On Sun, 26 Jun 2011 19:20:24 +0000, iliveinazoo wrote:


Holy Moly, that's a great response from everyone thanks so much.

Good point on the location: Southampton.

I'll be quite close to the New Forest as well so the soil conditions may
be a bit acidic. Is there such a thing as a soil PH tester? Will an
aquarium PH tester work because I've got plenty of them?

I don't know about aquarium testers. I've never seen one.

Soil PH testers are cheap and readily available. The ones I use now and
again are a test tube affair with some powder in. You chuck in a bit of
soil (not from right on the surface), add some water, shake and then
compare the colour of the water with a colour chart.

I notice though that Betterware are doing an eletronic one that you stick
in the ground for only £4. I suppose that multiple smaples of a larger
garden could be useful as it *could* vary.

It does look as though the New Forest soils will tend to be acidic. In
the same Google hit I found a leaflet that gives recommendations for
planting hedgerows and shrubs that are native to the area and even
suggests ratios from the New Forest National Park Authority.

It is at...

http://www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/plann.../tree-guidance

Hopefully it takes a while for the sale to go through because I've got
some reading and researching to do.

I've only ever visited the area and found it lovely. I hope you enjoy
your new home and garden.

Warwick