Gardening is a science as much as it’s an art. From the moment you start planning how you want your garden to look and what you want to plant, you need to take things like soil PH into account.
In this blog post, we delve deep into everything you should know about soil PH and its importance to plant growth.
What is soil PH?
PH is a numbered scale used to indicate how acidic or alkaline a solution or, in the case of gardening, soil is. The scale spans from 1-14. Anything below seven is classed as acidic, with 1 being the most acidic, anything above seven is alkaline, with 14 being the most alkaline. Seven is considered neutral, being neither acidic or alkaline.
Your location will all affect the PH of your soil. From your climate and soil type to rainfall levels, there’s numerous factors which determine your soil’s PH. If you want to have the perfect lawn, grow a certain variety of plant successfully, or even change the colour of your bloom, then you’ll need to pay close attention to PH.
This is because, depending on the PH of your soil, nutrients become available or unavailable to the plants you grow. This can lead to discolouration and variation, growth prohibition and even poisoning.
Most plants thrive at a slightly acidic PH of 6.5.
How to change your soil PH
If your plants and grass are growing less successfully than expected, then it’s worth seeing if you can give your garden a helping hand by changing the soil PH. You can find out the PH level of your soil using a test kit.
If you’ve completed your PH test and it comes back out of whack, changing the PH can seem like a daunting and confusing experiment. But altering the acidity or alkalinity of soil is easier—and less scientific—than you might think.
PH can be raised using limestone and sulfur can be used to lower it. You can purchase both of these materials in powder or pellet form, both of which can be applied by hand or using a garden spreader for more even distribution.
Monitoring your soil PH
Once you’ve regulated the PH for the optimum growth and conditioning of your grass, plants and hedges, you’re sure to see a more successful rate of growth as well as improved condition. But PH is changeable and, if unmanaged, it will revert to its natural levels over time.
For continued results it’s important to continue monitoring your soil’s PH on a regular basis. From rainfall and natural rock minerals to fertilisers, there’s countless factors that can alter your PH overtime.
But your garden doesn’t need to suffer, regular testing and limestone or sulfur application will help to keep your PH stable, leading to the successful growth of healthy plants.
For more expertise on soil conditioning, treatment or how to find the best plant types for your soil, get in touch with our team today!