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Hi, I've got a Long Reuben growing in a largish planter outside that has not been successful these two years. Is it because the roots are restricted, I'm not feeding it enough or could it be to do with pruning? I'd really like it to work out next summer if it can be done. The one in the ground did slightly better and it grew very, very long.

I think blackberries take quite a while to establish, ours was at least two years before it even put on much growth, never mind fruiting. This year we were picking right up to the end of November, so it may be a bit stunted by the pot but will probably catch up.

If you decide to plant it out make sure you put it somewhere it can have a bit of a run without affecting anything else and keep it well pruned. A garden in our village, attached to a house that was empty for a few years, was completely overgrown from just one plant! On the upside the long runners can be stripped of their thorns (very carefully ) and woven into lovely baskets etc.

I believe that blackberries fruit on second year growth so they are a pain to prune. Well it works with the one in the allotment hedge and yes it does take over the world. As there are plenty of places in my rural area with fruiting brambles it's not something that is essential in the plan for the allotment.

I'd thought that being a blackberry to grow at home the branches wouldn't grow so unweildily long, so that was a bit of a disappointment, apart from anything else.

Hah fruitfly you underestimate the blackberry. In my book it comes with nettles and dandelions as something not easy to tame.

My fruiting blackberries are quite cleverly placed (by previous allotmenteer) below a scaffold frame that looks a bit like a set of rugby posts. It's really tedious, but hours spent running wire between the posts has allowed me to run them up the pole, then across the wire, then up, then back across (etc) and they seem to thrive in that configuration

Is that one plant at each end?

Yes, got a plant each end and a tayberry in the middle for good measure.