[shokkyy]

I've posted before about the problems I've been having with a new veggie bed I made at the beginning of this year. I bought one of the probe type soil testers to test the soil in this bed, but I'm a little puzzled by the results. In different parts of the bed, I'm getting readings of 5, 6 or 7, which is really quite a big range. On the side of the bed that was cultivated in previous years, it's more towards 7. On the side of the bed that was lawn before this year, I'm mostly getting readings between 5 and 6. I also took a couple of comparison readings from other beds in the garden, and those were reading 5.5 to 6, so I guess that's the 'normal' reading for the soil in my garden.

I was surprised by these readings, because we are on a bed of solid clay and I thought clay was alkaline. Presumably it also means that when I put garden compost down on a bed (as I had done for 3 years on the cultivated side) that is making the soil more alkaline.

But according to the chart that came with my soil tester, most vegetables should be fine by the 5.5 to 6 sort of levels, so I shouldn't need to be adding lime. Is that right? In any event, there's clearly poor drainage in the bed, because in the last couple of weeks a good crop of toadstools has appeared.

[mumofstig]

I don't know if this will help 
http://www.allotment-garden.org/fertilizer/garden-lime.php

[shokkyy]

I don't know if this will help 
http://www.allotment-garden.org/fertilizer/garden-lime.php

Thanks, Mum, I've never spotted that before, but from that it looks like I need to aim for 6.5 to 7. What does fox me a bit is that I was planning to hit the bed this autumn with garden compost, leaf mould, chicken manure and calcified seaweed, to improve both fertility and structure as much as I can, but John's article says not to put down fertilisers at the same time as lime because they cancel each other out. Presumably I could still do that if I lime in the springtime, or would it be better to do lime autumn and the other stuff springtime? I've never done more than chuck down garden compost or BFB before, so I'm on a bit of a learning curve here.

Also, am I right in thinking that calcified seaweed will also raise the PH level, as an alternative to lime?