For those of you not familiar with the pH level, it describes how much acid or alkaline is in your soil. To ensure that you are not doing more harm to your plants than good, you must make sure they really require lime. Other popular homegrown vegetables that benefit from lime include onions, garlic, parsnips, asparagus, and English spinach.
Fruit trees, including apple trees , are also far less likely to yield abundant fruits and reach their full potential if the soil is too acidic. In terms of flowers, you might consider adding lime to decorative and ornamental style gardens populated with variants of gypsophila , delphiniums, and buddleia. Unfortunately, there are several plants that will react badly to lime. For instance, you should never add lime to sweet potatoes and regular potato crops.
Routine liming applications maintain a balanced pH level. On the West Coast, heavy rains can drop the pH level of the soil and turn it acidic, so liming is an important aspect of garden maintenance. The only way to know the pH level of your garden soil is to test it. Use a digital soil pH meter — sold online or at our store-to test several areas of the garden to get an overall scope of the soil condition.
Apply lime as needed, based on the soil test results. The more lead time you have, the better the lime nutrients will be worked into the soil. Lime is used to increase the soil pH and may be necessary if your garden soil is too acidic. Most vegetables prefer an alkaline soil versus an acidic one. The pH range is usually between 6 to 7, although some gardening textbooks state 5. It's universally agreed that pH 7 is the neutral pH level and generally believed to be suitable for the most vegetables and flowers.
You can test your garden soil pH with a multi-use soil kit. You'll want to spot check the soil in several places where you intend to plant vegetables or flowers to ensure an accurate overall soil evaluation. You need to determine how much lime is required for the size of your garden. Different soil types have different requirements for amendments like lime. You want to raise any pH level that is below 6. The following table is calculated for the amount of lime needed for every square feet of garden soil.
There are two ways you can broadcast the lime in your garden. Both ways have good results. The old-fashioned way is to spread it using a shovel. You want to spread the lime evenly over the top of your soil. You should wear a protective breathing mask and goggles. Once you've broadcasted the lime over your garden soil, you need to till it into your garden to make sure it's well mixed. If you use a manual method, such as double digging, you want to turn the soil upside down when you place it in the previously dug row.
The best way to know if your soil will benefit from lime, and how much lime to add to your garden, is to get a soil test that reports the pH level of your soil. Generally, state Cooperative Extension offices provide comprehensive soil tests at reasonable prices. Follow their soil-sample collection directions to get the best results. You could also use a pH meter to get a ballpark number, but the advantage to going with a full soil test is then you'll also get recommendations for the amounts of lime as well as other amendments and nutrients you may want to consider adding at the same time.
Your soil test should tell you exactly how much if any lime to add to your soil. If the soil test indicates an acidic pH and reveals low magnesium levels, add dolomitic lime. If magnesium levels are in the acceptable range, add garden lime.
Lime recommendations are often given in number of pounds of lime per 1, square feet, so you may want to do some measuring of the area you want to cover before you go shopping for lime. If possible, add lime in the fall. It takes time to change the pH of soil so applying lime in fall takes advantage of the winter months prior to the next growing season.
When adding lime to bare soil, such as a vegetable garden or new lawn , till it into the top 6 inches of soil.
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