Re: Clay soil - Garden Lime?

 


|>
|> Can I use quicklime to help break up clay soil?
|> I meant to buy slaked lime but accidentally bought quicklime instead (I live
|> in Normandy and haven't mastered all the French gardening words yet :-).

Well, yes, but watch out for that stuff!  You REALLY don't want to breathe
any of it or get any near your eyes, and it will get very hot when any
dampness gets near it.  You need it to get rained on or water it before
it blows around.  I wouldn't handle it myself.

|> Since nothing will be planted there again until next Spring can I apply lime
|> now?

Yup.

|> I also plan to ask a neighbouring farmer to see if he can supply a trailer
|> or two of "merde" for the plot! Does anyone know if manure should be applied
|> before or after liming or doesn't it matter?

It doesn't matter.

|> PS - does anyone know how to spell "rotorvating" - my spellchecker doesn't
|> know either?

Rotovate - it's a brand name, used as a common word, like Macintosh,
Hoover or Kleenex.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

 

On 1/8/06 18:41, in article eao3nc$fvc$1@gemini.csx.cam.ac.uk, "Nick


<snip>

I seem to recall that while Jersey farmers lime their fields, there is some
caution to be applied other than that.  Too much lime produces potato
scab....I think?  And harking back to a much earlier thread on the subject
of lime, slaked lime preserves, quick lime destroys - thank you, Dornford
Yates!

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)

 


Yes. I noticed the local DIY store has containers of concentrated Sulphuric
acid for sale. Why? It isn't the sort of thing I'd expect to see outside of
a laboratory or chemical works. Especially nowadays I'd expect such things
to be more restricted since Conc. Sulphuric can easily be used as the base
ingredient to make all the other chemicals needed to make many high
explosives!

 


|> > One thing you should be aware of in France and Belgium is that it is
|> > possible to buy some very dangerous chemicals off the shelf.
|>
|> Yes. I noticed the local DIY store has containers of concentrated Sulphuric
|> acid for sale. Why? It isn't the sort of thing I'd expect to see outside of
|> a laboratory or chemical works. Especially nowadays I'd expect such things
|> to be more restricted since Conc. Sulphuric can easily be used as the base
|> ingredient to make all the other chemicals needed to make many high
|> explosives!

The UK Establishment is terrified of allowing its peasantry to get access
to anything that could be used for a rebellion, not just including even
the most harmless weapons, but any education that might be useful for
that.  This isn't a new phenomenon, but goes back centuries.

God alone knows why because, despite repeated provokations, the UK
peasantry is about the most docile bunch of forelock-tuggers you can
hope to come across.  All of the Celtic fringe except the Irish was
demolished as a political force centuries ago, and they are safely
the other side of the Irish Sea.

Seriously.  No other explanation fits all of the facts.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

 

On 1 Aug 2006 17:41:00 GMT, nmm1@cus.cam.ac.uk (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


'In Theory' and what is recommended for farmers etc. they should be
applied with a reasonable time interval between, probably a few months
(e.g. lime now, merde in spring or vice versa), because the alkalinity
of the lime will displace ammonia from the merde and decrease it's
fertiliser value. In practice, it's probably as NM says.

But also as NM says, quicklime is really nasty stuff and can cause
serious burns to eyes, lungs and skin. You should take extreme
precautions when handling it. In the laboratories where I used to
work, on the rare occasion that quicklime was handled in significant
quantities, they used to put on full chemical protection suits. That
may be OTT, but it is nasty stuff.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net