how important is lime?

Hi all

How important is it to do PH tests, and lime the soil? Will it make a very big difference to whether a crop flourishes?

I'll have to splash out on a ph testing kit if so....

 

Most vegetables prefer a slightly alkaline soil and some like brassicas absolutely adore it. If you are in doubt as to the pH of your soil then test it. The one shot kits are not that expensive.
If not, the try the veg and see what happpens before adding lime, you will soon see if it is needed.

 

liming is beneficial, but not every year.
If adding lime to your veg plot, DO NOT munure the veg garden as well, as the chemical reaction between the 2 releases nitrogen which you do not want.
do not over lime the area where you are putting root crops. better still don't put any on.
follow the directions on the pack if you do use the lime.

 

Liming needs to be done at least 3 months before the crops go in and can take even longer to have any real effect on pH, so do a soil test first to make sure it's really necessary. Anything around 6.5 - 7 suits most things. The reason lime is so important to brassicas is that it discourages damage from clubroot, if you're unlucky enough to have this horrible disease in your plot. Once introduced, clubroot can persist for 20 years, so 4 bed rotation does little but help avoid build up. If you haven't got it, don't ever buy brassica plants or except them as presents from generous gardener chums! If you find your pH is on the acid side, lime the plot intended for brassicas the previous autumn (as previously stated, this will ideally be last years pea and bean plot). Incidentally, don't lime the spud plot as it encourages scab.

Sorry to ramble on but I find the whole logistics thang of crop rotation fascinating!

 

Crop Rotation
bed 1..root
bed 2..legumes
bed 3..brassica and salad crops
bed 4.. leave empty
employ a rotational crop system, which involves growing a different plant group in each of the beds,and leave one to rest.
each group has a tendancy to the same deseases, and attract the same pests,and by rotating your crops this will avoid recurring problems.
Each group will also benefit from whatever nutrients and elements the previuos group has left in the soil

 

Rosco: Is it worth planting something like annual lupin or annual clover in bed 4 then digging it in in the autumn?

 

last august, i got a packet of green manure mix, which was clover/vetch plus ryegrass, the rygrass was very dominant and i found it grew thru the winter, while i added rough compost and various fertilisers, being on a sandy soil in high rainfall area, nutrients tend to leach, so the green manuring has been a success, i tried field beans, but they are still only 4" high, so not much use, i also advocate comfrey as a green manure, as a liquid fertiliser, and a compost accelerator, it also brings nutrients up from deep down, attracts bees, and is quite attractive in its own right.
On clay soils, i like to turn over the soil in autumn and leave to weather [lime can be added to help flocculate clay particles], with clay soils there are plenty of nutrients locked in to the soil and leaching is not a problem

[ 18. April 2006, 08:06 AM: Message edited by: Lady Gardener ]

 

I managed to buy a ph kit for the princely sum of �£1.19 from my local garden centre. Fortunately it turned a dark green colour so my veg plot should be ok without liming, as I think the time to lime is autumn or winter rather than now. If you do do a test and the soil is acidic then I guess it's best to go for an easier veg (potatoes or something) rather than something that needs more TLC.