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I think I have a situation which is pretty rare in Scotland; my soil is alkaline. This is because we are on a limestone intrusion - all the rocks hereabout, just for a relatively short distance, are limestone. Basically a limey zit bursting through the granite skin of the Cairngorms, as I heard it put during a course on the local geology.
This is great for brassicas, but I have noticed that some plants (notably lettuce) I have stuck into the soil just don't seem to take off. It may be simply because they didn't like being transplanted or aren't hardy enough (we are getting air frosts now, being at 1100') but it makes me think - would it be worth my while making some of my soil more acid ? Given that I am using my alkaline topsoil as a top layer on my raised beds, even filling them with FYM will still leave me with non-acid soil. How do I get over this, or are there not any plants that really need acidity to thrive ?
This is great for brassicas, but I have noticed that some plants (notably lettuce) I have stuck into the soil just don't seem to take off. It may be simply because they didn't like being transplanted or aren't hardy enough (we are getting air frosts now, being at 1100') but it makes me think - would it be worth my while making some of my soil more acid ? Given that I am using my alkaline topsoil as a top layer on my raised beds, even filling them with FYM will still leave me with non-acid soil. How do I get over this, or are there not any plants that really need acidity to thrive ?
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