One of the most often asked questions I receive about potted gardens is “How often do I need to change the soil in my pots?” As in the case of many questions concerning potted gardens, it is not a simple answer. As I write this and see the length of these instructions, please do not hesitate to simply email me with your specific question.

(Note: potting soil is a ‘soilless’ mix. Be sure to select a quality product that is rich, deep brown and smells earthy.)

24” diameter and less pots — ones that you can somewhat easily move —— you will want to replace the soil in the following situations:
1. The pot is root bound with its plants
2. The plants that were in the pot died due to disease or pests (in which case you need to sterilize the pot before reusing.)
3. The soil no longer holds water
4. There is a lack of richness or ‘earthiness’ characteristic of new potting soil.
*Always add new fertilizer (organic and/or time release) each time you newly plant a pot.

However, pots that are larger than 24” are very cumbersome to change out entirely, especially if planted with a large plant. As I continue to talk about ‘really big pots’ that are 32” in diameter and larger, the difficulty intensifies. There are certain circumstances where I would suggest that you do get some strong bodies to help and the plant is taken out and soil changed.

Even in large pots, plants can become root bound. The choice then is to either take the plant out and give it a permanent place in your landscape by planting it in the ground or to trim the roots. In the former, be sure to plant it during the appropriate season for your specific climate and the plant’s needs and tolerance.

The other option is if the plant can tolerate a root pruning, you can remove it from the pot by laying the pot down on its side (this is where the muscle is needed!) and gently extracting it from the pot. Then you can reduce the root volume by up to one third and repot the plant into the same pot with all new potting soil. Citrus trees and many shrubs such as the myrtle family of boxwoods respond very well to root trimming. Palms do not do very well with root pruning in my experience. Be sure to water the plant very thoroughly after repotting.

Lou Reed died today. Although the cause of death has not been released, the musician underwent a liver transplant in May:

With the Velvet Underground in the late Sixties, Reed fused street-level urgency with elements of European avant-garde music, marrying beauty and noise, while bringing a whole new lyrical honesty to rock & roll poetry. As a restlessly inventive solo artist, from the Seventies into the 2010s, he was chameleonic, thorny and unpredictable, challenging his fans at every turn. Glam, punk and alternative rock are all unthinkable without his revelatory example. "One chord is fine," he once said, alluding to his bare-bones guitar style. "Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz."

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed was born in Brooklyn, in 1942. A fan of doo-wop and early rock & roll (he movingly inducted Dion into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989), Reed also took formative inspiration during his studies at Syracuse University with the poet Delmore Schwartz. After college, he worked as a staff songwriter for the novelty label Pickwick Records (where he had a minor hit in 1964 with a dance-song parody called "The Ostrich"). In the mid-Sixties, Reed befriended Welsh musician John Cale, a classically trained violist who had performed with groundbreaking minimalist composer La Monte Young. Reed and Cale formed a band called the Primitives, then changed their name to the Warlocks. After meeting guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker, they became the Velvet Underground. With a stark sound and ominous look, the band caught the attention of Andy Warhol, who incorporated the Velvets into his Exploding Plastic Inevitable. "Andy would show his movies on us," Reed said. "We wore black so you could see the movie. But we were all wearing black anyway."

[Rolling Stone]

Here's what's going on this weekend:

There's going to be a big Monster Mash at Hotel Congress tomorrow starting at 8 p.m. There's going to be fun games, prizes and live music. Click here to buy your tickets.

My brother Tyler wore his Misfits shirt until it, literally, fell to pieces. The skull became more and more tattered with each wash and still he wore it at least three times a week, much to my mom's displeasure. I'm sure that's where my love for the music started. Seeing his pride in something so worn proved the strength of music to me, its ability to make you unashamed of your enthusiasm.

Something in the music by Glen Danzig has always stuck a chord to me, and my favorite album will always be Static Age. The lyrics themselves are blunt to the degree of pain, along with the tone in which they're delivered. Each song has this constant, solid beat, timed with the lyrics perfectly. My sister calls it our 'getting pumped' music because we can never help but feel ready to go after listening to it.

By Aaron Granillo
Cronkite News Service
Originally published: Oct 25, 2013 - 8:46 am

PHOENIX — Arizona residents are encouraged to drop off their expired, unused, or unwanted prescription drugs at sites across the state on Saturday.

It's a part of national campaign sponsored by the DEA to curb prescription drug abuse. Many health officials call the issue an epidemic.

"In fact, more people in Arizona die from opiate overdoses than car accidents," said Will Humble, director of the Arizona Department of Health.

The 2011 National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health showed more Americans abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined.

Police and fire departments are among the dozens of entities participating in the statewide event. Click here to find local collection sites.

National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day runs Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

British comedian, breakout star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and generally entertaining person Russell Brand made millions of fans on the Internet when he figuratively knocked a well-respected British journalist across the goddamn room with revolutionary rhetoric.

Most impressively, he did so without saying anything new at all.

Brand, who recently did a guest editor stint on the revolution-themed issue of the New Statesman, went toe to toe with BBC Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman in an interview based around one question: Why should anyone listen to the political leanings of a guy who doesn't vote?

