HelpfulGardener.com

My in laws live next door to me as we share 5 acres of land. He decided to lime and fertilize today and I guess he figured that the clover and crab grass in my yard needed it too. The problem is, because he used a spreader on the back of his tractor, he also managed to lime and fertilize my newly planted roses. Since I know that lime is an alkaline and will make my soil more basic, and I also know that roses like a more acidic soil, what do I do? How will I know if his unwanted "help" has damaged my bushes? (And if you have any ideas on how to nicely ask that he leave my side of the yard alone, that would be welcomed as well)

It depends on how much was applied and how alkaline/acidic your soil used to be to begin with. My roses live in an alkaline garden and I have never needed to amend the soil around the roses. If you are concerned enough, purchase a soil pH Kit that lists the results in a numerical format. Then apply iron-chelated compounds, green sand or garden/soil Sulphur to counteract the lime if the soil is too alkaline.

Values above 7.5 would start to grab my attention but !!!!!

***I normally would do nothing until I see signs of iron chlorosis in the leaves (the leaves yellow out except for the leaf veins)***.

Iron chlorosis is usually caused by soil that is too alkaline. Monitor the readings by writing the results in a wall calendar for three months or so. The pH Scale is logarithmic so a reading of 7 is 10 times more alkaline than a reading of 6.