Liming Gardens - Application of Lime to Improve Soil and Lawns
LIME AND LIMING SOIL FOR GROWING VEGETABLES
Lime must be present in the soil to produce a good crop of healthy vegetables>
Lime has the benefits of neutralising acidity or sourness in the soil. Adding lime to the soil is an aid to clay soil improvement as it helps to break up stiff clay soils .
Lime helps to bind very light soil.
Lime is a plant food, but it plays a much more important
part than just providing nutriment. It sets free food matter from the
humus and it helps bacteria in their work of converting insoluble plant
food into a soluble form.
It is also a soil tonic as it makes the land a healthy place in which plants can grow steadily, and helps to prevent disease.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD I APPLY LIME TO MY GARDEN?
As a general rule lime should be applied to the garden every third year, but never at the same time as natural manure.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF LIME TO APPLY TO THE GARDEN
Lime can be obtained in many different forms.
The following different types of lime are all satisfactory for applying to the garden soil:
Chalk - chalk should be broken into small pieces and dug in the garden soil at the rate of 1 lb per square yard.
Gas lime - This should be weathered for 3 or 4 weeks
by exposure to the air, scattered on the surface at the rate
rate of 1 lb per square yard and dug in.
Ground lime - which should be distributed over the
surface after digging, using half a pound of lime per square yard or square
metre.
Limestone - which should be used and applied in the same way as chalk.
Quicklime. This must be stacked in small heaps and
slaked- then it should be scattered all over the surface of the soil at
the rate of half a pound of lime per square yard or square metre, and
dug into the soil.
Slaked lime - Should be evenly distributed, using 1 lb per square yard and dug in.
GARDEN LIME APPLICATION
Do not bury lime too deeply in the soil. Lime tends to sink through, the soil, so it should just be pricked into the top two or three inches.
If a three-year cropping plan is adopted, one plot should
be given a full dressing of natural manure or a manure
substitute, the second plot a half-dressing and the third plot left unmanured
each year.
The lime should be applied to the unmanured plot - so that the plot
is limed once every three years. clay soil improvement soil stabilisation
soil improvement 
GARDENING ARTICLES ON GARDEN GROWER
When to apply lime to garden soil for growing healthy vegetables. How much lime to apply to garden soil.