In article ,
Dave Roberts writes:
|
| Many thanks Nick, Janet and all the others for your input The
| discussion has been/is
| immensely interesting, although somewhat confusing. But that's
| gardening.

And, in particular, uk.rec.gardening :-)

| On the Rhodo ponticum issue the BBC did interview a forester
| on a Welsh hillside some time ago whose fulltime job was removing them.
| His clear statement was that "They poison the ground and nothing will
| grow here for 5 to 10 years". In retrospect however he might not have
| been referring to an actual toxin, but indicating that the soil was in
| some way, - due to an alternative multitude of causes, significantly
| damaged as regards supporting any species except its own.

He wasn't called Dai the Gloom, by any chance, was he? :-)

Don't trust what you hear on television/radio, especially the sayings
of such people. They are often selected for 'colour' rather than
rationality.

| Personally I suspect that outside of the bench science of the
| laboratory the nature of soil is so infinitely complex that we are
| unlikely ever to thoroughly understand what is going on down there at
| any moment.

Well, you're right there!

| So! members. Do I spread all this Beech leaf mulch around or take it to
| the local tip?

Spread it around. DEFINITELY. The Victorians prized it very highly,
and all their gardening books said that gardeners should go out of their
way to make it.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.