Having recently moved to this area I was wondering if there was any way that I could make my alkaline soil more acid as I fear that I will be unable to grow many of my favourite plants in my new garden?

J BISHOP, Pershore.

Attempting to make alkaline soils more acidic is much more difficult than influencing acid soils to become more alkaline, which can be done by simply adding regular dressings of garden lime. Whatever you decide to do never just dig a hole, line it with polythene and then fill it with ericaceous compost, as this is not a satisfactory solution.

Many of your favourite acid loving plants could be grown in pots or tubs. Large containers, made from terracotta and other materials, are readily available at reasonable prices and again use ericaceous compost. Preferably John Innes Ericaceous compost as this will behave more like normal garden soil due to its loam content.

Another good way would be to build a raised bed with timber edging, rather than brickwork, and then fill this with either acid topsoil, or use good topsoil mixed with ericaceous compost and composted bark. The addition of well rotted leaf mould and garden compost would also help if you can find a source of these valuable soil conditioners.

Regular dressings of sulphur chips, sold in some garden outlets as Chempak Sulphur or as Sulphur-Soil or Balance pH from Greenacres Supplies, will help to maintain the acidity of your bed.

Of course, another way to approach this situation would be to look on it as an opportunity to grow and learn to appreciate a whole new range of plants that thrive in alkaline conditions. In fact there are more of these than there are lime haters, so try Viburnumns, Philadelphus, Choisyas, Buddleias and, if you miss Pieris, put in a Photinia Red Robin as this does a similar sort of job with its red new foliage.