How To Tell If Your Lawn Needs Lime? Researched And Complete Guide
Gardening Lime is ground magnesian limestone, this is rich in calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Once added to soil, this rich mix works together to alter the PH balance of the ground, making it less acidic and more alkaline. Alkaline soil offers a great environment for anything which grows in it, like a lawn, it also helps the plants get all the nutrients that they need.
When Do You Apply Lime?
A lawn needs liming when the soil becomes very acidic, although it might sound difficult to spot the signs of an acidic lawn. A primary indicator of an acidic lawn would be lawn moss, or other weeds, lawn diseases or pests. When the lawn becomes acidic almost all fertilizers, no matter how good they are, you can apply them to affected areas and see no response. Nevertheless, it should not be left to chance and some of these signals can be false so the best way to find out when to apply lime to a lawn would be by undergoing a soil test.
What Is Soil Testing?
Soil testing is the most accurate way to identify almost any adverse issues or components within one’s soil, including its pH level. By taking some samples of your soil it can be better analysed, this way the correct dose of lime can be administered to your soil fitting its exact needs. Soil in dessert areas and climates already have alkaline soil, for landowners in areas which experience a wider variety of weather it is important to carry out soil checks at least every four years.
How Do You Lime a Lawn?
After the individual needs of your soil has been tested and the correct dosage and strength of gardening lime for your lawn has been purchased, the next step is to correctly lime your lawn to treat it effectively.
Most lime solutions are easy to distribute evenly and effectively however, if it is required to spread more than half a kilogram per square metre onto your lawn then it is important to dig into the soil and distribute the lime both within and on top of the soil. For lawns which need a lesser dosage, simply sprinkling the lime mix on top of your lawn will efficiently treat it.
Some gardeners use either a drop-style or rotary style lime spreader, any spreader is definitely the best way to apply lime to a lawn. To ensure that the lime has been spread evenly over your lawn it is best to separate half the dosage which has been given to treat your lawn, then if you walk up and down your lawn with the spreader for the its first coat, then do the same but in a different motion, so horizontally or vertically.
This way your lime can be spread easily and effectively across your lawn, treating it to the best of your ability. Once the lime has been spread you should water the lawn, as this will help it to fully absorb its treatment and start the healing process.
When is The Best Time to Lime Your Lawn?
Liming your lawn should be determined as and when the lawn needs it, after getting ones lawn soil tested. Nevertheless, as a gardener becomes more and more used to the needs of their own lawn and its soil they will notice when the best time to carry out lawn liming.
Generally the best time to lime soil is from the end of the autumn months, either October or November, to early spring. The reason these months are considered ideal to lime soil is because weather conditions are most favourable then. The soil is not frozen from the dropping temperatures and usually the ground is not very wet, these are the perfect conditions for lime to treat the soil.
Is Liming The Best Solution for Me?
The results of liming are brilliant and can really transform a lawns appearance and health; this method is mostly utilised by gardeners with some kind of in depth gardening knowledge. By reducing the soils acidity fewer weeds are likely to grow, the health of the grass is improved and it becomes more aesthetically pleasing to gardeners, meaning it turns a vibrant green colour.
It must be said that this method is considered long winded when compared to other, easier methods or store mixed concoctions that treat unhealthy lawns. Some of the different limes used to treat the different soils needs require safety goggles and gloves to be worn when distributing it. This alongside the need to test ones soil before being able to treat it, which can be quite hard to find, makes this process seem very time consuming and difficult.
The Verdict
Regardless of this, the results of liming ones lawn are fantastic and can really transform a landscape. This method always passes the test of time and allows for gardeners to increase their knowledge of their gardens needs and provides them with an honest and pure product specifically purchased after their lawns own diagnosis. This cannot be said for shop purchased alternatives, some of the additional ingredients are bad for their lawns and the surrounding pants or soil. Also these methods do not require a test of the soil, so will never truly match the lawns needs.