Gardening In Limey Acidic Soil

Once you have figured out what plants you want to use, where you want the garden, and all those other little details, all you have to do is start your garden. Unfortunately, there is one problem that many people find themselves faced with at this point in time, and that is a soil problem. One of the more common types of these problems is trying to figure out how to make gardening in limey acidic soil work. There are a few ways that you can do that, but you will need to do a bit of work, or at the very least change your mind about what you are planting.

• Test the soil. Before you start gardening in any kind of soil, you need to know what you are working with. This means that you need to know exactly what the current pH level of your soil is, so you will need to test it. You can do this by either taking a few samples of your soil into the local county extension office, or purchasing a home test kit at your local nursery or garden center. If you are going to do the test yourself, make sure that you completely understand the instructions, and that you have read them fully before you start.
• Add some peat moss. An effective method to make your garden soil a bit less acidic, and making it a little easier gardening in limey acidic soil is to add some peat moss. All you really need to do is purchase some of this gardening material from your local home improvement, gardening center, or nursery and mix it in with your gardening soil. The easiest way to do this is by pouring it over the soil, and then tilling it under with a rototiller. Once you have done that you will want to test your soil again in about a week to ensure that it is within the proper range that you want.
• Use a little compost. A really effective method for gardening in limey acidic soil is to add some compost to the mix, in much the same way that you do with peat moss. However, since compost doesn't come in prepackaged boxes (unless you buy the commercially made fertilizer) you will end up having to make the compost over the space of a few months. As with the peat moss, mix the compost into your soil using a rototiller, and then wait a week to test the soil again.
• Use the right plants. One option that you have is to use plants that are actually suited to acidic alkaline soils. While this may not be an effective idea when planting a vegetable garden, it can be very effective in planting your landscaping or a flower garden. The plants that are best for this type of soil can usually be found in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States, and include things like asilbes, bergenia, bleeding heart, fox glove, bugleweed, and even azaleas. There is a very wide selection of plants that you can choose from.