Mark McNee

Tag: Soil

  • Acid

    This is a water based solution which has a pH below 7. Most acid soil lie in the range of 7 to 5 though some peat soils may be lower.

  • pH

      In simple terms this is how acid or alkaline something is – only a water based solution can have a pH. A pH of 7 is neutral, below 7 is acidic and above 7 is alkaline. The only way to know the pH of a soil is to measure it, either by adding it…

  • Sequestered Iron

    When plants are grown in a soil which is to alkaline for them they suffer from iron deficiency as a result of the effect the pH has on the nutrients which are available to plants growing in it. Sequestered iron is iron in a form which is not affected by the pH and so it…

  • Is lime poisonous to Rhododendrons?

    The pH confusion People get terribly worried about lime near Rhododendrons, to the extent that some people insist that you should never water ericaceous plants with hard water. The problem is the whole soil pH thing courses all sorts of confusion. So let’s ignore all that’s been said before and start from the very beginning.…

  • Ericaceous

    This is a catch all term for plants which need acidic soil to grow in.

  • To drain or not to drain that is the question.

    To drain or not to drain that is the question.

    When faced with an area of waterlogged garden the solution put forward is always to put a drain in, as if digging a trench and putting in a length of perforated pipe will magically make the problem go away. If only life was so easy. If you are going to drain a piece of ground…

  • Soil

    What soil is should at first sight be pretty self evident but to a soil scientist, yes there is such a person (they study soil), soil is a very complex thing. The problem is we all tend to overlook soil; it’s that muddy stuff in the garden. It is though a complex and delicate ecosystem…

  • To begin at the beginning!

    To begin at the beginning!

    In the coming posts I’ll walk you through the problems associated with starting a new garden. I grant only a small number of people are at anyone time in this position but it will illustrate how a garden develops, provides a logical starting point and even if you are not actually starting a new garden…