What an interesting question, I've often wondered, I hope someone can answer for us.

that is gardening '' I will put it like this if you get indejestion you take sumthing chalk based like rennie or suck a lump of chalk indegestion is caused by ased, if you want a sharp drink you may drink lime juce ,so they are opersit to eachother .is that clear or have I confused you lol ps lime sweetens the soil now there's a conterdicton,

Like vodka and lime ?

I dont know Heron I'm a wisky man, but if you insist ill join you,

I think Lime and chalk are added to the soil to adjust the ph of the soil, lime and chalk are both alkali's I think, so they would bring an acid soil more towards neutral, acid being ph 1 to 7 and alkali's being ph7 to 14 , 7 being the neutral point , not sure what nutrients are in them. (think most of this is right)

While we're getting all technical, is bonemeal alkaline ?

certainly chalk and lime are both alkaline. but the term lime may be one of a few calcium compounds. Both will alter the pH, raising it to no higher than pH8. Farmers lime soil for this purpose. [I think not certain].

bone meal is mainly calcium phosphate and as such is a salt. It is alkaline in nature I think. but i am happy to be corrected by any chemists out there.

Maccrimon, You have said what I vaguely remember from schooldays about them both being alkaline, which might be why I wondered whether I could use up this box of lime on chalk loving plants. I think I might just scatter it on the vegetable plot as suggested here.
This question arose because Carol Klein wrote that Christmas Box likes a chalky soil and as I bought one last winter I'm thinking that I ought to give it some chalk because my soil is about neutral.
Thanks everyone for all the helpful information.

I know it's difficult to explain but what does 'Chalky' soil look like?

chakkie

well mine has flecks of chalk stone actually in it. from a distant it looks paler than normal soil, like a marl.

There are lots of marl pits near me but they look very dark.

If your soil reads acid on the PH scale, putting chalk or lime on it will not make it chalky soil, you will have to replace the soil in bulk. i.e. by the lorry load. Bonemeal as SBG says contains calcium, often confused with lime when added to soil for acid liking plants. Chalk activates other nutriments in the process of producing the necessary salts required for normal plant growth. It can also be noted that overlying soil on chalk can prove acid. These are some of the details contained in my notes.

sadly for my camellia my soil is alkaline over chalk. at its shallowest I have 1ft of soil then its down onto bedrock :o(
made digging footings for the garage 'different'.

Cliffo garden lime and lime fruit are quite different.

Thanks for your clarification Dr Bob. I only want to provide a chalky soil for one plant and after reading these posts I think I will keep it in a pot for a few years. Having said that, I've discovered that lilac and erigeron like chalk as well, so maybe I'll have to make a chalky bed.
I'm not far from the South Downs but on the thick clay of the Weald. A few miles south and I wouldn't have a problem as the gardens under the Downs are flecked with white chalk as Seaburngirl describes.