How much lime to clay soil?

[ethanshome]

I have just got a bag of lime (20kg) because my front garden which has been a love/hate relationship is very clayey.

It has been deturfed/dug over and tilled but when i tilled it i found it was very sticky and about 2 inches down it was a browny looking clay.

My main question is how much lime to add to the garden and do i till it again?

Dimensions 15ftx15ft roughly

[mcsee]

You could try adding Gypsum to your soil before adding Lime, but not all clay soils will accept the Gypsum. If you test for Sodium Ions first it will tell you one way or another if you can add the Gypsum. Take a small sample of the Clay (about 1/4" x 1/4") and drop it in a glass of water and if it disperses quickly and discolours the water, then you can add Gypsum.
Look at doing a pH test on your soil before adding anything and then work out if it's acidic or alkaline from the test results. Just adding Lime can cause all sorts of problems without knowing the pH.

[Two_Sheds]

As McSee says, don't just go throwing lime around. You'd possibly need some if you were planting brassicas, but do a pH test first

Clay soil is sticky, that's how it is. It's also very nutritious and holds onto water well

What I'd do is sow my seeds in modules of mpc (which I do anyway) and so every time you plant out you are adding lighter soil to your garden

Also mix in plenty of well rotted home compost, as much as you can

[ethanshome]

Thanks for your replys,i should of added that im probably going to add top soil to front garden and grass seed it and the lime was for around the edges where it is more clayey(Girlfriend wants to plant stuff etc)

I dropped some of the clay soil in water and it didnt disperse that quick,not sure if thats good or bad and have ph test coming any day now from ebay

EDIT: Also to add just went to shops and when i came back i noticed the front garden soil looks cracked,whats with that?

[Aberdeenplotter]

Simply the ground drying out. As the others have said, check the ph of the soil before adding lime. Lime does nothing to the soil structure. If you want to ímprove that, add some peat (should I be running now?) and plenty sharp sand.

[ethanshome]

Thank you all for your replys,will get ph done tomorrow and get back to you.

[Snadger]

Flocculation's what you need................if you wannna be a record breaker yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ooops, sorry about that, got a bit carried away!

The lime,gypsum or wood ash can help to flocculate the clay soil and make it more workable...........

[ethanshome]

The garden was very low in PH which i thought,so i added 20kg to the garden(mainly the edges as thats where it was worse),then i turned it over with fork and am going to rotovate it the weekend to mix it in as much as possible,middle isnt much of a worry as im going to topsoil it,its mainly the edges because GF wants to add flowers etc

[Two_Sheds]

i added 20kg to the ...edges because GF wants to add flowers etc

Flowers don't need liming...

A lot of flowers prefer a slightly acidic soil. You were determined to use that lime though weren't ya? Most lawn grasses will thrive in soils with a ph of 6.5 - 7.0

[ethanshome]

Haha the lime was haunting me,the ph was 4ish so i had to add some lime

Flowers don't need liming...

A lot of flowers prefer a slightly acidic soil. You were determined to use that lime though weren't ya? Most lawn grasses will thrive in soils with a ph of 6.5 - 7.0

[ethanshome]

Update

Rotovated and just needs raking(btw) lime was just about enough to break down the clay,thanks EVERYONE for your replys

[Two_Sheds]

Lime does nothing to the soil structure.

lime was just about enough to break down the clay

OK, now I'm confused

I had a look for RHS advice on the matter.
pH 3 - 5 indicates very acid soil.

Most plant nutrients ... become more soluble under very acid conditions and are easily washed away.
Most phosphates are locked up and unavailable to plants below pH 5.1, although some acid tolerant plants can utilise aluminium phosphate. Acid sandy soils are often deficient in trace elements.
Bacteria cannot rot organic matter below pH 4.7 resulting in fewer nutrients being available to plants.

Action: Add lime to raise the pH to above 5.0. The addition of lime can help break up acid clay soils.

[zazen999]

Lime will do something to the soil structure - it sticks the particles together [flocculates] which means that they become attached together and behave less like a clay and more like a sand.

It is a well known technique in civils to stabilise clay [esp very wet clay] by adding lime which in turn [using the heat generated] helps to dry the soil out. It's called Lime Stabilisation.

pH is important to plants as it determines the take up of nutrients; they cannot be taken up if it is too acid or alkaline...and the best pH to aim for is 6.5 as this gives the best overall take up of nutrients...of course some crops prefer different pHs but on the whole, 6.5 is a good overall pH to go for.

Personally, I'd do another pH test now, after the lime has been added; just in case you have gone over and I'm surprised that the pH was 4....but hey ho.

[Pies]

if your soil is the same as mine,and i suspect it is, that browney stuff is the subsoil

[ethanshome]

Wanted to achieve about 6 on the PH meter so to speak and the lime just about raised it to that,was under the impression that 6 was an average for most things garden but i am a newbie to this so am not sure.