"Sacha" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote:
snp

:-)) Well I'd agree about the first two but after gardening for
30
years or more and still classing myself as very much a "Learner",
I'll
continue to give him a chance to improve in the latter category.
I'm
always amazed at how much I can still learn form other gardeners,
from
evey garden I visit or every gardening publication I pick up.


My husband, who has been in the business or associated with it for
60 years,
says that an old gardener once told him to listen to the old chaps
when they
start apparently rambling on about 'the old days'. He said that
every now
and again you'll pick up some little gem of information that you
didn't know
before and that will make your patience worthwhile. Ray says he's
found
that to be true time after time. The placing of a stone slab
beneath an
apple tree when planting it was just one, but I doubt anyone does
that now!

Yes. I'd have to agree. It always make me think of the old military
adage of "time spent in reconaissance is never wasted."

But to that rock under the apple tree - do you put it under the tree
as it's being planted or once it's been planteed as a form of mulch to
prevent drying out. If it's under the newly planted tree, is its aim
to spread the roots or???????