Guest Blogs
Knowitall.ch often invites local experts in their field to contribute to their own blogs on our site. This means not only you will benefit from the useful recommendations that we make on our News pages, but you can also profit from some of the great advice and tips that these experts have to make on their favorite subjects. Whilst each of these bloggers has been recommended to us at some point during the evolution of Know-it-all passport and knowitall.ch, obviously we are not able to test out all the suggestions they make on their blogs, nor do we necessarily agree with all their opinions. So if you do find one of their tips useful (or not!), do let us know!
To make these blogs more accessible to you, we have now decided to group them altogether in one section, entitled Guest Blogs, accessible from our main menu bar. We will also post the most recent blogs on the home page of our site in the right hand column.
We are still building up this area of the site, and are looking for bloggers in a number of sections, including Your Home, Travel, and Leisure, so if you feel you have a useful contribution to make in either of these areas, and have the time to submit blog entries approximately every month, then please get in touch!
By Tara Lissner, Swiss Gardening School
The arrival of June brings with it the increase in temperatures that we have all been waiting for. With this heat comes the tremendous increase of growth in the vegetable garden and flower beds which in turn brings us to the issue of water. How much is too much, how best to manage it and what to do when the holidays are looming. A little advance planning is never a bad thing. Be wise when it comes to your plants this summer.
If you are away for more than three consecutive weeks rethink your pots, containers and your plans for a vegetable bed. Let’s start with pots. If you can bear it, wait until you get back before you plant up your terrace beauties. Unless you have a house-sitter or you have paid a neighbour’s child (with specific, detailed written directions) your pots will not survive your holiday. They will be a dried out bundle of crispy annuals by the time you return and you will have to start from scratch anyway. If your plans are for shorter trips there are a number of things that can be done. Avoid thirsty and heat sensitive annuals like impatiens and petunia, pelargoniums and verbena are a better bet. Prepare your pots with good drainage materials, consider using water-retaining crystals or rain mats which absorb water and allow the plants to access it when needed. Finally move your pots into the least sunny position available.
Vladimir Kovin is the founding partner of the Overcome The Barrier project, and the creator of the OCTB Method. He graduated from Coastal Carolina University in the United States, and he majored in accounting and finance. Afterwards, he worked as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs and Citibank in New York and in Moscow. Additionally, he received a professional CPA certification.
Overcome the Barrier teaches English online to individual and corporate clients using a unique method. They use either Skype or GChat video conferencing to contact their clients while their teachers’ type everything being said by their clients during the lesson in Google Docs. Their students communicate with native English speakers, simulating the experience of living in an English-speaking country for the students.
By Julie Tompkins-Wagner, www.Julie-music.com
At what age should children start taking music lessons?
I am often asked this question. There is no right answer as each and every child is a unique individual and, particularly at younger ages, children’s development can vary widely. However I can offer some guidelines which may help parents to understand if and when their child is ready to take up individual music lessons.
The first and foremost requirement is this: is your child really interested and enthusiastic about the idea of studying an instrument? If the child isn’t interested, then no amount of will power on the part of the teacher and parent is going to get that child to practice.
Can your child sit still, more or less, and concentrate for half an hour? While it would be ideal for small children to have two 20 minute lessons per week, the reality is that, unless you live very close to the teacher, logistics will get in the way. Wait until your child is mature enough for that 30 minutes of concentrated time.
By Dean Marriott
Trying to keep children entertained is a challenge at the best of times, so with the summer holidays fast approaching, many of my friends and colleagues are starting to go into panic mode. So much free time, but no idea what to do with it!
Not every parent can take their holidays to correspond with their children’s school holidays, so finding daytime care is a constant worry. Local day camps may be limited in your area, as most of the bigger providers focus on the more lucrative residential programmes which draw on a global pool of students.
Whilst many children just want to have fun during their holidays, adding an educational element could maximise the benefit derived from attending a summer day programme. Finding the right combination of education, fun and price is a challenge, but one which could be worth seeking out.
By Tara Lissner, Swiss Gardening School
I often get the feeling that all we gardeners do is talk, or more importantly complain, about the weather, whether it be too warm, too wet, too cold or too dry. It is of course an essential part of our ability to garden, no one likes the thought of mowing the lawn in the rain. My recent discussions with others have been all about the “saints de glace“. In case you were not aware, in local agricultural folklore nothing tender should be planted out unprotected until after the days of the “saints de glace” have passed. These ice saints, SaintMamertus, Saint Pancras and Saint Servatius, celebrate their feast days on 11, 12 and 13 May each year. Until these days have passed there is still the possibility of night frost. I think this year they are dragging their heels as we’ve had some very chilly nights recently. With my garden hovering around +7c as a high one day last week, I’m very glad to be behind with my tomato planting. Do keep an eye on the overnight temperatures and if it looks like it might be very cold and your garden is very exposed, throw some garden fleece over those tender shoots.
