What the pH

I’ve just measured the pH of the soil across my allotment and I am a bit mipHed. The one area I limed at the beginning of the year showed little or no dipHerence compared to the rest of the plot! Either I’m wasting my time or the hungry brassicas have gobbled up all the lime I put down. The other pHinding is that it’s all too acidic - at a dismal pHive point pHive on average. (OK I’ll stop that now) Well at least I know how to provide the biggest boost to the veg next year. I’m going to dose it up big style with lime this winter (except for where the potatoes are going). Here’s a link to a site I’ve pHound (I lied) with some of the best grapHics demonstrating the effect of raising the pH into the zone where the soil nutrients become available.
http://www.blogdivvy.com/growing-vegetables/soil-ph-for-garden-vegetables.htm

Has anyone ever used the pH tester kit involving a test tube? It seems terribly fiddly to me, and requires some subjective judgement, although it is always the standard recommendation in books! I’ll stick to my probe and meter. It allows you to take as many readings as you want quickly and at no extra cost. It certainly reacts differently to different soil, but sometimes I do wonder if it is correctly calibrated, as I’ve had it for years.