We will be returning to Standard Time on October 30th. Remember to set your clocks back one hour Sunday the 30th, at 2am. Or set them early and enjoy that extra hour of sleep!

Smoke detector batteries should be changed yearly; the change to Standard Time is also a great time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors. Properly functioning smoke detectors save thousands of lives every year.

When the soil under a lawn becomes compacted from foot traffic or heavy equipment, it loses its springy texture and becomes hard as a rock. Water puddles or runs off, and lack of air to the roots causes the turf to deteriorate in appearance and vigor; the lawn often develops thin or bare patches.

To correct this condition take these steps:

• Mow the lawn, then make holes in the sod by running a rented aeration machine over it. Or do the job by hand with a tool made for the purpose.
• You don't need to remove the plugs. They contain organisms that are beneficial to the lawn and are released with your next mowing.
• Spread 25 lbs. of Best SOIL BUSTER pelletized gypsum over each 1,000 square feet of lawn. Top dress with 1/4 inch of organic soil amendment (such as Paydirt), then water in with a liquid soil penetrant such as Monterey Perc-O-Late Plus. This is especially important when the soil or thatch is hydrophobic (so dry it sheds water).
• Follow up with a deep watering and you're good to go!

It's easy to grow wildflowers. Here's how:

• Choose a spot in full sun. Spade or rototill the ground deeply, adding organic soil amendment (we recommend Bumper Crop) but no fertilizer. (If you plant wildflowers for three years in the same bed, sprinkle the ground with a light application of complete fertilizer before planting for the third time.)
• Smooth and level the surface with the garden rake.
• Decide on a watering system. A drip system usually works the best.
• If the area you're planting is too wide for you to reach all parts of it from the edges, either make wandering paths through it or place stepping stones here and there between the drip tubes so you can walk on the bed without compacting the soil.
• Sprinkle seeds of native wildflowers all over the bed. Sprinkle individual types in drifts, putting tall varieties at the back or in the middle and shorter varieties at the front or around the edges.
• Rake the seed lightly into the soil.
• Intersperse pea stakes throughout the bed.
• Protect the seeds and sprouts from birds: stretch bird netting over the stakes. Fasten the edges down with rocks or wire staples. (After the plants are up 4 to 5 inches take off the netting but leave the pea stakes in place to support the plants through wind and rain.)
• Sprinkle the bed with a watering pot twice a day until seeds germinate. Then start watering with a drip system or by soaking the bed when the rains are not adequate.
• After the plants are up and growing, stand or lean on your paths or stepping stones to weed and thin them — if necessary. Bait for slugs, snails and cutworms.
• Use canes pruned from climbing roses to protect the bed from being smashed by skunks or other animals in the spring.

Late October to early November is the time to get a head start on disease prevention for fruit trees.

Deadbud on cherries can be reduced or prevented by spraying using a combination spray of Cooke LIQUI-COP and SPRAY GRIP.

To prevent shot-hole fungus and brown rot on apricots and plums along with peach-leaf curl on Peaches and Nectarines, it is important to make your first spray application prior to heavy rains and leaf fall.

Irene is a native of San Jose and enjoys traveling, dancing, working out, and going with friends to comedy clubs.

As a child Irene once led Operation Tadpole Rescue, saving as many "orphan" tadpoles from the local creek as her mother's Tupperware collection would hold. Her house soon became home to a budding reptilian ecosystem, and her parents spent many a sleepless night listening to a chorus of croaking and unwittingly sharing their beds with Irene's frogs and turtles.

Once out of high school, Irene took a job with a refuse company leading tours of the sanitation recycling industry.

Ever impulsive, Irene has been known to suddenly take off on long 12-hour drives to the country. In the winter, she enjoys Frisbee-sliding in the snow.

My Celebrity Service staff and I look forward to serving you this year. We'll go out of our way to make your day!

Eric Wilder - President