benefits of liming

[Normans Mum]

Hi all
Have recently taken on another half plot at my allotment. Up until a year and a half ago, it was in use but sadly is now full of grass and various weeds. I intend to have raised beds on it and once cleared and dug was thinking about liming the soil, then after suitable period of time, adding some rotted manure or similiar. PH is about 6-7. bearing this in mind, is it worth liming?
Advice needed, I think. Which of you out there do this and do you have good results? I have only manured regularly on my other half plot and on the whole, tend to get reasonable crops. Have had this one for 3 years.

[Bigmallly]

The only time I lime is when planting out Brassicas, I just sprinkle a handfull around the plant after planting out.

[rustylady]

Found this list of preferred PH values for vegetables. Hope it helps. Recommended Soil pH for Growing Different Fruits and Vegetables - Garden Helper, Gardening Questions and Answers

[Potstubsdustbins]

I would think that with a PH level of 6-7 that would be suitable for most things.

Potty

[Aberdeenplotter]

my thoughts as well

[Normans Mum]

Ok, thanks peoples.

[Two_Sheds]

was thinking about liming the soil, then after suitable period of time, adding some rotted manure

One will cancel out the other, will it not?

My soil is alkaline, so I don't need to bother liming it. And chicken pellets are alkaline, so you don't need to add lime if you're using chicken manure at all.


I don't add anything "just because" I've heard it's the done thing. Same with farmyard manure: I don't use it at all, never have.

[Normans Mum]

I don't know to be honest, TS. I read in the RHS veg and fruit growing bible that I have at home that lime first and then some weeks later, manure or whatever your prefered compost method. I do have a large amount of chicken pellet manure, so maybe that is the way forward.....

[Aberdeenplotter]

"The availability of plant nutrients is affected by the pH of the soil. "

Lime Distributors (Lime) | Clifford Dennis Agricultural Supplies & Merchant : Fertiliser, Lime, Silage Bale Wrap, Net Wrap & Twine, Ear Tags, Animal Health Products, Grass Seeds

[KarlB924]

Whatever you do, don't lime your potatoes! If anything, they're better erring on the side of a little acidic, as alkaline soil will increase the risk of scab.

[Two_Sheds]

"Plants can’t get the nutrients they need from soil that is too acid"

but, your soil is not likely to be "too acid"

Lime and liming / Royal Horticultural Society

[Four Seasons]

Hi all
Have recently taken on another half plot at my allotment. Up until a year and a half ago, it was in use but sadly is now full of grass and various weeds. I intend to have raised beds on it and once cleared and dug was thinking about liming the soil, then after suitable period of time, adding some rotted manure or similiar. PH is about 6-7. bearing this in mind, is it worth liming?
Advice needed, I think. Which of you out there do this and do you have good results? I have only manured regularly on my other half plot and on the whole, tend to get reasonable crops. Have had this one for 3 years.

Your soil is about level ph wise so doesn't need lime but a lot depends on the type of soil you have. If it's a good loam or has a high clay content then I would only lime in areas where you are going to grow brassicas or any other plants that like it such as asparagus etc. Evidently clay soil requires a heavier dressing than sandy soil but if your soil is sandy and is likely to leach out nutrients and minerals then it might be a good idea to give it a light dressing of lime now and spread your manure in the spring when the plants need it.
There is a saying...'Lime and lime without manure makes both farm and farmer poor'. so the old boys must have learnt something from experience.
I have sandy soil and do the above and my crops don't complain though I only lime sparingly. Basically I grow my spuds in pure farmyard manure and then lime that land the following spring for onions and brassica. Asparagus get lime in the autumn and a mulch of manure in the spring as do all my fruit trees along with all the bonfire ash from November.

[Two_Sheds]

Well, I've never limed, and I've never used farmyard manure. Never done a pH test either



(in 17 years of allotmenting)

[Four Seasons]

Well, I've never limed, and I've never used farmyard manure. Never done a pH test either



(in 17 years of allotmenting)

Yes but you compost everything so you are feeding your soil. Some people garden on chalky soil so don't need to lime at all that's why I said that it depends on your soil and what it requires.

My father never limes either and only uses compost and he thinks he's got wonderful crops when truth be known they are poor looking specimens that are struggling but then he's not on an allotment to compare his garden against others so I'm not suggesting that yours follow suit. Each to their own way.

[Two_Sheds]

Yes but you compost everything so you are feeding your soil.

Doesn't everyone who has an allotment?


People have been persuaded, relatively recently, by very clever marketing that they need to go to the GC and buy a packet of this, a bottle of that ... it's not true. Before chemical fertiliser, TV & magazines, gardeners didn't go and buy all this stuff ~ they just got on with it. For 1000s of years.

Nobody fertilises, digs or prunes a forest, yet it manages to grow and produce fruit, nuts and valuable wood.

Just garden with your soil, and only buy stuff if you find that you need it, not because some advert has convinced you to part with your money