We tend to mix rotted pine needles with ericaceous compost. Make a hole 3 times as wide as the root ball instead to 2. Occasional use of ericaceous liquid feed and a top dressing leaf mould.
..I wonder if Jennifer will come back to us at some point and tell us what she's planted... I so often find that people ask these questions but then we never hear from them again.... do you find it so...?
sandy soil is often acid Verdun... not heard of the Bagshot Sands...? noted for it's very acidic heathland... Berkshire, parts of London, Surrey, Dorset..etc....
...oh that's alright, no problem in disagreeing but this isn't really about our opinions more about geological fact isn't it..
from RHS Wisley, Surrey, for instance:-
''Soil at Wisley is generally acidic, free-draining, sandy loam with a natural PH of 5.5''
from Natural England website:-
In the Ascot-Bracknell-Wokingham area and to the south and east of Newbury the London Clay is overlain by the sandy Bagshot Formation. These free-draining sands give rise to nutrient-poor acidic soils which support heathland...
so we're not talking of beach sand here, such as you have, but sandy loam such as found in many gardens...
I wish I had some...it's some work trying to make neutral into acidic...
edit: actually I could have just referred to the Queens Sandringham Estate, which isn't far from me.... the name itself is a contraction from Sant Dersingham, [the sandy part of Dersingham]... it's full of lovely Rhododendrons and Azaleas... growing on the sandy heath... you see them all along the roadside too...
I do remember a feature on Gardeners World about somewhere that had green sand that made growing rhododendrons easy. Just wish I could remember where! I don't grow any fruit and veg, just ericaceous plants!
I live in the Chilterns! It's very chalky! We just prepare the planting hole first, ericaceous compost (John Innes) and rotted pine needles. Then use ericaceous liquid feed after that. But I plan on investigating using sulphur dust as a spring top dressing that gets dig in, looks a bit cheaper!
Favourites that aren't so common are Kalmia latifolia and Lithodora diffusa.
...I think Prince Charles's garden at Highgrove, in Gloucestershire is alkaline soil but he grows acid lovers in a specially prepared bed... I'm sure I saw that on the t.v. some time ago... like Verdun says it's going against the grain a bit, but if it's just a section of your garden and not too big an area, then I think it's worth a go...
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We tend to mix rotted pine needles with ericaceous compost. Make a hole 3 times as wide as the root ball instead to 2. Occasional use of ericaceous liquid feed and a top dressing leaf mould.
..I wonder if Jennifer will come back to us at some point and tell us what she's planted... I so often find that people ask these questions but then we never hear from them again.... do you find it so...?
sandy soil is often acid Verdun... not heard of the Bagshot Sands...? noted for it's very acidic heathland... Berkshire, parts of London, Surrey, Dorset..etc....
...oh that's alright, no problem in disagreeing but this isn't really about our opinions more about geological fact isn't it..
from RHS Wisley, Surrey, for instance:-
''Soil at Wisley is generally acidic, free-draining, sandy loam with a natural PH of 5.5''
from Natural England website:-
In the Ascot-Bracknell-Wokingham area and to the south and east of Newbury the London Clay is overlain by the sandy Bagshot Formation. These free-draining sands give rise to nutrient-poor acidic soils which support heathland...
so we're not talking of beach sand here, such as you have, but sandy loam such as found in many gardens...
I wish I had some...it's some work trying to make neutral into acidic...
edit: actually I could have just referred to the Queens Sandringham Estate, which isn't far from me.... the name itself is a contraction from Sant Dersingham, [the sandy part of Dersingham]... it's full of lovely Rhododendrons and Azaleas... growing on the sandy heath... you see them all along the roadside too...
I do remember a feature on Gardeners World about somewhere that had green sand that made growing rhododendrons easy. Just wish I could remember where! I don't grow any fruit and veg, just ericaceous plants!
I live in the Chilterns! It's very chalky! We just prepare the planting hole first, ericaceous compost (John Innes) and rotted pine needles. Then use ericaceous liquid feed after that. But I plan on investigating using sulphur dust as a spring top dressing that gets dig in, looks a bit cheaper!
Favourites that aren't so common are Kalmia latifolia and Lithodora diffusa.
Think this is the future for acidifying my soil.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B005ZXPGW4
...I think Prince Charles's garden at Highgrove, in Gloucestershire is alkaline soil but he grows acid lovers in a specially prepared bed... I'm sure I saw that on the t.v. some time ago... like Verdun says it's going against the grain a bit, but if it's just a section of your garden and not too big an area, then I think it's worth a go...