Is it worth getting a soil PH kit?

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We moved house last year and I'm just thinking about cutting some flower beds. I know, I know, wrong time of year. I was heavily heavily preg in autumn though! I wanted a sort of cottagey garden, tiered display, up against the back fence - tall things like hollyhocks and lupins at the back, maybe sweet peas, and shorter things in front. I'm intending to start off slowly and only put a few things in (potted) this year, but before I splash any cash, I really ought to know what sort of soil we have! (shouldn't I?) It's just off a river water meadow (the garden itself shouldn't get flooded but the field a couple of metres below the garden level does) and we can tell from the 'grass' that the garden is rather damp - loads of moss!

Eventually (for next year) we're hoping to have a small veg bed too (probably raised if drainage is an issue) so I do need to know about soil type. Any tips? Do the kits you can buy online actually work?

I've bought various kits over the years and used them haphazardly without them making much of a difference. However, i'm about to go out and use one right now just for entertainment.

Unless you want a garden full of camellias or your soil is off the scale in one direction it won't make a huge amount of difference. You can buy kits in homebase. I certainly wouldn't spend loads on one of those tests that tells you if it's clay or sand or whatever - just buy a decent gardening book and get out there and look at the soil.

Don't worry about the time of year, just go for it - there's plenty of time to plant stuff for this year and loads of cheap perennials in the garden centres.

Hollyhocks like it a bit dry, by the way, and your lupins are in danger of being eaten to bits by slugs especially if your garden is a bit damp.

Yes it is worth testing the soil in various parts of the garden. a soil testing kit is around £6.

It would tell you if you needed to improve any areas and if it was unsuitable for certain plants eg lime haters, lime lovers etc.

The water meadow sounds lovely.

Mmm. Thanks for tips re Hollyhocks. I always see them sprouting out of cracks in the pavement up against house walls in the village, so I'd imagine they do like it dry! Ah well. We had lupins in the last garden, which was on the dampish side, and didn't have a particularly bad slug problem, though.

I ought to be able to tell if the soil is loamy, sandy, clay etc. Used to be an archaeologist! But rather embarassed that it hadn't occured to me until now to have a look...

The water meadow is beautiful. I still can't believe that the view out of the back windows is basically onto the river. It gets all misty and mysterious in the mornings, and you can hear the water birds calling in the evenings. Basically, the view and the garden are why we bought the house (and we're keeping fingers crossed that the regular flooding of the river won't be a problem).