Vegetables have trouble expressing their need for water. “Plants that need water and plants that are overwatered will have the same symptoms — the same wilting,” said Jennifer Fishburn, horticulture educator for University of Illinois Extension from her office in Springfield. “The leaves are going to weep a little bit.”

Not wanting to witness a cruciferous vegetable making an emotional scene — we’re stoic like that in the Middle West — I asked Ms. Fishburn how I should be watering my garden. I won’t say that her answer sounded all that complicated, but I will say that more or less everything I was doing by instinct was wrong.

I could probe down six inches with a screwdriver, she said, and see if the soil felt loose and dry or damp and dense. Better, she said, would be to follow a single rough rule: Established vegetables need an inch of water each week during the summer, either from rain or watering. And plants, apparently being immoderate things, like to gulp it all down in a shot — say, once a week. Those short, steady showers I’d been administering probably weren’t reaching the roots, she said. (more…)

The Malone Bay community features 18 lots at W. Kerr Scott Dam & Reservoir. Fourteen (14) are Lakefront and meet private dock requirements. All lots have access to public water, saving owners from $5,000 to $10,000 on drilling a well. These lots have public water and will save you the cost of drilling a well. The entire development also features underground utilities.

This is a gated community with lots ranging from 2.3+- acres to 6.8+- acres on the Hwy 421 side of the lake just off South Minton Road, Wilkesboro, NC 28697

W. Kerr Scott Lake is 1500 acres with 50 miles of shoreline and is controlled by the US Army Corps of Engineers. It is clean water with good fishing and is excellent for boating, kayaking, skiing, and swimming. The property is surrounded by National Parks. Wilkesboro is a beautiful community and town with friendly people. It is located just 40 miles east of Boone and Blowing Rock, NC and one and a half hours northwest of Charlotte.

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Here’s a real estate investment idea that’s so new that a lot of people have never even heard of it: Buying multi-unit property with an FHA reverse mortgage — living in one unit, renting out the others, and NEVER paying a dime in monthly principal or interest costs.

That’s right, FHA now permits seniors 62 years and older to purchase residential real estate using a reverse mortgage. Until recently, reverse mortgages insured by FHA were only available on homes already owned and occupied by eligible borrowers.

But since this spring, the agency has offered a new twist: You can go out and buy a house — a duplex, tri-plex, or quadruplex — using a reverse mortgage. (more…)