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Actually, Dave, the ph of your soil can vary a great deal, depending on what your growing. Most plants want a ph of 6.0 to about 7.5 or so. There are a lot of things you can do to change the ph scale, which is a huge topic in and of itself. I'll make another section and start talking about the soil ph in the next few days.
You are 100% correct! For most vegetables, a pH on the basic side (above 7) is good, but woe, woe if you lime some things in your garden, like strawberries and raspberries. Their leaves will turn yellow if you do that. They prefer acidic soil.
Also, I have discovered my rhubarb LOVES acidic soil. My neighbors have always babied their rhubarb, and finally gave up in disgust when my SEVERELY abused rhubarb did so much better than theirs.
The secret was, I grew my rhubarb under a cedar tree, a complete no-no for most plants. I piled fresh clippings from the lawn around the plants, also a no-no for most plants, that could burn from this practice. Finally, whenever the productivity of a plant drops off, down through the middle of the plant goes the shovel, and half of it gets moved to a new location.
My rhubarb is always about one half to one meter high and very juicy.
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