Articles
What's been tested so far
Practical growing advice, organised by what you're actually trying to do — not just which space you're in.
A Productive 2m² Balcony Layout
Floor space, railing space and vertical space, used properly — a worked layout for a genuinely small balcony, with the weight caveat most plans skip.
17 Sept 2026
A Six-Container Patio Planting Plan
Six containers, six crops, one realistic first-season patio plan — real container sizes, real sowing dates, and no invented costs or yields.
17 Sept 2026
Growing Strawberries in a Container: The Complete Guide
Light, container size, planting timing, feeding and the two pest risks that actually matter — everything one crop needs in one place, not a link to a railing safety article.
17 Sept 2026
A Year of Harvests From a Small Container Collection
Four containers, rotated through the seasons instead of left empty half the year — a worked succession plan using real UK sowing windows.
17 Sept 2026
Rhubarb in a Container: What It Actually Needs and How Long It Takes
The container size alone rules rhubarb out of most small spaces — but for the space that can take it, the real wait is longer than most crops on this list.
11 Sept 2026
Composting for Beginners: What Actually Works
Most beginner compost bins are accidentally "cold" composting, which is completely fine — you just need to know that's what's happening and why it's slow.
10 Sept 2026
Is Growing Garlic Yourself Actually Worth It?
Seed garlic costs more than a supermarket bulb, and you can't just plant that bulb instead — here's what the extra cost and effort actually buys you.
7 Sept 2026
Growing Blueberries in a Container: The Real Checklist
Ordinary multi-purpose compost won't grow a healthy blueberry, not just a slightly worse one — the acidity requirement is specific, not a nice-to-have.
4 Sept 2026
The Best Patio Containers for Root Vegetables
Root vegetables are the one category where container choice genuinely changes the crop, not just the convenience — and depth is doing more work than width.
7 Aug 2026
Balcony Railing Planters: Are They Actually Safe?
Railing planters make good use of space a balcony floor doesn't have to spare, but hanging weight off a railing is a different question from standing it on the floor.
7 Jul 2026
What Vegetables Can You Actually Grow on a Windowsill (Not Just Herbs)
Herbs get all the windowsill marketing, but a handful of genuine vegetables — not just garnish — will actually produce food indoors, if you pick the right ones.
31 May 2026
Do Flowers Actually Help Your Vegetable Garden?
For fruiting crops, more pollinator visits genuinely means more fruit — a few flowers worked in among the vegetables isn't just a pretty extra.
29 May 2026
The Best Vegetables for a First Patio Container Garden
A patio's extra floor space and shelter from wind open up crops that struggle on a balcony — here's what's actually worth using that room for in your first season.
23 May 2026
Patio vs Balcony Growing: What Actually Changes
Same guide, same no-dig rules — but a ground-level patio and an elevated balcony fight you in genuinely different ways, and knowing which one you've got changes what's worth doing first.
20 May 2026
Why a Single Pot of Sweetcorn Won't Give You Any Cobs
Sweetcorn is wind-pollinated, and wind can't do its job with one plant in a corner — the block-planting rule isn't a nice-to-have, it's the difference between cobs and nothing.
8 May 2026
Leeks: Why Yours Might Be All Green and No White
The white shank everyone wants doesn't happen by accident — it's a planting depth decision made at transplant time, not something you can fix later.
6 May 2026
Gooseberries in a Pot: The Pruning Routine That Actually Matters
A gooseberry bush left unpruned still fruits — it just gets thornier, harder to pick from, and more prone to mildew. Two prunings a year is what keeps it worth having.
2 May 2026
Asparagus: Is a Three-Year Wait Actually Worth It?
No harvest at all for the first two years, a permanent bed for two decades after that — asparagus asks for more commitment upfront than almost anything else on this list.
28 Apr 2026
Full Sun vs Partial Shade: What It Costs a Tomato Plant
Tomatoes don't just grow slower in partial shade — the whole plant's behaviour changes, and it's usually fixable-ish, not fatal.
27 Apr 2026
Cut-and-Come-Again Salad: What to Actually Expect
It's genuinely one of the best first crops for a small space — but the regrowth slows with each cut, and nobody mentions that part.
26 Apr 2026
Do Companion Plants Actually Deter Pests on a Small Balcony?
The evidence is real for some specific pairings and genuinely thin for others — companion planting isn't one claim, it's dozens of different ones.
25 Apr 2026
North-Facing Balcony? Here's What Will Actually Grow
Most grow-your-own advice quietly assumes full sun. A shaded balcony isn't a lost cause — it just needs a different, honest shortlist.
12 Apr 2026
Self-Watering Containers: Do They Actually Work?
The mechanism is genuinely sound science, not a gimmick — but "self-watering" oversells what it actually does.
8 Apr 2026
Growing Herbs on a Windowsill: What Actually Survives Indoors
Basil looks easy in every photo and dies constantly in real kitchens — the herbs that actually thrive indoors aren't always the ones marketed for it.
5 Apr 2026
Does Copper Tape Actually Stop Slugs?
Lab tests say copper barriers can work. The RHS's own real-garden trial found no measurable reduction in damage. Here's why both can be true.
22 Mar 2026
What's Actually in 'Multi-Purpose' Compost?
"Multi-purpose" is a marketing label, not a standard — the actual mix, texture and feed content varies a lot between bags, even at similar prices.
15 Mar 2026
How Much Water Do Container Vegetables Actually Need?
"Water daily in summer" is a rule of thumb, not a fact — what actually determines watering need is pot size, material, and weather, not the calendar.
8 Mar 2026
Best Containers for Growing Tomatoes on a UK Balcony
Bigger is better, but only up to a point — what actually matters is depth, drainage and how often you're willing to water.
1 Mar 2026