Azalea plant

loulou41

I bought a small japanese azalea plant at focus at a bargain price. I read it likes acid soil, I do not know what type of soil mine is, plants do grow very well in my garden and the soil appears good. I am wondering whether I should plant in a container with the right compost or put it in the ground. I have also noticed my neighbour has got a lovely camelia in her garden and it is thriving. Shall I take a change and plant it and see what happens? Thanks

Primrose

Some of these azaleas are indoor reared varieties and don't always thrive in outdoor situations but it's worth trying to put it outdoors if you can buy a small bag of peat-based compost to put in a deep enough hole to allow the roots to expand into. If you can do this, putting it in the ground might be better as if the container is too small and is situated permanently in a sunny place, the compost might heat up too much in summer and kill off the roots. Azaleas like a little bit of sunshine but do better in semi shade where their flowers will last longer.

savemoney

Found this you can get kits to test your soil

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg/module1/soil_ph1.shtml

You could use a pot and use acid soil I seen if for sale in garden centres

I think you can add lime to make it acidic to a small degree

£$&*"($£&(

savemoney wrote: »

I think you can add lime to make it acidic to a small degree

Lime does exactly the opposite - lime is very calcareous.

The thing you can do is digg a large hole and use a good amount of ericaceous compost. I've done this to plant an azalea in my very chalky area.

If your soil is sandy it will be acidic. Clay can get quite acidic but is more neutral.