If you take care of other people’s gardens for them as a landscaper and lawn care professional, you need to know about lime.  Most people aren’t even aware of lime or what it can do for their gardens.  But you are in a position to show them the benefits of using it.

As with everything you add to a lawn or other garden area though, you need to know what to do and how to use it properly.  Inappropriate use can be just as damaging as not using it at all.

Lime basically acts as a fertilizer.  Lime is used on a lawn when the acidity is found to be too high.  It might sound a little confusing at first, but when you check the acidity of the soil in a garden, you will find that a low pH means you have highly acidic soil.  In order to raise the pH, lime must be added to counteract the acidity.

So for starters you need to ensure you keep a pH testing kit in your truck at all times.  You won’t always need to use it regularly in any one particular garden.  But certainly when you first arrive somewhere new it’s a good idea to figure out what you’re up against.  This is particularly important if the client has hired you to landscape their garden for them.  If you don’t know what acidity the soil has, you could end up planting things that won’t last.

You can often tell by sight whether a particular lawn or garden is too acidic.  Can you spot moss in the grass for example?  Moss loves acidic situations so this is a fairly good indicator that you might have to apply lime.  But once again, always check the level of acidity with the pH testing kit before you start applying the lime.

Make sure that when you do use lime you know exactly how much to put on to achieve the results you want.  Read all the packaging carefully and use the pH level you have gained to get the right dosage.  You don’t need to apply lime very often at all.  Do it once in a year and then test the soil again to see what the pH is this time.  You may find it is now okay and you don’t need to do it again.  Conversely you might need to use less than you did before.  The danger in applying too much lime is that the soil will go the other way, becoming too alkaline in nature instead of being too acidic.

As you can see testing is the clear task to do before you think about liming.  When you do have to apply it you don’t have to wait for any period of the year to make sure it gets done.  Instead you can apply it whenever it is needed, provided there has been no frost.

As you can see, lime provides a good solution in many acidic soils, but only in moderation.

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