Why is pH of the soil important?
As mentioned in the previous paragraph a soil pH of 6 to 6.5 is required to get the best out of our fruit and veggies, but as the good professor said – “Why is it so?”. To answer this we need to understand what plants require from soil to help them grow, because plants need certain essential nutrients to grow just as we do. Plants absorb water from the soil through their roots and dissolved in the water are chemical nutrients which the plant uses to build up its tissues. Many people will be familiar with the three major nutrients; nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium also referred to as NPK but there are also three minor nutrients: calcium, magnesium and sulphur as well as eight trace nutrients. These trace nutrients are only required in very small amounts but if they are missing or unavailable from the soil you get very sick plants. Now what has all this got to do with pH you may ask? The “availability” of a plant nutrient in the soil is tied up with pH. The soil may have all the good
