Bad soil - help!

I tested the soil in my main veg plot today using one of those (quite cheap) test kits from the garden centre. It said the soil was alkaline (pH8), and the nutrients were 'deficient' (N and K, the P one didn't work). What do I do? :(

Should I get another test? I don't have much veg in the plot at the moment, just spring onions and potatoes (which seem to be doing fine!). The same soil however is in my polytunnel and some of my tomatoes still have yellow or pale green leaves with purple edging (but they were like that when I planted them out). Everything else (peppers, cucumbers) seems okay but growth is a bit slow imo.

Our soil is clay (I think) and it forms a grey sticky mud when wet. I read somewhere that stickiness can be a symptom of chalky soils and that they are also alkaline. Could this be our soil type?

We did dig in quite a bit of manure before the planting season started, btw.

:cnfs:

Paddy

 

Hi paddy rice

By the sound of it, you have clay. I wouldn't call it "bad" soil - it just needs a bit of work. My clay has the added "benefit" of many, many flints! Sticky in winter, rock hard in summer. A pick axe can be your best friend. You'll never need to go to a gym.

I used a soil test kit when I moved here but it told me nothing - the colours never matched the samples on the packet.

I'd recommend a general fertilizer like Growmore or Vitax Q4. Chicken poo pellets also work a treat on my patch. Add loads of soil improvers like compost, manure, etc each year. It's a life long mission. Watch out for any specific deficiencies e.g. trace elements and then deal with them appropriately.

Enjoy!

 

Hi Paddy

Manure, especially stable is very acidic, look at your spade or fork the next day (rusty) if you have forgotten to clean them!

I would not go too much on the soil testing kit for accurate results.

Any result you get will only be the sample you tested,even if you have taken it from different parts of your soil!

I am able to get the loan off from work (used in the labs) off a professional testing kit.

I stopped using it as it gave madly different results even from the same samples!

This also was using de-ionised water, not water from the tap or from the water butt.

Just keep adding as much bulky matter as you are able, this will have an effect on your soil texture over time.

As the Mad Scientist said to the Honey Monster, patience "little one".

Cheers!