The soil where I live is red clay, and I've heard it's very acidic.

[raccoon]

I've been putting coffee and tea grounds (which are also acidic) on plants. Do you all think I need to put something else that isn't acidic on them?

[Kolesar]

1. Buy a soil pH and nutrient test kit at the "garden center"

It will tell you if you have to add lime to increase the pH. The kit will tell you whether you need nitrogen, phosphorous, and/or potassium. Coffee grounds are a good source of nitrogen, by the way.

[tsuki]

2. We had our soil tested by the county agriculture extension office.

It cost us $7 per plot to get a detailed work-up that included ph. Husband also found out about a master gardening course being given, and the cost is the price of the books. He starts tomorrow.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. We've been dealing with red clay - live in Raleigh. It's pretty good, actually,

once you get some organic material worked in. It holds water and nutrients quite well. Work in lots of compost - leaves, clippings, etc. It certainly isn't ideal soil (we liked the rich, dark mushroom compost-enriched garden we had much better when we lived in PA)....we've also done lots of container gardening to avoid diseases on our tomatoes (since we can't rotate crops very much).

[MajorChode]

4. It depends

Some trees and shrubs love acidity. I have the opposite problem in Texas as my soil has a high PH. As a result I can't grow certain types of oak trees, azaleas, and other low PH loving plants.