Improve Your Soil With Lime
Rain will steadily and inexorably wash the lime out of soil in the garden, at the rate of about half an ounce for every year each year. Soils will become sour without adequate liming, and the vegetables, flowers and shrubs will start to suffer, so the lime must be regularly replaced.
Lime will neutralise sourness, or acidity, which is bad for all plants. It will restore new life to the soil by helping the beneficial bacteria and earthworms proliferate. Lime is also invaluable in helping to break up heavy clay soils.
To test if your soil needs some lime added, turn over the top couple of inches with a trowel. Take a level spoonful of the moist soil and mix it with a spoonful of tap water in a dish. After 30 minutes, place a test paper strip so that half lies on top of the soil and the rest against the dish, leave it for five minutes then look at the colour. Pink means the soil is seriously short of lime, orange means lime should be added for better growth, whilst green indicates that the correct amount of lime is present.