Girl gets around! When we can catch our breath, looking at all the fun C. Elliott's having, we're reminded of what we've missed, and determined to do better this weekend!

Check out tucsonweekly.getn2.it for all the music in town, every night of the week.

I know you're sitting at your desk going over the office betting pool. That's one of the benefits of working in a maze of cubicles. Everyone around you likes to gamble money they don't have. I have participated in many pools, and lost.

I don't want you to lose like I did. I'm here to help your gambling addiction and give you a fighting chance. Here's the spread for week 8 thanks to Football Locks:

Date & Time    Favorite   Spread  Underdog Total Money Odds

10/27 1:00 ET San Francisco -16 At Jacksonville 40.5 -$2200 +$1000

10/27 1:00 ET At Detroit -3 Dallas 51 -$175 +$155

10/27 1:00 ET At Philadelphia -5.5 NY Giants 51.5 -$260 +$220

10/27 1:00 ET At Kansas City -7.5 Cleveland 39 -$350 +$290

10/27 1:00 ET At New Orleans -11 Buffalo 49 -$675 +$475

10/27 1:00 ET At New England -6.5 Miami 45.5 -$300 +$250

10/27 4:05 ET At Cincinnati -6.5 NY Jets 41 -$300 +$250

10/27 4:05 ET Pittsburgh -2.5 At Oakland 40.5 -$140 +$120

10/27 4:25 ET At Denver -12 Washington 58.5 -$800 +$600

10/27 4:25 ET At Arizona -2.5 Atlanta 45.5 -$145 +$125

10/27 8:30 ET Green Bay -9 At Minnesota 47.5 -$575 +$425

Monday Night Football Odds

10/28 8:40 ET Seattle -11 At St. Louis 42.5 -$700 +$500

Go big or go home and explain why you spent this month's rent away.

Up and coming Hollywood comedian Tom Clark will be in town this weekend at Laffs Comedy Caffe, 2900 East Broadway.


You might have seen Clark on TNT's The Closer, or Outsourced or the hotdog vendor at this year's Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2013. I know him because of his voiceover work on the Blade II video game from 11 years ago. Steve Poggi will be the featured act, and there will be some local comedians doing some guest spots as well.


I'm hosting all 4 shows all weekend. You might have seen me at Tucson Meet Yourself doing the Cupid Shuffle. It's going to be a lot like that but I think I'll do the Electric Slide instead. There's an early show at 8 p.m.and late show at 10:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. You should come down and get a drink with me at the bar. Dingo the bartender will take care of us.

Email me at [email protected] to win some tickets to the show. Click here from more information then you need.

It was some famous person (doesn't really matter who; since I can't really remember right now) who once said, "it ain't how you start, it's how you finish." Or something like that. This is a blog post, rampant historical accuracy is not absolutely necessary.

Anyway, when it comes to sports, there are many documented cases of teams that get off to horrendously bad starts, only to make some adjustments or changes along the way and then, as if on cue from an off-camera director (or the WWE choreographer) flip a switch and make a mad dash of improvement toward the finish line.

With that I give you the 2013 Cienega High School football team.

Left for dead a month ago, the Bobcats (3-5) are smack dab in the middle of the Division II state playoff hunt thanks to wins in their last two games. Cienega sits 20th in the latest power points rankings entering tonight's game at Desert View (1-7), and with a win there and in the regular season finale at Sahuaro (7-1) it may very well end up grabbing a postseason bid.

So, what changed? There's no fancy analytics to explain it, other than that Cienega finally started to score some points. It also helped the Bobcats were no longer facing the best of the best in terms of statewide competition.

The turnaround actually began with a loss, when Cienega fell 63-60 to Sierra Vista Buena, dropping it to 1-5. The 60 points were more than the Bobcats had scored in their previous four games combined, and since then they've scored 42 to beat Sunnyside and 57 in a victory over Nogales.

And because Cienega played such a difficult non-league schedule — its first five opponents are 27-13 — it likely has enough points from the schedule strength portion of the state's ranking system to get into the top 16 with wins tonight and next Friday.

The only catch is, it might need to finish in the top 15 to get in. That's because each section is guaranteed at least one team into the playoffs, and right now Section 4's top-rated team, Yuma Cibola (4-4), sits in 26th place.

Cienega can't worry about any of that, though. All it needs to do is win.

Here's a look at the what other local teams in playoff contention have going tonight:

Division II
No. 1 Salpointe Catholic (8-0) at No. 14 Ironwood Ridge (5-3)
No. 8 Sahuaro (7-1) at No. 18 Sunnyside (5-3)
No. 9 Tucson (7-1) at No. 13 Mountain View (5-3)

Division III
Douglas (2-6) at No. 7 Sabino (6-2)
No. 8 Canyon del Oro (7-1) at Flowing Wells (1-7)
No. 13 Catalina Foothills (6-2) at Marana (4-4)

Division IV
No. 10 Rio Rico (6-2) at No. 21 Walden Grove (4-4)
Santa Rita (3-5) at No. 11 Sahuarita (5-3)
No. 17 Palo Verde (5-4) at No. 8 Safford (6-2)

Division V
Canyon State Academy (6-2) at No. 9 Pusch Ridge Christian (7-1)
No. 16 Benson (5-3) at No. 20 Willcox (4-4)