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. Be sure you till or dig down to the depth your plant root systems will grow.
This is usually around 12 inches. Simply spreading powdered lime over the top of the soil won't provide much, if any, benefit to your plants. You will need to activate the lime by adding water to your garden. Soaker hoses are best for this task, so they can slowly saturate the ground and filter through to the limestone.
The longer you can wait, the better the lime will be distributed in your garden soil. Besides raising the pH level of acidic soil and making it more alkaline and conducive to vegetable and flower production, lime supports other nutrients, such as nitrogen. Adding lime to your garden soil improves water penetration and with the raised pH, the plant nutrient uptake increases. Lime supports healthy soil bacteria and beneficial microbes.
Raised beds don't need as much lime as an open field since most of the nutrients in the soil are contained and don't deplete with rain runoff.
Some vegetables can grow in either alkaline or acidic soils while others like potatoes and parsley prefer acidic soil. You don't need to add lime to your garden soil to grow either of these. Many vegetables prefer a pH between 6 and 6. Lime needs time to react with water in order to be beneficial to your garden plants, so at the very least, it needs several weeks or months to adjust the pH and help make more nutrients available to your plants.
If you get your soil tested at the end of the winter, add lime immediately as recommended by the test results. Mix it into the soil well before your frost-free date indicates you can plant your vegetables or flowers.
Gardens found in acidic soil areas benefit from annual or bi-annual applications of garden lime. Raised bed gardens may get away with fewer applications. A soil test, however, is the best way to tell whether or not it is time to apply garden lime.
Soil generally falls into three categories:. Another way to test your soil is to scoop up about a tablespoon of garden soil into the palm of your hand. Add a few ounces of water and roll the soil to form a ball. The less water you need to form a ball, the higher the clay content. The following information will help you raise your garden soil pH to 6.
There are many types of lime available at the store, but the best ones to use for your vegetable or flower gardens are pelletized lime and powdered lime:. Lime is usually sold in large bags or sacks. It should be kept dry until you are ready for lime application, so store it in a garage or shed.
Water can penetrate the sack and dissolve the lime, making it unusable. Most home gardeners use a lime or drop spreader to spread powdered lime on lawns and gardens.
A lime spreader is a machine you walk behind and push. It has a hopper in the front that you fill with powdered lime. A spreader then sprays out the powder in even amounts as you push the machine forward. To apply lime to lawns, fill the lime spreader with the appropriate amount of lime.
Lime for garden soil can also be scattered using a spreader. Mix it into the soil at a depth of about four to six inches. Lime needs water to mix into the soil and become available to plants. Think of lime like vitamins for the soil. Adding lime to the soil is like a vitamin. Lime can be very beneficial for lawns. Lawns that have yellow patches, brown patches, weedy areas or an abundance of moss may benefit from an even application of lime.
Weeds or mossy patches can both be signs that the pH of specific areas on the lawn differ from the overall pH of the lawn. Moss, for example, grows in acidic conditions — which can be improved by the addition of lime. Adding lime to your lawn also does more than just raising the soil pH. Lime also adds calcium, which in turn helps grass absorb trace elements such as zinc, copper and others.
An even spread of lime can correct many deficiencies and adjust the pH of the lawn over the growing season so the problems disappear. Apply lime to lawns in the fall. Rain and cool temperatures help lime move into the soil. Depending on your soil, you may need to add lime throughout the vegetable garden.
Remember that adding lime raises the pH level of the soil. Pay particular attention to beds where the following vegetables and fruits will be grown to ensure proper plant nutrients:. This includes blueberries as well as ornamental shrubs such as azaleas, rhododendrons and hollies. Remember that the roots extend out under the soil in an umbrella-like shape under the ground. The drip line, or the imaginary line around the shrub where the leaves extend in a circle, is the line underground where the roots grow.
They also need the soil pH to be within an acceptable range for their species so they can absorb these minerals and other elements from the soil for growth and development. We also always recommend that you first carry out a soil pH test to be confidently assured that lime is necessary. That way, you will have a better chance of success when it comes to the healthy and abundant growth of any fruit and vegetable crops you plant.
These days, a lime deficiency is considered to be one of the principal factors contributing to poor growth, particularly in Easter gardens. One of the challenges is that lime lovers divide flower families so again, please do your research if you want your garden to flourish. Lime should be added just prior to digging the soil so that the lime can bed down and take effect over the harsh winter months and not cause any damage to young, winter vegetables.
Its principal purpose is to raise the pH level of your soil. Hydrated lime, the kind that is typically sold for use by the building trade, is also acceptable to use. This is a much finer powder. Its benefit is that it works quickly but on the flip side, it can irritate your eyes and cause damage to the skin if not handled correctly. If you are applying more than 0.
0コメント