What to grow: the highest-value edibles for small spaces

Salad leaves are unbeatable for fast returns. Lettuce like Tom Thumb (a Victorian butterhead, compact, sweet) or Little Gem (crisp, heat-tolerant) mature in 50–60 days. Cut-and-come-again mixes — rocket, mizuna, mustards, baby chard — regenerate for months if you harvest outer leaves only. Sow successionally every three weeks from March to August.

Tomatoes are the container classic. Bush varieties like Tumbling Tom Red, Heartbreaker (a cherry type with true flavour), and Maskotka (prolific, trailing) need no pinching out and suit 30cm pots. Cordon types — Sungold (the sweetness benchmark), Costoluto Fiorentino (an Italian ribbed heritage beefsteak), Black Krim (dark, smoky, Ukrainian heirloom) — need 15-litre pots, weekly feeding, and side-shoot removal, but they crop heavily from July to October.

Herbs deliver extraordinary value. A 25cm pot of Greek basil (compact, intensely aromatic) yields 200g of leaves over summer; supermarket basil costs £2 for 20g and dies in three days. Perennial herbs — rosemary, thyme, sage, winter savory — establish in year one, then crop for a decade. Parsley (the flat Italian types like Gigante d'Italia have superior flavour to curled varieties) grows year-round in a 20cm pot on a bright windowsill.

Chillies thrive in containers and fruit prolifically. Cayenne types (long, thin, hot) suit 20cm pots; compact varieties like Apache, Prairie Fire, or the stunning purple-and-cream Filius Blue crop in 15cm pots on a sunny windowsill. Sweet peppers want more root room — 30cm pots minimum — but varieties like Snackbite (mini pointed fruits, incredibly sweet) and Gypsy (tapered, early, reliable in the UK) reward the space.

Climbing beans and peas maximise vertical space. Borlotti beans like Lingua di Fuoco (Italian heirloom, cream pods streaked red) grow 180cm tall up canes in a 30cm pot and yield 1–2kg of fresh beans or dried pulses. Mangetout peas like Oregon Sugar Pod (flat, stringless, prolific) and snap peas like Sugar Ann (early, dwarf at 60cm) crop from June sowings and tolerate light shade.

Blueberries are the ultimate perennial container crop. Varieties like Bluecrop (mid-season, large berries, reliable), Spartan (early, sweet, northern heirloom), and Pink Lemonade (pink-blushed fruits, ornamental, slightly less acidic) need ericaceous compost and 40cm pots but fruit for 20+ years. Two plants of different varieties improve pollination and yield.