If you have a standalone mailbox, inspect it for wear and tear from weather and termites. Give it a new coat of paint, or if you can afford it, install a new one. There are a multitude of mailboxes these days, so shop around and find just the right one to give distinctive flair to your home.

The cheapest thing you can do to improve your curb appeal it to simply clean up. Keep your front porch, steps, and walkways cleared of odds and ends. Loose papers, flyers left on your door, miscellaneous debris should be swept and picked up every day. Keep paths inviting for guests as they approach your home.

Home soil sample kits can be purchased at most home improvement stores and a variety of online retailers. If you only need to test your lawn soil look for the soil kit designed just for that purpose.

While wearing rubber gloves collect a small handful of soil from at least six different locations around your yard. When collecting the soil only gather it from the top three inches so to get soil that your grass actually grows in. This will give you the most true soil reading. Don’t use your bare hands because even small amounts of sweat can throw off a reading. Remove any grass or rocks and mix the soil into a good blended sample. Most home tests will ask you to mix the soil with water well then allow the soil to sink to the bottom before you use the test. Make sure to follow you chosen test exactly for best results.

Your test results will give you the pH level of the soil. It will also tell whether you have too much or not enough amounts of potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen. Once you know these you can add soil amendments where necessary to get the soil where it needs to be. This can be done by applying chemical fertilizer or through organic means.

If you get your lawn back in balance you will be surprised at how much easier it is to keep looking beautiful and green.

Wooden gates get a lot of abuse from the weather. Hard soaking rains followed by a hot dry day can make the best wood gate curl up and misshape it’s self over time.

The most common problem with a wood gate is sagging. The heavy wood can really pull down on it’s self with time and drop low enough to start dragging as you open and close the gate. In the worst case the weight will warp the post supporting it and need to be replaced.

Most wood gate sagging can be eliminated with the use of a turnbuckle tension cable or rod. You attach one end of the turnbuckle cable to the top of the hinge side of the gate and the other to the lower outside. By increasing the tension on the cable it will pull the sagging gate up at the end and give the gate more support.