The farmer's market guy who taught me about soil pH

Last summer I was at the Saturday market in Eugene and this older guy selling tomatoes stopped me. He asked why my basil looked sad and I told him I watered it every day. He laughed and said 'You're drowning it, not helping it.' Then he pulled out a simple $8 pH tester from his pocket and showed me how to check my soil. He spent 15 minutes explaining that most herbs actually like slightly acidic dirt around 6.0 to 6.5. Has anyone else had a random stranger just completely change how they care for plants?

2 comments

2 Comments

theagarcia20d ago

That $8 pH tester probably saved more plants than I've accidentally killed by just "being helpful" with too much water. Now my basil gets to suffer in slightly acidic neglect like nature intended.

troykim20d ago

You ever have a buddy who just kills every plant he touches? My friend Mike was the same way, drowning his basil and mint every single day. A neighbor saw him watering them and just walked over, took the hose, and said "bro, stop loving them so hard." Mike's been watering once a week now, and his basil actually grew back. That neighbor also told him to mix a little coffee grounds into the soil, which worked way better than any fancy fertilizer he bought. Now Mike's the plant guy in our group and it's annoying as hell.