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As each variety will have a different speed and habit of growth, they need to be pruned after a year or two to make sure that all of them get space and light. Underplant with salad crops or undemanding flowers.

Double disguises: If you have a fruit tree, but want flowers, too, and have limited space, underplant with violettas, the gorgeous dianthus ‘Loveliness’, scented tobaccos (N affinis ‘Scentsation’ is best) or night-scented stocks. Disguise the plastic sides of the container with an outer ring of alpine strawberries and ensure that their runners drape over the sides. For faster cover, plant nasturtiums around the perimeter. Spaced 6in apart, they will speedily cover the sides, brighten things up and provide colour in salads. Mahogany-red ‘Empress of India’ always looks good.

If home-made containers seem too rustic, or if you want the space to look good over winter, screen them with “cache pots” improvised with low trellis, or use low hazel or willow hurdles.

Primrose London (0870 499 0220, primrose-london.co.uk) has an enticing range, as does Peak Traditional Fencing (01629 650209, peaktraditional fencing.co.uk).

Shady spots: Perhaps your outdoor space has little sun. If you want your own harvest, most currants and all gooseberries are happy in shade, as are exquisite morello cherries. A big container will support a tree up to 6ft tall, still easy enough to net against marauding birds. Many salads prosper in shade — lamb’s lettuce and proper lettuces especially. And, if you just want flowering plants, you have all the woodland flora at your disposal, starting in spring with anemones, corydalis species and sheets of wonderful cardamines, then moving on to viburnums, daphnes and more in early summer. Who could want more?

Weight considerations: A cubic yard of watered compost weighs as much as eight adults, so big containers are best on solid ground unless you are sure your balcony or roof terrace is up to the job. Large containers can’t be moved once filled and planted, so ensure you site them exactly before doing either.

Composts: Peat-based (or those made with alternatives to peat) and soilless composts are much lighter than soil-based ones, so are easier to handle and load. Straight from the sack, they contain six weeks’ worth of nutrients, but will need feeding thereafter if your plants are to thrive. If your garden produces its own compost, use that “neat” for pumpkins, squashes, courgettes and other greedy plants such as chard, artichoke and cardoon. Once the containers are in their second season and the compost has shrunk, top up with your own compost in spring and fork in.

Watering: In hot, dry weather, big containers need a good soak once a week. If you also have smaller ones, group them around the largest. This makes watering easier and disguises the sides of the big one if it’s shabby or home-made. Small containers need more watering — or stand them in shallow plastic trays that hold water reserves.

Hosepipe manufacturers often make dripwater setups attached to battery- powered on-off switches, though none is sophisticated enough to work out whether the container actually needs water. The arrangement is good enough for two or three weeks. Go for monsoon rather than drought; the excess should drain away. Hozelock (hozelock.com) sells only through garden centres, as does Gardena (gardena.co.uk), but the latter’s website has an excellent irrigation planner. For a one-stop website, look at Earth Systems (0118 973 6905, easy-irrigation.co.uk).

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