Lime has fundamental minerals to help with healthy plant growth in your garden or lawn.
Use only dolomitic or garden lime because they contain calcium and magnesium in addition to lime.
Liming’s main aim is to reduce soil acidity.
When to Use Organic Garden Lime
It may not always be necessary to apply lime to your garden or lawn soil. Therefore, you should test its pH and the correct plants to grow.
Most garden plants, including fruits and vegetables, grow in soils that fall below 6.5 pH and above 5.5 pH.
That means that your plants will not grow in soils below or above that range regardless of the fertilizer type or amount you use, whether or not you water, or took other measures to improve the plant.
Although the USDA Organic Rules prohibit Certified Organic farmers from using hydrated or slaked lime, you are allowed to take your pick on what you apply to your veggie or lawn garden.
Environmental consideration by authorities goes into enabling rules for organic.
For example, slaked lime could destroy some some faun or microorganisms in the soil and can affect roots of the plant in severe cases.
And hydrated lime leaches passed plant depth and effectiveness.
Be Careful: It is safe to protect your eyes and skin when applying hydrated or slaked lime; it is an irritating substance with negative effects. This is part of why the organic typically disallows slob lime use in their backyard garden.
Why Soil Testing is Necessary
At times, you might want to amend the soil pH when growing large leafed plants like hydrangeas which will change color depending on their pH level.
Liming helps soils with pH levels less than 5.5 by raising the pH level thus enhancing mineral absorption for the majority of plants very well.
However, if your soil is a 6.5 or above, liming is not recommended because liming would make the soil alkaline and deficiencies will increase as plant growth would impair your crops fruits/enhancing yellow leaves.
High soil pH inhibits the growth of plants- inhibiting fruits or inhibit or cause yellowing leaves. So, you will at least want to know your garden soil pH to receive some benefits from liming.
Soil pH can be tested with a pH meter. To receive complete soil analysis, you should seek extension office like this extension office:
- Be sure to follow recommendations for liming your garden soil and the proper nutrients to apply for peak plant growth and harvest.
- The amount of lime to add to your soil will depend on your test results and recommendations.
- Acidic and magnesium deficient soils require dolomitic lime, and garden lime can be used when soil magnesium levels are in recommended ranges.
You can also measure or estimate the size of your garden so you can know how much lime to buy.
Most manufacturers generally state the amount of lime for every thousand square feet.
So once you have planted your garden, grass or annuals, knowing the size will save you money as you will only buy what you actually need.
The Benefits of Lime
Lime simply adds material to the soil that increases the pH and makes your soils sweeter (higher pH).
Liming is also a relatively inexpensive method to increase soil magnesium and calcium levels, which, in turn, improve nutrient mobility and/or absorption by plants.
Lime improves the structure of sandy and clay soils making them more productive.
Lime cannot move in the soil (once it has dissolved), so you must make sure to evenly spread and incorporate it into the soil.
From Experience: While many veggies certainly can grow in acidic soils, this can vary by location and plant type. Again, this is what testing your soil before you put lime on and plant is all about – so you can follow the proper application rates.
The Best Liming Time
For the best results, it’s recommended to lime in the fall. Changing soil pH takes a while, so liming is ideal in the fall when the soil can gradually change over the winter before planting in the spring. Also, thawing and freezing will help with mixing the lime into the soil.
Before adding lime to the soil, till your garden or lawn to a depth of up to six inches.
When liming an established lawn or vegetable garden, use a fertilizer spreader and sprinkle the lime in pellets.
It will help a lot if the ground is watered after you have deeply incorporated lime and loosened the soil for faster dissolving of the ground lime.
Additional Notable Aspects of Liming
Not every kind of lime is acceptable to use in the garden, but dolomite and garden lime are options for that use.
You should not use quick lime or slaked lime in your garden or lawn.
On the other hand, garden lime and dolomite lime add calcium and magnesium back into your garden to help replenish the soil.
You should always test your soil before using lime. You can do this by either using a soil PH tester, or getting your soil tested at an agricultural testing lab.
And, most importantly, be sure to understand what the results mean for further cautions and recommendations before you do anything that involves process.
You should always keep in mind, when working with lime, you are working with chemicals.
So do not take a lax approach and think that just because lime is a natural constituent of your garden it cannot do harm.
Be guaranteed that you are always being mindful to not damage your lawn or garden and that you are doing your best for better results every time.
If your soil pH is high, your plants can have some issues like chlorosis – which is when plants become deficient in iron, when the soil pH of your garden or lawn exceeds 7.0. It is still possible that there is the mineral present in soil that your plants are not absorbing due to high soil pH.
Lime is not a cure for unhealthy soil.
You need to lime your lawn or garden at the right time (in the fall and not in the spring) and using liming doses of the right amounts to get optimal results.
Most landscape and garden plants grow best in pH lower than 6.5, while others will only grow in acidic soil.
On the other hand, some plants grow better in soils with higher pH for higher yield.
Conditions like chlorosis inhibit plant growth due to the inability to synthesize carbohydrates so, make sure you always maintain a balanced mineral constituents in your soil.
Final Thoughts
Lime is an important process that enhances both a garden’s productivity and the aesthetics of a home lawn.
You should, however, check the pH levels of your soil before liming during the fall for a more successful outcome.
In general, the liming process is primarily important because it changes pH levels in a soil, which alters the ability of plants, minerals, and nutrients to be absorbed. Almost all plants thrive in alkaline soils, while only a handful require acidic soil to survive.