u/BothLanguage3521

Hi all,

I'm starting to convert my average UK garden into a food forest. I'm in SE of England.

I have a huge hazel growing at the back of my garden and it's been ignored for the past 10+ years so is now huge, and it creates a lot of shade in the summer/autumn.

I'm trying to decide what I can plant in that area that thrives in shade (or during winter/early spring when there are no leaves) and is useful in a food forest / for the wildlife - any suggestions?

Right now right under the tree it's Lesser celandine in the early spring and then it's barren the rest of the year, and slightly more outside of the tree (but still mostly in shade) I have what seems to be Jack-by-the-hedge, some newly spread crimson clover (other clover didn't seem to do as well, I spread a mix of all different ones), and a bunch of blackberry bush brambles always trying to poke through - but since it's shaded there's no fruit.

There's space for a bush or a climbing plant of some kind (in the semi/open shade part), and the rest will just need to be some kind of ground cover I think. I do want to be able to collect the nuts.

I was thinking maybe some wild garlic would do well there (I bought seeds already), anything else? Any suggestions welcome, thank you!

Hi all,

I'd love to hear people's experiences with adjusting HRT.

I'm 46, and on two pumps of Estrogel and 200mg sequential progesterone. Before starting HRT I've had severe fatigue (which could have also been my very low iron levels which has now been taken care of), night sweats, anxiety, trouble sleeping etc. I still had my period although it was a bit erratic.

After starting HRT initially I felt the symptoms improved - no night sweats, I felt calmer, etc. It's been about 8 months now and I feel like something is off - I now have very painful periods (worse than I've ever had), with a lot more bleeding and clotting than before, my breasts are more tender than usual, I feel like I'm sweating a lot more, and occasionally have pointed pressure pain in my chest as well on and off, as well as what feel like random anxiety attacks which I've never had before. I'm wondering if it's progesterone sensitivity I've been reading about?

I spoke to my GP and she said I should go on continuous 100mg progesterone - but I still have my period so I'm very confused (it didn't click for me until after our appointment so I didn't ask). From everything I read now continuous is only prescribed for those who don't have their period anymore?

I'm tempted to try adjusting my doze - maybe doing half of each (so one pump Estrogel and 100mg sequential progesterone). I will speak to my GP again (although I'm not convinced she's very knowledgable on this topic) but I wanted to gather some opinions and experiences first on what's possible and what others in a similar situation have done.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

(Also posted on r/AskAcademia but figured maybe it's more UK specific?)

I have applied for a funded PhD (arts and humanities) and one of the universities just sent me proposal feedback and I have a feeling it may have been written with AI (meaning they might have uploaded my proposal to something like ChatGPT without my consent which I have strong feelings about).

I want to ask them about it, but without sounding accusatory - I'm about 80% sure it's AI at least in some parts, it really looks like a bullet-point summary an LLM might have written, and it doesn't sound like my prior interactions with this person at all, but I could be wrong of course.

Any advice on how to approach it and phrase it?

And how common is this practice in UK academia these days?

Looking at the university's website they do seem to embrace AI for a number of purposes, including in the arts, but I could not find any specific policies that apply to staff reviewing work, only to student academic integrity (i.e. disclosure on where AI was used).

(I didn't get the funded place; they are now "offering" me a place if I self-fund - I'm not going to self-fund, but I would like to understand what's going on so I can decide if I should apply again next year).