Garden lime for vegetables
Updated: October 2026
You grow cabbage after potatoes, or tomatoes in a bag, and one sack of garden lime is being asked to do three opposite jobs. Garden lime for vegetables is a crop rule, not a second how-to and not a ranking. More lime on acid soil where clubroot is present, none just before potatoes, and none as a cure for blossom end rot. The [garden lime comparison](/hub/fertiliser-soil-and-bark-mulch/garden-lime) stays the product grid. Digging and manure sit on [how to apply garden lime](/hub/fertiliser-soil-and-bark-mulch/garden-lime/sub/garden-lime-how-to-apply).
You grow cabbage after potatoes, or tomatoes in a bag, and one sack of garden lime is being asked to do three opposite jobs. Garden lime for vegetables is a crop rule, not a second how-to and not a ranking.
You grow cabbage after potatoes, or tomatoes in a bag, and one sack of garden lime is being asked to do three opposite jobs. Garden lime for vegetables is a crop rule, not a second how-to and not a ranking. More lime on acid soil where clubroot is present, none just before potatoes, and none as a cure for blossom end rot. The garden lime comparison stays the product grid. Digging and manure sit on how to apply garden lime.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Named plants | Dose or coverage | Pack | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Topline Topline garden lime 4 kg and Epsom salts 1.5 kg | Vegetables, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, trees, shrubs, flowers | Not stated | 4 kg lime and 1.5 kg Epsom salts (item weight 5.5 kg) | 10.0 | about £18.95 | View offer |
| Preis-Tipp |  Westland Westland lime soil conditioner, 4 kg (pack of 2) | Plants. No crop list in the bullets | 35-70 g per square metre | 4 kg, pack of 2 (item weight 8 kg) | 8.8 | about £19.98 | View offer |
| Alternative |  Westland Westland garden lime, 4 kg, with seaweed stimulant | Non-ericaceous plants and vegetables | Not stated | Title 4 kg lime and 2.5 kg stimulant; unit count 6,500 g | 1.0 | about £18.53 | View offer |
On this page
Brassicas and clubroot
Clubroot swells brassica roots and stunts the plant. The Royal Horticultural Society says lime reduces clubroot and does not eliminate it. On acid soils where the disease is already present, the rate is 500 g per square metre, then 270 g per square metre in later years. That pair is not the general table that aims at pH 6.5. Drainage matters as much as the bag: raised beds help, and you keep down shepherd's purse, charlock, and wild radish. A 10 m² cabbage patch needs 5 kg in the first year. A 4 kg garden-centre box does not finish that dressing. Severe, field-scale disease is the moment to call an adviser. Do not treat 4–12 tonnes per hectare, or a horticultural target around pH 7.5, as a garden conversion. Quicklime in that advisory note is not a garden method.
Potatoes and common scab
Common scab is worse on alkaline soil and in the dry. The RHS says do not lime immediately before potatoes. Apply lime after the potato course. AHDB's potato review says liming immediately before planting should be avoided unless pH is very low, and that calcium itself is not the key cause. That commercial exception is not a garden excuse to lime the potato bed by default. Water during tuber formation: 20 litres per square metre, starting two to three weeks after emergence and continuing for about four weeks. That is a watering figure, not a lime rate. If you grow brassicas and potatoes on the same allotment, lime the brassica ground on the clubroot schedule after a test and leave the potato ground until after lifting. A single autumn pass across both beds buys scab on the tubers. How you choose the bag sits on the garden lime buying guide.
Tomatoes and blossom end rot
Dark, sunken ends on tomato, aubergine, and pepper are blossom end rot. The fruit is short of calcium. The RHS says it is very rare for the compost to lack calcium. The usual failure is water flow, especially in pots and growing bags. Later fruit can be protected by keeping the compost evenly moist. Foliar calcium sprays are not effective on that account. A bag of garden lime does not cure the rot. Topline's bundle names tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage and mixes 4 kg of lime with 1.5 kg of Epsom salts. A line about dissolving feed for foliage is not labelled as lime-only. Do not turn that bundle into a blossom-end-rot treatment. Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate, not a calcium fix for uneven watering.
When the garden rate is the wrong rate
Westland's current manufacturer page says do not apply that product around ericaceous plants and vegetables. Older stockist text still prints 10 g per square metre for vegetables. The page in your hand wins. The RHS notes are about garden lime as a material. A named Westland pack is a labelled product. If the carton forbids vegetables, use another garden lime whose label allows the plot, or do not lime that product there. Which kept listing holds kilograms is on best garden lime. Hydrated lime and quicklime are the wrong chemistry for a home brassica row; that comparison sits on garden lime or hydrated lime. Call an adviser when clubroot is severe, or when someone is quoting tonnes per hectare and pH 7.5.
Common questions
How much garden lime for clubroot?
On acid soil where the disease is present, the RHS rate is 500 g per square metre in the first year, then 270 g per square metre in later years, plus drainage. That is not the general pH 6.5 table. A 10 m² patch needs 5 kg the first year. Lime reduces clubroot; it does not eliminate it.
Will lime get rid of clubroot?
No. It lowers the risk on acid soil and does not clear the pathogen. You still improve drainage, keep down host weeds, and treat resistant cultivars as partial help. Severe outbreaks need a long rotation and, at field scale, an adviser, not another handful.
Should I lime the potato bed?
Not immediately before potatoes. Common scab is worse on alkaline soil. Lime after the potato course. Water during tuber formation, about 20 litres per square metre for around four weeks from two to three weeks after emergence. That watering figure is not a lime rate.
When in the rotation do I lime if I grow both brassicas and potatoes?
Lime the brassica ground on the clubroot schedule after a pH test. Wait until after lifting before you lime ground that just grew potatoes. Do not run one autumn rate across both beds. The crops want opposite pH habits in the same year.
Does garden lime stop blossom end rot on tomatoes?
No. The fruit is short of calcium because water flow failed, usually in pots and bags. Keep the compost evenly moist. The RHS does not treat the compost as empty of calcium, and foliar calcium sprays are not effective on that account.
Are calcium sprays the fix?
Not on the RHS page this comparison follows. Later fruit can be protected by even moisture. Do not use a US extension spray recipe, and do not treat a dissolve-and-spray line on an Epsom bundle as a lime treatment for the rot.
Can I use a Westland box on the vegetable plot if the label says not around vegetables?
No. Follow the pack in your hand. The RHS notes are about garden lime as a material. A Westland carton is a labelled product. Older stockist copy that still prints a vegetable rate does not override a current "not around vegetables" line.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK and maker sources from the research digest, used for this page in October 2026. Prices, stars and review counts are the figures stored with the eight amazon.co.uk listings, not a fresh shop check. A star line is not a measured pH rise. Hydrated lime is not one of these listings.
- RHS, lime and liming (retrieved October 2026)
- RHS, soil pH (retrieved October 2026)
- RHS, club root (retrieved October 2026)
- RHS, blossom end rot (retrieved October 2026)
- RHS, potato scabs (retrieved October 2026)
- AHDB, soil pH and liming recommendations (retrieved October 2026)
- Westland garden lime (retrieved October 2026)
- legislation.gov.uk, liming material (retrieved October 2026)