How to Change Your Soil

by Beccie
(Jonesville, NC)

Good morning Grandma.

Hope all is well on the homefront.

I actually have 2 questions for you. One may be for Grandpa.

How do you make your soil acidic and how do you make it alkaline? We have had our soil tested and we need to altar our soil. Can you help?

Then question number 2. What would cause oil-based polyurethan to turn yellow on newly latex painted bathroom cabinets. After all the work we did and now we have yellow cabinets with streaks. Is there a simple way to get rid of the streaks or do we have to prime and paint again?

Please help. Thank you. Beccie

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Jun 01, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		Acid & Alkaline Soil
by: Grandma

Hi There Beccie,

I have to admit when I see a question from you I could never predict what you may be asking. :) But it's always good to hear from you.

Now let's see, to get your soil alkaline you're going to need to treat it with lime. Grandpa has to do that every year because we have huge pine trees in our yard. It's pretty easy to do, just sprinkle it over the soil in the area you're testing with high acid and turn it over. You don't have to dig deep, the rains will naturally mix it through the soil. Just make sure you wait for it to rain before planting.

I'm sure you can guess with my last answer to naturally make your soil acid rich you're going to need to locate some pine needles or oak leaves and mix it into your soil. Just put it on like a mulch and mix it in lightly.

Now for the bad news on your bathroom cabinets. Sorry, you're going to have to redo them again with primer first. I'm guessing your cabinets must have been wood stained and probably were treated with a coat or two of polyurethane, that would cause the bleed through and also the streaks. When painting over polyurethane it will cause the paint to run.

Hope this helps you out, and yep, I had to ask Grandpa about the cabinets. You probably remember he just built all our kitchen cabinets when the bees starting chasing him. Now I gotta figure out how I can get him to build the cabinet drawers.

Take care,

Grandma

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