[DavidP]

Hi there,

We are having a disastorous first year in our new home with our new veg plot and we need some advice. Spuds have caught mildew and have just stopped growing even after spraying with Bordeaux mixture; lettuce doesn't seem to want to grow at all; toms growing and fruiting but nothing to shout about; beans coming through but again just seem to have stopped growing..... the list goes on  :cry:

Here is the background.... The veg plot is around 30M x 10M and was ploughed up from grassland in March. It was turned over again 2 weeks later and then rotivated to a good tilth. The grass was just left to rot down under the soil. The plot is in a good position with plenty of sun and on slightly sloping land. Our neighbours all around us are growing the most fantastic veg even though the weather has been awful (rain, rain and then some more rain).

We think that the results we are getting are to do with not preparing the soil properly. Anyones opinion/advice would be greatly appreciated. The soil PH levels range from 5.5 to 6 across the plot. Is this too acid? We are planning on digging a lot of well rotted cattle manure this Autumn but think this might make the soil even more acid? I think we need to add lime to the soil to make it more alkaline but have read that you can't add lime when you have just added manure  :?  So anyone got any advice on our problems or observations on if our ph might be a problem and how to change it.......

many thanks,
David

[wellingtons]

... is OK and really shouldn't be causing you too much of a problem.  The ideal is between 6 and 7 for pretty much everything, but you're about there anyway.

Have you tested your soil for other things, phosphorous, potassium and a few other things I can't remember?  You can buy kits from the garden centre.

I wonder if you're perhaps low in other nutrients, rather than it being a pH issue.

Also do please remember that you seem to have had a particularly rough patch, but some others here (including me!) have had trouble with beans coming through.  I'm struggling with lettuce at the minute, I can't get it to germinate, I'm actually wondering if it's just too wet!

Test your soil, find out across the range what you're dealing with, then pick yourself up, dust yourself off ... and have another go ...  

[WG.]

Might be wireworm from the old grassland.  Or eelworm.

[waddecar]

Your pH is not too bad - depends on soil type optimum on loams is around 6.5 but optimum on very peaty soils is about 5.75.  Remember that pH measures the quantity of hydrogen ions in the soil and is a logarithmic scale so there are 10 times more at 5.5 than there are at 6.5.

Changing pH is not quick but it is easier to increase alkalinity than to increase acidity. application of 1kg of limestone per sq m will in time raise the pH by 1 unit but thats nearly 1/3 tonne over your plot! So not to be recommended

Would suggest you use spent mushroom compost (high pH)instead of farm manure and just lime the brassica patch .

However as others have indicated pH is unlikely to be your prime problem suggest you chat to neighbours and find out what it is they are doing that you are not doing or vice versa, compare drainage, see what their pH is shouldn't be much variation over a small area unless there has been something stored on your patch in the past and they may know something of the history.

good luck

[Aidy]

A little tip for wellies, sorry to hijack the thread, I always store my lettuce seeds in the fridge, then sow in indoors to start them, they do like the cold to warm and always germinate, pot em on till a few leaves appear then chuck em in, I hope I not telling how to suck eggs but I saw this on tele at a lettuce specialist.

[DavidP]

Thanks for the advice everyone. We have had a chat with the neighbours and it would appear that the crops that are doing well were all early planters and caught the exceptionally good weather we had here in April/May. People that planted out the same time we did (ie slightly late!) appear to be having similar problems with several of them having mildew spuds and stunted growth as well. I think we are going to go along the lines of ploughing up the rest of the land in Autumn and giving it a good feed of well rotted cow manure and lay our faith in "normal" weather returning next year to aid our bumper crop of tasty veg  

thanks again for all your help.......