[Minty]

Iv' got my brassica bed all dug and put in a load of well rotted manure but I know I need to lime the bed as our soil if very acidic,bought a big bag of lime from the plot shop today but I'm not sure when's best to add it?

I read in John's book that autumn is the best time but I missed that and the manure has only been on a week and everyone I asked today wasn't sure either.

[penance]

Let the manure settle in for a month or 2, then you can rake in the lime with time let to let it settle.
I added lime to my brassica bed 2 weeks before planting this year and all was well.

[Minty]

Thanks penance,Iv' still plenty of time then
 

[penance]

I'm no expert and sure others will have more advice.

[paintedlady]

If you had heavy claggy clay soil, then liming in autumn/winter will break it up nicely (process called flocculation) in time for spring sowing of crops such as carrots & parsnips.  However, for brassicas you want to raise the pH (and to inhibit clubroot which becomes more active when the weather & soil warms up) so doing that nearer planting time would be much better (in fact putting some lime in the planting hole and round the plant on the top of the soil to leach in during the growing season would be a much more efficient way of doing it than liming the entire bed which would quickly be neutralised by acidic soil)  

[fatbelly]

In fact putting some lime in the planting hole and round the plant on the top of the soil to leach in during the growing season would be a much more efficient way of doing it than liming the entire bed which would quickly be neutralised by acidic soil

This is the method an old timer uses on our site and he gets great brassicas every year.

[Minty]

If you had heavy claggy clay soil, then liming in autumn/winter will break it up nicely (process called flocculation) in time for spring sowing of crops such as carrots & parsnips.  However, for brassicas you want to raise the pH (and to inhibit clubroot which becomes more active when the weather & soil warms up) so doing that nearer planting time would be much better (in fact putting some lime in the planting hole and round the plant on the top of the soil to leach in during the growing season would be a much more efficient way of doing it than liming the entire bed which would quickly be neutralised by acidic soil)  

Thanks for that Paintedlady,I now understand what I need to do.

[paintedlady]

:oops:    (blushing)

I know you were asking about the brassica bed, but I can also say that I have just harvested the bestest biggest unfanged (er, single) parsnips from a bed that had been heavily limed last year for growing my swedes (I have clubroot problems  :evil: ) and the soil when I dug it over in spring was amazingly loose.  I shall be trying this again next year to see if it was a technique worth copying or just sheer luck (also, I grew White Gem for the first time and I am very pleased with them)

[Etherelda]

If you had heavy claggy clay soil, then liming in autumn/winter will break it up nicely

in fact putting some lime in the planting hole and round the plant on the top of the soil to leach in during the growing season would be a much more efficient way of doing it than liming the entire bed which would quickly be neutralised by acidic soil)  

I think i'll do both for my brassica bed then, get some in now,  and then when I plant my brassicas. I have heavy clay and club root. Pants!

[Lynne]

In fact putting some lime in the planting hole and round the plant on the top of the soil to leach in during the growing season would be a much more efficient way of doing it than liming the entire bed which would quickly be neutralised by acidic soil

This is the method an old timer uses on our site and he gets great brassicas every year.

I do this after being told about it by old timers on my site. 'A  spoonful of lime in every hole' and it works brilliantly, we've had great cabbages every season.