snip slaked lime preserves, quick lime destroys

Thanks Nick and Sacha.

I'll apply the quicklime as soon as I've managed to chisel the potatoes out,
then leave it for a month or two for the pH to stabilize and hopefully the
quicklime will have aged into slaked lime / calcium carbonate by then. I
guess it may be sensible to add the manure after rather than before the
liming as this should stimulate microbial life back into the soil after
"nuking" it with the quicklime.
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/