LIME

Lime is often a component left out of a LEVEL 1 planting strategy because it can be difficult to deliver and/or spread in remote locations. Without the benefit of a soil sample it can be easily overlooked as well, but it can be a very important part of your success.

When you read about a plant that “prefers” a particular pH, it means that at that pH, the plant can fully utilize the available nutrients from the surrounding soil. If the pH varies much from the optimum preferred by the plant, the nutrients are “bound up” in the soil and the plant cannot use them to grow. When this happens, you can fertilize all you want and the plant cannot use the nutrients you are putting into the ground. The result is a plot that has received plenty of fertilizer and still doesn’t thrive. In other words, you’re wasting money on fertilizer if you don’t have the soil pH adjusted for the planting. Lime is far less expensive than fertilizer, so purchase and spread the lime you need to adjust soil pH for optimum growing conditions. It’s the least expensive way to go.

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