A Question Related to Adjusting Soil for pH

[George Donnelly]

I understand the soil sometimes needs to be "adjusted" for pH by digging up ~6" of it and mixing lime or something (I don't remember the details) into it, but my question is:

If I'm using a technique like "lasagna gardening" whereby instead of tilling I cover the soil with paper and then build up layers of compost or other fertile materials, do I still need to adjust the soil for pH? Or since I'm kind of building my own soil from scratch, is that irrelevant?

Thanks

[porcupine kate]

I still think you would want to test the soil to see what you are starting with.
Your plants are going to send down roots 18" to 24" down.   The soil under your lasagna is important too.

Also some plants prefer a PH slightly different than most plants. 
I love the book The Vegetable Gardners Bible by Ed Smith.   
He talks quite a bit about soil depth and Making your soil happy for your plants.
The friend who gave me the book had an amazing garden last year following his techniques when most of us had a so so year at best.

[Kat Kanning]

I've been bringing the pH up with wood ashes.

[George Donnelly]

Thanks guys. Great idea there with the wood ashes.

[Russell Kanning]

maybe you wouldn't have to dig down much when you add your lime, since you are building it up higher.

all the beds in our front yard are built up above the pathetic soil. The good news about the soil around here is that it drains well .... the carrots like it

[Tom Sawyer]

Bone meal will also reduce the acid and add Phosphorus, Calcium and trace elements. With good compost the soil ph is a little less critical.

Ground dolomite limestone reduces acid pretty safely and provide Calcium and Magnesium.

[George Donnelly]

Do the soil test results help you decide how much of these amendments to add in order to fix pH?

IIRC the fact that it drains well also makes it good for building. Small consolation I guess.

[Tom Sawyer]

Do the soil test results help you decide how much of these amendments to add in order to fix pH?

Yes... although I have always made educated guesses from the application rate they suggest on the bag. Again compost buffers and is pretty tolerant.

[Russell Kanning]

Do the soil test results help you decide how much of these amendments to add in order to fix pH?

IIRC the fact that it drains well also makes it good for building. Small consolation I guess.

absolutely

[CJS]

   Say someone took the time and money to make a few acres of soil farm able , how often would it have to be re balanced ? Would it have to be done again soon or would that guy get several seasons out of the improvements.

I want a hobby farm and possibly enough land to let others who have no land to have  decent sized gardens and land looks relatively affordable in parts of HN.

[microtone]

i'm not much of a farmer, and i guess that i'm stuck with a black thumb and not a green thumb, and find gardening and ornamental discussions even more boring and retarded than the boob tube. but generally different crops need specific PH's, or something....

but this year, i'm going to try a bag of stone dust and see if that fixes the mineral balance. it may have been the road salt runoff, or the woodchuck, or the inclement weather. but dang nobody lets me near their garden anymore when they find out i pick more stuff in 10 minutes than they can do in an hour....

yummy... love some raw stuff once in awhile.

[Russell Kanning]

   Say someone took the time and money to make a few acres of soil farm able , how often would it have to be re balanced ? Would it have to be done again soon or would that guy get several seasons out of the improvements.

the ground usually gets too acidic from the organic matter getting dropped from pine trees and such, so when you fix it and stop having your garden be the forest floor .... then it will not need so much liming.
Since Kat is adding wood ashes that seem to make it less acidic, then that is free balancing.

[cathleeninnh]

crop rotation would help

[Kat Kanning]

I tried that once but my plants didn't seem to like being turned upside down.

[Tom Sawyer]

crop rotation would help

Green manure cover crops to improve the soil
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-280-green-manures.aspx