Fresh tomatoes, chillies and herbs — metres from your kitchen.
A few pots can still give you fresh pickings all season. You don't need talent — just sunlight, drainage and a watering habit.
Spend a day noting which spots get direct sun. Tomatoes and peppers want the sunniest spot; leafy greens and herbs need less.
Small pots dry out fast and stunt growth. Choose the biggest containers your space allows — always with drainage holes and fresh potting mix.
Cherry tomatoes, chillies, radishes, lettuce, spring onions, bush beans. A small garden you water beats a jungle you abandon.
Water morning or evening, never in midday heat. Finger test: if the top of the mix feels dry, water deeply until it drains.
Seedlings look tiny in spring and enormous by July. Respect the spacing on the packet — crowded plants stay weak.
Radish, lettuce and spring onions grow quickly from seed — first pickings in weeks, not months.
Regular picking encourages many plants to produce more. Check under leaves weekly for pests and stake tomatoes early.
Sunlight, containers, planting and care — the whole beginner guide, step by step.