going to grow more frequent.
In our 40s, we’ve accepted the aches and pains that remind us we’re no longer 25. That said, the last thing we want to think about is how our health might look in our 60s and 70s, much less what living accommodations we might need to handle our changing physical abilities.
Q: Please settle a disagreement between my wife and me. Each spring my wife plants several plants in pots for our patio using bagged potting soil. Each year a few of them die and others live. This happened two years in a row. I contend the potting soils need to have some real dirt mixed in with it to make them better.
Dear Gail: We’ve just finished landscaping our backyard and want to spend more time out on our patio. We’d like it to feel like another family room not a typical outdoor patio. Any ideas? — Betsy P.
Q: I had water leaking from underneath my toilet where the toilet meets the floor. My neighbor agreed to help me replace the wax ring underneath. We got the toilet off with no problem, but when we cleaned off the wax from the floor, we noticed that the retaining ring is broken. What do we do now?
Everyone appreciates convenience, and nothing is more convenient than having an exercise room in your home: no more running outside in 110-degree heat to drive to the gym just to work up a sweat.
Q: I need confirmation of a problem with my grapes. A gardening Facebook group is certain my grape berries have thrip damage this year. I sent you a picture to confirm it or not.
“Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending.” — Longfellow (1807–1882), American poet and professor, Elegiac Verse (1881)
“Inserting color into the exterior setting can transcend the entire ambiance of the space from sedate to sensational,” global estate developer Kassie Smith said.
Q: We have a 30-foot-tall lemon tree planted in late 2006. This tree produces large fruit, averaging 15 ounces to more than a pound. I consider this tree to be perpetual as it flowers fruit and maintains a crop in development at the same time. My question is, do we pick the ripe fruit or let them fall as they may?
Q: I pulled my lawn mower out of the garage for the first time this season and tried to start it up. The mower coughed and coughed. It wouldn’t start but I sure did get a lot of exercise pulling the cord. What can I do to get the mower to run better?
Barbecuing season is officially underway. It began Memorial Day weekend in most parts of the country. In Southern Nevada, there is no official beginning or end as locals barbecue every day of the year.
Who among us hasn’t at some point suddenly stopped and gazed transfixed into a shop window, a museum or art gallery as we came face to face with some form of an artist’s vision and genius?
Q: Once again I had a fairly good crop of tomatoes this year. One problem, though, a lot of ripe tomatoes are disappearing overnight. Are gray rats known for foraging and consuming garden produce? I spotted one about a week ago going over a side wall in my yard.