Hoosier, amending a soils pH is an integral part of fruit tree management and either lime or sulfur are amendments endorsed by most current recs to be incorporated during the planting because it insures nutrients such as calcium (in originally acid soils) or iron will be available in deeper soil when the top layer dries out during periods of drought. It is incorporation of organic matter into small planting holes and adding N. at the time of installation that is not generally recommended. Cornell also suggests the incorporation of phosphorus at planting time if soil tests call for it. http://cmg.colostate.edu/gardennotes/633.pdf Here's another guideline for planting trees I find interesting, although it's not specifically about fruit trees. It actually calls for the addition of organic matter as well, but only on the surface layer and extending well beyond the root ball. Rweisman, as far as the pH issue is concenrned, I too would like to know how you took the readings and with what equipment. In the future you can use your cooperative extension for specific guidelines on preparing your soil and avoid this anxiety.

A few days ago I mentioned to a friend who has been my guest that I intended to read All the Light We Cannot See. "Oh, oh," she said, "you have to read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah." She brought up Amazon on her device and let me read the synopsis and reviews. It gets five stars from 85% of the over 20,000 reviewers. All the Light also has over 20,000 reviewers with 72% giving it five stars. I listened to my friend rave about Hannah's book for several minutes, so I told her I might give it a try. It was a polite brush-off because, frankly, I was skeptical. Imagine my chagrin when my friend presented me with a brand new copy of The Nightingale as a thank you gift. I appreciated her thoughtfulness, really I did. She departed and I put the book on a shelf, giving it no further thought, I'm afraid, until my friend emailed me to ask if I had started it yet. She is anxious to know what I think. Well, I girded my loins and began. Oh dear, I was right to be wary. This book and other novels similar to it with the WWII French Resistance as a backdrop and excuse for a plot are doing to this time period and worthy subject what a few years back novelists were doing to the Tudor time period -- overusing the heck out of it. Blah! The Nightingale is essentially a romance novel, but it's not a particularly good one in spite of what the ravers say -- my opinion, of course. If the reader is young, I could probably forgive her for naïve enthusiasm. The Resistance probably does seem wildly romantic to a novice. Are the Amazon reviewers mostly youthful? I suspect so. But my friend is my age and I'm scratching my head and don't know how to respond to her. Perhaps the only thing to do is what Martin said above: maybe sometimes a polite lie will suffice. ;-(

We do our woods out in many, many lights (for our annual party)...mostly strings of LEDs, but spotlights and lanterns...but my boys run them all from a generator and a control board. We also have a huge rig (soundsystem) but there is no access to electricity in the woods.The whole thing takes about a week to set up (not just the lights) but there is no denying the loveliness of fairylights in trees (at least to my mind). We do a candle path as well - which really is a bit of a task since it means filling brown paper bags with sand (only a cup or so to anchor the bag and tealights) and lighting 200 tealights each evening (for 3 nights), which run along the main ride into the clearing. Looks much nicer than it sounds (I was sceptical when daughter first put the idea forward). Shamefully, I fail to take photos (too mashed, wrecked, harried and knackered), although the offspring plaster it all over FB...but this year, I swear, I will take loads. Solar, at least the little panels you get on garden lights, are not terribly effective in a wood (which is why we still have not got around to fitting solar panels to the horsebox).

I found with reading Cloud Cuckoo Land that it helped to "go with the flow" and take events as they happen in this non-linear read. Two books that I recently finished - The Promise by Damon Galgut, winner of the 2021 Booker Prize. I loved this book that is set in South Africa and involves a family of three grown children and their parents. As the book opens, the mother is dying and she causes consternation by not only asking that her Jewish roots be recognized at the end of her life, but also asking her husband to promise to give a small house to their long-time Black maid. Family and race issues abound. Challenges with this book are that there are no quotation marks around dialogue and sometimes topics slide into one another so that it's necessary to read carefully to detect a change in speaker, subject, etc. Excellent for a book club discussion; 5 out of 5 stars. Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols (non-fiction). This book is somewhat old fashioned but charming nonetheless. Mr. Nichols purchased a large house and property in England in 1947 since he was interested in gardening. When he located Merry Hall, the house and garden had been neglected for several years so it needed tlc. The author discusses what he found there and the changes he made to suit his tastes. It has some humor, partly because of his awe and timidity when dealing with the long-time gardener. They don't always see eye-to-eye in determining what is suitable or appropriate for the property. 3.5 to 4 stars out of 5, higher for anyone interested in gardening.