I want to show you some of the new products
we've got coming out this year.
And this particular one -- I'm really excited
about because I think this has got the most
bang for the buck of anything you could do
for your garden.
It's February here in Georgia and it's the
perfect time of the year to get out there
and check that soil sample.
And we're carrying Lime now and we're carrying
the pelletized lime.
Now the difference is that regular agriculture
lime is a powder and the one we're carrying
is a pelletized lime and you can put it out
with a spreader or some type of equipment
-- lawn equipment, a hand shaker or whatever.
You can actually put it out by hand if you
have to.
The powders that are used in agricultural
lime are nearly impossible to put out by hand
or with any type of hand spreader or anything
like that.
So it's important when you're looking at putting
out lime on a small acreage or a small garden
area, that you use the pelletized lime , otherwise
you're going to have a mess on your hands
trying to apply it.
Lime adjusts your pH.
Now to check your soil and to check where
your pH is at -- this is a soil sample bag
from Georgia.
Most of your extension services have these
bags and I don't know -- it's $6 or $7 to
get it checked.
And this is a must do.
You've got to know where your pH is at before
you start applying any lime.
The instructions are on the back, how you
take these soil samples.
Turn them in to your extension agent.
If they don't do it where you're at, then
there are some private labs you can send your
soil samples to around the country.
Find out where your pH is at and then adjust
it.
A lot of your peppers, tomatoes and things
like that like a pH around 6.5.
A lot of your acid loving plants like blueberries
and azaleas like it around 5.5 or lower.
Or you could even get it under 5 with some
of the blueberries.
When you apply lime it raises your pH, it
brings it up.
The problem is that you can't easily bring
it back down.
So it's easy to raise up and it's hard to
bring back down.
If you apply lime and you don't need it and
you're getting your pH too high, you can tie
up some of those nutrients and some of those
elements in your soil that you're going to
need to grow a good, nice garden.
So you've got to know where your pH is at
before you apply it.
When you apply your lime, you want to make
sure that you get it to that level which is
normally around 6.5 to 7 for tomatoes and
peppers.
And some of the acid-loving plants, you want
to adjust it lower than that.
If you get your pH too high and you apply
too much lime, the only way to lower it is
with elemental sulfur.
And it's a painstaking process because sulfur
is soluble and it's something that you have
to apply over and over again to eventually,
over the years, try to get it down.
So the take-away here today is make sure you
do a soil sample -- it's cheap and takes a
little bit of time -- know where your pH is,
adjust that pH in your garden to make all
those nutrients and to make all of those elements
available to the plant and grow a nice, lush
garden.
We offer them in two different sizes, the
40 lb bag and the 10 lb bag.
So there you go, get out there and get that
garden going.
Get your pH checked, get your soil sample
and know where you're at and be off to a good
start this year.
