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Cheryl Holmes

The $9 Soil Test That Explained Every Garden Problem I Had

For years, my garden felt like a guessing game. Sometimes plants thrived, sometimes they collapsed for no reason. I kept buying fertilizers, changing watering schedules, even switching soil brands. Nothing worked consistently. One day at Home Depot, an older guy buying mulch saw me staring at fertilizer bags and said, “Stop buying stuff. Spend nine bucks on a soil test and read what your backyard is actually telling you.” I did it. The results shocked me: My pH was too alkaline for tomatoes My phosphorus was sky-high My nitrogen was basically zero My soil texture was classified as “compacted loam,” which explained the drainage issues For the first time, I had a blueprint instead of guessing. I added sulfur to correct pH, skipped phosphorus entirely, increased nitrogen lightly, and mixed in compost to loosen the soil. Within one season, the difference was night and day. Tomatoes exploded. Beans grew straight and tall. Even my struggling blueberries perked up. Nine dollars saved me hundreds. #Gardening #related

The $9 Soil Test That Explained Every Garden Problem I Had
Cheryl Holmes

How I Finally Beat Weeds Without Chemicals or Constant Pulling

Every spring, weeds took over faster than I could bend down. I tried landscape fabric, sprays, mulches — you name it. Nothing lasted more than a few weeks. Then I learned about pre-emergent corn gluten meal from a university agriculture extension video. Here’s the trick the video didn’t explain: It only works if you apply it before soil hits 55°F. And it needs ½ inch of water to activate. I followed the timing precisely this year: Spread a thin, even layer over my beds Watered it in Covered exposed areas with mulch The result? The weed pressure dropped by at least 70%. I still had to pull a few stubborn ones, but the constant fight finally ended. For the first time, I enjoyed spring instead of kneeling through it. #Gardening #related

How I Finally Beat Weeds Without Chemicals or Constant Pulling
Cheryl Holmes

The Raised Bed Water Trick That Saved Me Hours Every Week

I used to hand-water my raised beds with a hose, thinking it gave me more control. Instead, I wasted water, soaked leaves, and created uneven moisture that made my veggies crack or wilt. Then a gardener at the community plot told me: “You’re working against gravity. Let gravity do the watering.” He showed me how to set up a gravity-fed drip system using: A 5-gallon bucket A raised stand Drip tubing with small emitters A simple shutoff valve I fill the bucket every morning, and the system releases water slowly through the day directly at the roots. My soil stays evenly moist. Plants grow stronger. And I bought back at least five hours a week of my life. It cost less than $40 and outperformed the $200 irrigation kit I bought last year. #Gardening #related

The Raised Bed Water Trick That Saved Me Hours Every Week
Cheryl Holmes

What I Learned After My Lawn Died During a Heat Wave

During last year’s heat wave, my lawn went from green to straw in ten days. I watered every evening, thinking I was saving it. Wrong. A turf specialist explained what I did wrong: Evening watering invites fungus Short watering trains shallow roots Heat stress requires deep hydration, not frequent hydration Grass naturally goes dormant — that’s not death He gave me a simple plan: Water once a week, early morning, for at least 45 minutes Raise mower height to 3.5 inches Add a thin compost topdress in fall Aerate once a year The lawn returned the following spring stronger than ever. What I thought was “death” was stress — and I was stressing it more. It wasn’t a water problem. It was a root-depth problem. #Gardening #related

What I Learned After My Lawn Died During a Heat Wave