Phiddling with your PH

What if you find out your soil is not what your plant prefers? Additives are available at most garden centers that can change the pH. You must follow the specific instructions on each container.

In general, to lower soil pH (that is, make alkaline soil more acidic), use soil sulphur, iron sulphate, or aluminium sulphate. Or you can fertilize with acid- type fertilizers. You can also make the soil pH more acidic organically by working in peat, leaf mould, sawdust, bark chips, or decayed pine needles. Plants that prefer very acidic soil (pH 4 to 6) include azalea, camellia, ferns, heather, lily, marigold, pine, radish, rhododendron, and yew.

If there’s a lot of rain where you live, the chances are you have acid soil. The calcium in the soil, which would make it more alkaline, has probably been washed away by the rain. Areas where the soil is very high in organic material, or sandy soils, also tend to be acidic. In some regions, acidic soil is called sour soil.

A variety of minerals form salts that can build up in your garden soil. Many plants will not grow well, or grow at all, if the soil is salty. There may be one or several causes, including animal manures, chemical fertilizers, soft water from a home water softener, and salty irrigation water. Coastal areas often get buffeted by winds that bring a lot of salt with them from the sea. It’s also possible that the soil in your home area is naturally high in salts. In high rainfall areas this salt would pass through the soil. But in low rainfall areas salt concentrates in the upper soil layer.

Testing for salty soil

Soil salt causes several problems. It slows or stops seed germination. It also harms plant roots, which, in turn, results in slow growth. Salt burn may also occur, where leaf edges looked burnt. Saline soil may also harm beneficial organisms in the soil. Testing for soil salt levels requires special equipment — a soil-testing laboratory should be able to help. If you have salty soil, always use fertilizers that have a low salt content and water well with salt-free water. But when you’re giving lots of water, make certain your soil drainage is good. Puddles of salt-laden water are not an improvement.

• Rhododendrons prefer acidic soil (pH 4 to 6)

To raise soil pH (that is, make it more alkaline) for your vegetable garden, add lime — which is a form of calcium.

Be careful when adding lime to the soil, because too much can harm instead of help.

Follow the directions on the container precisely. You can add wood ashes instead, but just a little bit at a time. Plants that prefer a somewhat neutral to alkaline soil (pH 6.8 to 7.5) include asparagus, carrots, brassicas such as broccoli and cabbage, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, peas, pumpkins, spinach, sweet corn, and courgettes.

Flowers such as carnations and irises also prefer soil that tends to be more alkaline. However, if your soil is quite alkaline, sometimes it’s easier to garden in raised beds, where you can bring in better soil.

Doing the groundwork

A VARIETY OF SOIL IMPROVERS IS AVAILABLE. Your choice will depend on the type you can find nearby and the needs of your soil. In general, you combine the improver with soil in a 50-50 mix. That means you have half soil and half additive. That can add up to a lot of additives.

Improving your soil

If you’re faced with less-than-perfect soil, although there is no “magical cure”, any small improvements that you can make will produce noticeably better plants. Giving a bed a good digging over will break up compacted soil and expose it to frost and drying winds, which in turn will help improve its structure. In this way, drainage is improved, air is introduced, and the natural process of organic-matter breakdown is speeded up.

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