Blueberries need to pass acid test

How do I keep the compost acidic for my pot-grown blueberries? Dennis, Worthing, Sussex DAVID: Blueberries prefer to grow in acidic soil with a pH of 5.5 or lower. Planting them in ericaceous (acidic) compost will give them a good start.

Keep soil acidic by giving plants a regular source of iron in their water. Buy sachets of sequestrene of iron from the garden centre, and add it to your watering can. space. Allow one plant for every 35cm (14in) hanging basket for best results.

Strawberries are another, often overlooked, option for hanging baskets. The ‘Fragoo’ variety, with its delicate pink flowers and mouthwatering red fruits, is a wonderful choice if you want a two-for-one decorative plant with great tasting berries to boot.

Since their runners can be difficult to keep in check when planted in the garden, containers allow you to enjoy the upsides of these plants with none of the downsides. Again, one plant per basket is best.

CONTAINERS

Containers are another useful way of increasing space in a restricted area. And the humble potato is an ideal vegetable choice for growing in them.

If you have a two feet square bare sunny corner on your patio, this could be the crop for you!

The container needs to be deeper than a window box or hanging basket to give the tubers enough room to form, but it doesn’t have to be fancy. You could use a 40 litre patio bag or even an old dustbin—they’re not fussy. Research by the RHS showed the ‘Casablanca’ and ‘Golden Nugget’ are the best varieties of potato to grow in containers.

These cultivars provide a good crop of great-tasting tubers while being nicely resistant to pests and diseases. Growing potatoes in containers also makes for less of a guessing game come harvest time as you know where all the tubers are prior to digging them up.

WINDOW BOXES

If all you have is a sunny kitchen window sill to play with, growing your own herbs in a window box can be really rewarding. There’s nothing quite like a few sprigs of homegrown thyme on your grilled chicken or fresh basil leaves added to your homemade