Did you know you can run your irrigation system for ten minutes a week during restricted dates and times to check for adjustments and maintenance issues? As long as someone is visibly attending the system while it is turned on, it is legal. If you can’t see the irrigation system operating, you won’t know what needs to be repaired.

Now that plants are starting to grow, they will need water; more water than at any other time of the year. This is because Spring is our driest season. If you have an in-ground irrigation system, now is the time to turn it on and see what maintenance the system may need.

If you’re worried about a high water bill from an inefficient irrigation system and would like your system calibrated, call Paula Staples, UF/IFAS Extension Hillsborough County, Public Education Program Coordinator, at 813-744-5519 Ext. 54142, to see if a free calibration will save you money.

County residential solid waste customers (not commercial customers) may now get up to 2 cubic yards of mulch per year at no additional cost.

To pick up mulch, customers are required to present their current property tax bill (showing their solid waste assessments) and appropriate identification to the on-site attendant.

Lynn Barber is the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods agent at Hillsborough Extension. Reach her at BarberL@hillsboroughcounty.org.

It’s time to turn the clocks forward one hour on Sunday, March 8, and remember to test home safety devices and reset sprinkler system timers.

Sunday marks the beginning of daylight saving time and is a great opportunity to install fresh batteries and test smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors. When functional, these devices can double a family’s chance of surviving a home fire or an unsafe carbon monoxide level.

When resetting clocks, residents and property owners with automatic sprinkler systems should also consider having timers checked to avoid risking fines for watering at the wrong time and see if irrigation timers have back-up batteries that need changing. Continue reading →

Verizon Communications is selling its telephone, Internet and video operations in Florida and two other states to Frontier Communications for $10.5 billion in cash.

After the scheduled close of the deal, in the first half of 2016, Frontier will provide wireline services to residential, commercial and wholesale customers.

The Verizon properties that Frontier is buying include 3.7 million voice connections, 2.2 million broadband connections, and 1.2 million FiOS video connections in Florida, California and Texas, a statement said.

Those three states are the three remaining Verizon GTE platform states, according to an investor presentation filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Frontier (NASDAQ: FTR), based in Stamford, Connecticut, earlier converted 13 GTE platform states as part of a 2010 deal with Verizon. Frontier currently operates the bundled phone-Internet-television high-speed FiOS service in Washington, Oregon, Indiana and South Carolina, and its system is ready for expanded FiOS operations, the filing said.

Verizon (NSYE, NASDAQ: VZ) said in its own press statement that it wants to concentrate its wireline operations on the East Coast.Verizon Wireless and Verizon Enterprise Solutions are not part of the deal, Verizon said.