If you’re fairly new to gardening, you may well have been astonished at the number of different types of potting compost that are available from even relatively small garden centres and DIY stores, and you may be wondering what are the differences between them. This short guide should help you decide which one is best for you, and give you the confidence to go and buy compost for your garden.

Potting compost is defined as a medium in which to grow plants in pots or other containers. So it’s not really your home-produced compost, although that can work. Most people find it best to buy compost for container planting, as it contains a better balance of nutrients. But what sort should you buy?

Multi-purpose compost is probably most people’s go-to potting compost, and it’s pretty reliable for most plants. But do be aware that all multi-purpose compost is not the same, not even from the same manufacturer. Many of these composts were originally based on peat, but manufacturers are trying to cut down on its use, so are experimenting with different base materials. These can therefore alter year on year, as different and improved peat substitutes become available, or other materials are proven to be less effective as a growing medium. What’s more, multi-purpose compost doesn’t work very well for growing seeds, as the particles can be a bit big, and it can also dry out quite quickly.

 A good alternative is a loam-based compost, such as the John Innes composts. These do have a standard formula, developed by a gardening institute, and have different formulations for different purposes. They tend to be a bit more expensive than multi-purpose, but many people find that’s a price worth paying. The soil base means that they don’t dry out as quickly as multi-purpose compost.

Some multi-purpose composts now have “added John Innes”. This doesn’t actually have a defined meaning, but probably means that they also contain some loam and some added nutrients. This is likely to be a good thing, as loam dries out more slowly than most multi-purpose composts, but you may pay a lot more for that phrase, when you could achieve the same effect by mixing multi-purpose compost with some standard topsoil and adding slow-release fertiliser.

Specialist composts are used for plants that have specific requirements, such as ericaceous plants, which don’t like alkaline soils. They are generally not necessary for your average bedding plants and vegetables. Other specialist composts include mushroom compost and mushroom and manure compost, both of which are good for growing vegetables, as they contain plenty of organic matter. These may be more difficult to come by, but are available from compost suppliers.

So there you have it: a quick guide to potting compost!

First of all, blueberries like very acidic soil. Since most soil is more or less neutral, that means that most garden soil is not suitable, and you’ll therefore need to grow them in pots in ericaceous compost. You can buy compost from most garden centres and compost suppliers. When you first plant your blueberry, choose a container that is about 30cm in diameter, and be prepared to move it to a larger one in a few years’ time.

Secondly, although there are several types of blueberry that are marketed as ‘self-fertile’, some need another cultivar nearby. And whether self-fertile or not, your crop will be much better if you grow two different cultivars close together. This is not hard, as there are plenty of different varieties out there, but check the labels carefully to make sure.

Thirdly, you’ll need to provide food and water. Make sure the pot doesn’t dry out, watering with rainwater if possible. Of course in a drought, any water is better than none, but do try not to use tapwater if you can avoid it. Feed each month with an ericaceous fertiliser. The fruit ripens in stages, so you will need to pick it as it ripens. You may find that you need to net the bushes to protect them from birds, who seem to find blueberries almost irresistible.

Blueberries freeze very well, so you don’t have to worry if you can’t eat them fast enough. If you pop each picking into a freezer container, you can keep adding to it, and you will soon have enough for some great recipes. You can usually cook with them straight from the freezer, even if the recipe doesn’t specifically say that, although you may need to give cakes and muffins a bit longer than the recommended baking time to take account of the fruit being frozen.

Blueberry muffins are a really good use of frozen or fresh blueberries, and there are plenty of recipes out there. My personal favourite is Nigella Lawson’s recipe, because it is very quick and easy to make, but Paul Hollywood of The Great British Bake Off also has a good recipe on the BBC Good Food site. You can also add blueberries to pancake batter for both crepes or Scotch pancakes. It’s an excellent way of getting of your five a day, and with home-grown blueberries, you won’t even feel guilty about the cost!

Ericaceous Compost can seem difficult to understand and adds to things to worry about. It really shouldn't and this article will help to get your head round what Ericaceous Compost is and what Ericacous Compost is used for.

The word ‘compost’ comes from ‘composite’, and it means a mixture of decomposed organic substances. The word is widely used to describe a whole range of suitable growing media for gardening purposes, including home-produced compost from kitchen waste, general purpose compost, potting compost and specialist composts such as mushroom compost or ericaceous compost.

Compost can be used as a growing medium by itself, for example, in pots, plant containers or raised beds. You can buy compost for this purpose from garden centres or compost suppliers, and a wide range of suitable options are available, depending on what you want to use it for. For example, mushroom compost, or mushroom and manure compost are very good options for growing vegetables in raised beds. Mushroom compost consists of composted straw and animal waste that has been used for growing mushrooms, and then treated to destroy any spores. Mushroom and manure compost consists of mushroom compost with added manure. Both of these therefore have plenty of organic matter and nutrients suitable for vegetables.

You can also use compost as a soil improver in gardens or on allotments. Adding organic matter to soil has long been recognised as a way to improve soil structure, whether the soil is silty, clay or sandy. Whatever the structure, the organic matter seems to make the soil closer to the ideal soil, loam, with its mid-range particle size, close-to-neutral pH and good but not excessive drainage. You may consider it a bit extravagant to buy compost just to add it to your soil, and many gardeners choose to use farmyard manure for this purpose. However, if you’ve made your own compost from kitchen waste, it can feel very satisfying to use it to improve your garden beds, especially if it’s to grow vegetables!

If you want to grow ericaceous plants in pots, you will need ericaceous compost, which is acidic and so ideal for these plants, which dislike alkaline soil. If your plants are less specialist in their requirements, you may find that the ideal compost is multi-purpose compost or one of the John Innes Composts (a loam-based compost). These were formulated by the John Innes Institute for Plant Research, and contain the ideal balance of nutrients for plants at different stages, whether seeds, potting on, or mature plants. Because they are loam-based, they don’t dry out as quickly as some other composts. However, they’re made to standard formulae, and at present include peat, so if you want to go entirely peat-free, these may not be for you unless you can find a peat-free version.

Whatever you want from compost, there are so many varieties out there that you’re bound to find a suitable sort for your purpose.