How to garden small spaces

If you’ve got really limited growing space, such as a window box or a narrow balcony where you can squeeze in a few pots, then I’d suggest growing herbs. Fresh herbs can completely change a meal, giving it depth of flavour, and taking it quite quickly to another level entirely.

If you have space for a few largish containers, then most vegetables will grow well in these. I’ve had success with kale, courgettes, chard and salad leaves in containers, and potatoes do particularly well.

I use a good-quality, soil-based, peat-free compost to which I’ll often add in some well-rotted manure. The plants don’t necessarily grow as big as if they were grown in the ground, and you have to feed them more, but you can get fairly decent crops. If space is tight, perhaps you could concentrate on growing one thing to harvest for one or two special meals during the year. Basically, the choice of what you grow should be driven by the food you like cooking and eating. From How I Garden by Adam Frost, BBC Books