Plants and soil types. I need a dummies guide.

aliasojo

Every year I get confused, I must have some sort of mental block somewhere. I'm now fed up and want this year to be the last year where I don't know what I'm doing.

I need an Idiot's guide that clearly states : x plant needs x soil type.

I know what to put rhodedenrons in, because the bags of compost say on the front they are suitable for rhodedendrons but obviously they don't do this for all plants.

Food is another problem, how do I know which type of food for which plant? Again, rhodies are easy, but the rest aren't.

They usually say things like 'suitable for acid loving plants' but that means nothing to me, I don't know what plants love acid! I want it to say 'suitable for.......(and then list every plant that's ever been grown).

All my plants are in pots and containers so I need to buy suitable food and compost.

I have rhodedendrons, pieris, a stick apple tree, mexican orange blossom, dwarf lavender, various small evergreen conifers, clematis, berberis all in pots and I have no idea what to give them.

Veg is another problem. I bought huge growbags that said they were suitable for tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, and some other things that I can't remember, but it didn't mention peas, runner beans, beetroot or carrots..so I don't know if they're ok in that compost or not.

Can anyone help me?

serena

It's really a lot easier than you think.

Most plants will grow in pretty much any soil.

The exceptions are the lime haters -and they are a fairly small group - very often, the pretty spring flowerers - rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, summer flowering heathers, and quite a few of woodlanders - and a number of choice trees. They are all very unhappy in soils which are alkaline (containing lime). If it helps you remember, 'chalk and lime are alkaline'.

There is as far as I know, no research on plants that actually require lime, although there are some that definitely grow more happily on chalk than anywhere else.

You can feed them with any balanced fertiliser, as far as I know. In containers, even if they are planted in an ordinary compost, the lime is water soluble and washes out pretty easily.

Veg are also pretty easy going. I do know that brassicas (cabbage family) are better for lime. Rasberries on the other hand are happier in soils on the acid side - from bitter personal experience, they do not like mushroom compost! Growbags will be fine for any veg, although I have my doubts about say Early Purple broccoli, which needs more space, and runner beans will need far more watering than they would in open ground.

From the list you have, rhodo and pieris are acid lovers, clematis are happy on lime, and I'm not aware that the others have any preference one way or another.