[skeltonsuperstud]

Hi again,

Just had my soil's pH checked by one of the lab guys at work and it has come back at 6.9-7.0(so basically neutral). Do i need to do anything to my soil in preparation of planting veg? No crops have been grown for 5+ years just weeds(docks, nettles and a few bramble bushes) and the soil feels lovely, not too dry or wet and crumbles nicely.  I've put some well-rotted manure into my dug out rows with my first early's and in my prepped rows ready for next lot of seed spuds.
All tips greatly accepted to a newby allotmenteer!

Cheers,

Stu

[paintedlady]

sounds like you have got it sussed     Docks & nettles are a good indicator of soil fertility so you don't need to add much to it but keep up with an annual dig of manure where needed like for the potatoe bed, and you'll be fine.

[sunshineband]

You could maybe think about adding  some lime in the area you intend to grow brassicas, about two weeks before you plant them out IMHO in case of club root as slightly alkaline conditions help avoid this. 
Sounds like you have abrilliant soil there 

[Salmo]

The pH is fine. You do not need to add any more lime. Overliming can block the takeup of nutrients  e.g manganese.

[sunshineband]

Didn't know that -- I thought you neede to try to avoidn club root in 'unknown' or certain siutations!! I've put mine down now ....

[skeltonsuperstud]

Cheers folks,

I'd read about adding lime to area's intended for brassicas but thought I'd ask experienced allotmenteers opinions.  Hell of a job working the areas for planting/sowing due to the excessive dock/nettles but cleared a good area(approx quarter of my patch), back starts to ache a bit but I'll get my reward come the harvest, fingers crossed.
Bit of trial and error i guess in starting up my patch and I think I'll got with just using a bit of organic, well-rotted manure and a sprinkling of growmore as feed for my crops.  If I find that crops get clubroot I'll add lime next time and then all I've wasted is a few seeds and a bit of time but at least I'll have cleared that bit of my plot.

Cheers,

Stu

[sunshineband]

The best place to check for advice is on the links at the top of the pagem, where there is lots of really sound information -- a little while browsing here will help youmake a confident start... good luck and happy growing 

[skeltonsuperstud]

So if I wanted to acidify(which I don't need to but just want to add notes to my book) the soil I'd add Sulphate of Ammonia right? Bit confused as ammonia is alkaline?
Clarification please

[skeltonsuperstud]

Going to grow in naked soil, no S of A and no Lime. It's the old 'suck it and see' philosophy!

Will get some hens later in the year and the area designated for them can get de-weeded by the pecking hens.

I love this allotment stuff, don't know about the rest of you but I come back de-stressed.

Stu

[Stripey_cat]

So if I wanted to acidify(which I don't need to but just want to add notes to my book) the soil I'd add Sulphate of Ammonia right? Bit confused as ammonia is alkaline?
Clarification please

Time for a chemistry lesson: ammonia is an alkaline gas (well, most of the time!  It can act as a very weak acid in a few freaky reactions, but not in anything you're likely to do normally!).  Household ammonia is ammonia dissolved in water, and is still alkaline.  The salts have a variety of properties, not always intuitively obvious from the constituent ions (take sodium and chlorine, both dangerously reactive in their own ways, and make table salt!?).  In the case of ammonium sulphate, what actually happens is that it breaks down in the soil, and the bisulphate is the actual acid component.  The ammonium ions go to give nitrogen fertiliser too, so you can easily overfertilise by accident aiming for a low pH.