Some times gardening can be as simple as planting a few seeds or plug plants and you are rewarded with crops and no problems. Other times you can have serious issues that cause you to give up and never give that crop ago.
Here at Growseed we get asked alot about french beans and peas. Mainly the problems growing when faced with production yields or simply the plant does not perform and either dies or the crop is very small or just not productive.
Most of these issues are normally down to the soil PH one of the common issues we tend to see if the addition of wood chips to the garden that may create high acidic soils which results in poor performing crops – peas and beans in particular tend to suffer the most.
How to fix acidic soil?
Adding line – we recommend using a granular lime product as seen below. Add the lime to the soil and then water and work into the ground the granules will break down and leave a white substance on the soil add additional lime as required. It is important to work the granuals into the soil as the PH value maybe imbalanced lower than the top soil dressing.
Comparing low ph to ph balanced soil
Here are two french bean plants. Planted out at exacty the same time both varaites are the same. The difference here is one area has been treated with lime and the other has not
Slow growth, and a dying plant. A plant that is in trouble.
PH Nutrail soil the difference between both plants is clear.
The biggest diffecence at all is when you compare peas. Both plants are Oregon Sugar Pod. Both planted at exactly the same time again one is in a highly acidic soil while the other is in a ph nutral location that has been treated with lime.
While this plant has started to produce pea pods not the size of the plant leaf and growth
Now lets look at the size of the plant compared to the blanced planted version
The plant growth here is almost doubled in size, much greener and much productive vs the one in acidic growth. Yes both plants will grow and the one in the acidic soil will grow and produce a crop however the harvest will be much smaller and the plant not as healthy.
Here we have both plants side by side to compare the size difference
So if you are struggling in the garden with failing peas or french beans or the plants are just not as big as you would like. Test the soil with a PH Soil testing kit and see if you have a problem that needs to be treated.