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  • ashley13ashley13 Posts: 162
    my mind map is saved as a word doc but cant upload it here??
  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    You need to save it in a format that can be used on here or.. You could print it out, photograph it and then upload it. 

    There may be some other way to do it and maybe someone knows more about it than me. Word is for text so it cannot be uploaded here. 
  • Hi Ashley people see colour differently and yes soil conditions or even the weather during the year can affect the depth of autumn colour. So don't worry.
    Weather wise it's easy West is wet and East is drier. North is colder and South is generally warmer. You can roughly divide UK into quarters. SW warm and wet,NW cool and wet,SE warm and drier,NE colder and drier. Of course there will then be local factors to take into account. Hilly areas tend to be cooler and wetter. Valleyso are different too depending which way they face. Take your time and it'll all start to make sense. The mind maps sound like an ace idea.
  • Just a thought I get a lot of my gardening books from charity shops. Saves a fortune especially if you're a student. May be not up to date but the basics never change as regards growing conditions.
    My Guru is the late,great Geoff Hamilton. Very practical organic gardening. Good luck.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Agree Tessa, Geoff was the man. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • He was. My bible is his Successful Organic Gardening first published 1987. Got it for £3.
    Has a section on The Soil perfect for Ashley.
  • ashley13ashley13 Posts: 162
    im more confused now,  my book has a section called plants for clay soil, the first being Acer Palmatum, bloodgood.  My boss said to write in my mind map that it tolerates clay soil.  Then there's Magnolia soulangeana which i've done a mind map for,  for this plant i was told by my boss that clay soil isnt the best.  So why is my book lying by saying plant for clay soil and listing those two?  There's more but i'm looking at those to start with. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It can be confusing Ashley, because there are no hard and fast rules to gardening ... sometimes people can have different experiences in the same circumstances. 

    I remember you saying that you have difficulty remembering things, so I understand that picking out and retaining the important bits of information from everything in a book must be quite a challenge.

    Perhaps what your boss meant was that in his experience Magnolia soulangeana doesn't do as well in clay soil as it does in loam.  

    However, the person who wrote your book may have found only a little difference between the way the plant grows in clay or in loam.

    The RHS website says that it will grow in clay or loam.   Perhaps it will, but I think that if it is growing in clay it may need more attention than if it is growing in loam. 

    Clay can be very good if it is improved by digging in lots of manure and compost,  but clay that hasn't been improved can be very wet in winter and then dry out hard like concrete in the summer, neither of which is good for most plants. 

    .

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ashley13ashley13 Posts: 162
    so in my mind map what do i say about soils under the section plants for clay soil
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited June 2018
    Perhaps you can put that plants will grow there but that clay soil usually needs the addition of some well-rotted manure to improve its structure and stop it drying out in summer.

    If it needs to be less wordy, the usual term for that is 'improved clay soil'.  

     :) 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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