To achieve a lush, green lawn, most homeowners understand the importance and effect of fertilizer on the lawn. However, fewer people are aware of the role of pH in lawn care – that’s where lime comes in. Although it contains calcium and other nutrients, lime does not fertilize. Instead, lime increases the pH balance of the lawn to make it less acidic. Balancing the pH of the soil helps the fertilizer be more effective and produce beautiful results in your garden.
Applying lime to your lawn can therefore offer several important benefits for the health and vigor of your lawn:
Balance soil pH: With our rainy climate, the soil is often too acidic, making it difficult for grass to grow. Lime helps solve this problem by making the soil less acidic and more balanced. When the soil pH is perfect, your grass can better absorb nutrients.
Nutrient Accessibility: Lime makes the soil more favorable for important nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. This means your grass is getting the nourishment it needs to grow strong, green and resilient.
Prevents Moss and Weeds: Moss and weeds love acidic soil, but lime makes it less welcoming to them. When you use lime, you help your lawn outcompete these unwanted guests.
Improves Root Growth: Healthy soil with the right pH encourages your grass’s roots to grow deeper. This makes your lawn more drought resistant and helps it stay green in hot weather.
Activation of humification: Humification is the process by which organic matter is transformed into humus, a dark, nutrient-rich substance that is an important component of soil. By promoting microbial activity and providing conditions conducive to decomposition, lime can help activate the humification process, which contributes to the formation of more fertile, humus-rich soil.
In summary, applying lime to your lawn can play a very important role in improving soil health by balancing pH. In addition, it promotes the accessibility of nutrients, the decomposition of organic matter, humification and mineralization of humus. This leads to soil that is more fertile, richer in nutrients, less hospitable to weeds and more conducive to healthy grass growth. The application of a dolomitic lime treatment every year is therefore recommended.
