Brassicas, Lime, and Fertilisers

I get confused over the use of lime and fertilisers for brassicas - can anyone enlighten me, please?

My problem is, I will be getting a load of stable manure, in a few weeks, and thought that I'd lay this on top of the ground where, next year, on my allotment, I'm going to grow my cabbages and cauliflowers. I thought that, early next spring, sometime before I wanted to plant out my cabbages, I'd fork in the top few inches of the soil to mix what's left.

But, I've been told that the manure will make the soil acid (perhaps, not a lot but a little, none-the-less) and I will have to add lime.

I know that I can't add fertiliser at the same time as lime but what is a suitable time to leave beteen adding the lime and the fertiliser, please?

TIA

 

Hi Quaedor

Traditional advice was to add manure one year and then lime the next year, never both in the same year. I think they counteract each other if applied together and not in a good way.

So if you're adding stable manure in a few weeks time, I wouldn't recommend adding either fertiliser or lime for a whole growing season. But that need not be a problem unless you know your soil is already acid and the manure will make it very acid. Even though certain veggies do have a preference for acid or alkaline in order to grow to their best ability, most veg will grow tolerably well on all sorts of soil.

The manure will leave your soil a bit puffy so make sure it's well firmed when you plant out your brassicas.