Hi,

Well I finally managed to get a soil testing kit, 'focus do it all' have 1
for £11 that tests ph, & nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash (npk). I tested
each side of the garden and got pretty much the same results.
My soil is between ph 7.5 & 8.0 which I think is a little sweet for what I
want to grow, I'd like to get it down between 6.0 & 7.0, how can I achieve
this?
The nutrients test showed that Nitrogen is high, and potash is ok, but
phosphorus is very low, what's the easiest/quickest way to get phosphorus
into the soil. Is it even a good idea to add phosphorus? I read on a few web
sites that adding to much can be worse than having none at all.

Any advice greatly appreciated

Ben

On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 08:29:37 +0100, "Ben Blackmore"
wrote:

Hi,

Well I finally managed to get a soil testing kit, 'focus do it all' have 1
for £11 that tests ph, & nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash (npk). I tested
each side of the garden and got pretty much the same results.
My soil is between ph 7.5 & 8.0 which I think is a little sweet for what I
want to grow, I'd like to get it down between 6.0 & 7.0, how can I achieve
this?
The nutrients test showed that Nitrogen is high, and potash is ok, but
phosphorus is very low, what's the easiest/quickest way to get phosphorus
into the soil. Is it even a good idea to add phosphorus? I read on a few web
sites that adding to much can be worse than having none at all.

Any advice greatly appreciated

Ben

I think you'd better learn to like calcioles, it really is an uphill
struggle to get pH down. Adding phosphate shouldn't be a problem so
long as you don't overdo it - if you prefer an 'organic' solution use
bonemeal you really can't overdose with that. I don't normally suggest
growing things in containers because it is not easy to do them really
well but if you *must* grow calcifuge plants it's probably your best
bet, though all but serious lime haters should do OK on that soil,
adding loads of organic material will help, as will flowers of
Sulphur, sequestered iron etc but that gets expensive on anything but
a small scale.

Rod

Weed my email address to reply
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html

Ben Blackmore wrote:

Hi,

Well I finally managed to get a soil testing kit, 'focus do it all' have 1
for £11 that tests ph, & nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash (npk). I tested
each side of the garden and got pretty much the same results.
My soil is between ph 7.5 & 8.0 which I think is a little sweet for what I
want to grow, I'd like to get it down between 6.0 & 7.0, how can I achieve
this?
The nutrients test showed that Nitrogen is high, and potash is ok, but
phosphorus is very low, what's the easiest/quickest way to get phosphorus
into the soil. Is it even a good idea to add phosphorus? I read on a few web
sites that adding to much can be worse than having none at all.

Any advice greatly appreciated

Ben


Like most things soil related, the application of as much compost and
manure as you possibly can will be of some help in lowering the pH as
well as adding any missing nutrients.

"bigboard" wrote in message
...
Ben Blackmore wrote:

Hi,

Well I finally managed to get a soil testing kit, 'focus do it all' have
1
for £11 that tests ph, & nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash (npk). I
tested
each side of the garden and got pretty much the same results.
My soil is between ph 7.5 & 8.0 which I think is a little sweet for what
I
want to grow, I'd like to get it down between 6.0 & 7.0, how can I
achieve
this?
The nutrients test showed that Nitrogen is high, and potash is ok, but
phosphorus is very low, what's the easiest/quickest way to get
phosphorus
into the soil. Is it even a good idea to add phosphorus? I read on a few
web
sites that adding to much can be worse than having none at all.

Any advice greatly appreciated

Ben


Like most things soil related, the application of as much compost and
manure as you possibly can will be of some help in lowering the pH as
well as adding any missing nutrients.

Hopefully I can get some manure from a local farmer, and I've started making
my own compost from grass clippings and kitchen waste (tea bags, coffee,
carrott peel etc) seems to be composting ok! I have also been adding brought
compost and peat moss in quite large amounts as well. Hopefully I can turn
my mound of clay into some workable soil that is also fertile.

Ben

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 16:48:59 +0100, "Ben Blackmore"
wrote:


Hopefully I can get some manure from a local farmer, and I've started making
my own compost from grass clippings and kitchen waste (tea bags, coffee,
carrott peel etc) seems to be composting ok! I have also been adding brought
compost and peat moss in quite large amounts as well. Hopefully I can turn
my mound of clay into some workable soil that is also fertile.

With that high pH, that sounds like a marl - you should be able to
grow some super stuff in that, just keep adding all the organic
material you can get, mainly to improve the structure and make it
manageable.

Rod

Weed my email address to reply
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html