What Can You Grow in a Very Small Space? A Crop-by-Space Guide
- Microgreens are the fastest edible crop: University of Maryland Extension gives 7 to 21 days from sowing to harvest, in only 2.5 to 4cm (1 to 1½in) of growing medium.
- Loose-leaf lettuce and rocket can both be picked four to six weeks after sowing, and the RHS says each sowing of salad leaves should give two or three pickings.
- Salad radishes can mature in as little as four weeks from germination in a pot 30cm (12in) wide and deep.
- Pot size sets how often you water. A trough at least 30cm (12in) wide is the RHS minimum for salad because smaller containers dry out too quickly.
- Potatoes are a poor use of a small space: University of Maryland Extension suggests a 30-gallon (about 115-litre) container for them.
This is a reference page. It assumes you have somewhere between a single windowsill and a few square metres of shared paving, and that you want to know what will crop there before you buy seeds. Timings and pot sizes come from the Royal Horticultural Society and US university extension services, with litres and US gallons given together.
If you have not yet worked out how much sun your space gets, or what compost to buy, start with how to start an urban garden and come back. Everything below depends on the number of hours of direct sun.
What grows where: windowsill, doorstep, balcony or shared yard?
Each kind of space has one hard limit. A windowsill is limited by pot depth and winter light. A doorstep is limited by footfall and, often, shade. A balcony is limited by wind and weight. A shared yard is limited by other people. The table gives a realistic planting for each.
| Space | Main limit | Best crops | Containers that fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indoor windowsill | Shallow pots; low light from October to February | Microgreens, pea shoots, basil, chives, a compact chilli, supermarket herbs divided and repotted | Seed trays and pots of 1 to 5 litres (up to about 1 US gallon), each on a saucer |
| Doorstep or front step | Often under 4 hours of sun; people need to get past | Parsley, mint, chard, cut-and-come-again salad, rocket, alpine strawberries | One or two pots of 25 to 30cm (10 to 12in), or a 60cm (24in) trough against the wall |
| Balcony | Wind, fast drying, weight | Salad troughs, radishes, bush cherry tomatoes, chillies, strawberries, dwarf French beans, rosemary and thyme | Rail-side troughs plus one or two pots of 30 to 45cm (12 to 18in), which is 15 to 40 litres (4 to 10 US gallons) |
| Shared yard or courtyard | Shared access, shade from walls, no guarantee of a tap | Chard, dwarf peas, dwarf broad beans, garlic over winter, herbs in a group of pots | Large tubs of 40cm (16in) or more that hold water for several days and are too heavy to wander |
In a shared yard, agree with neighbours where pots can stand and who waters in August before anything goes in. A laminated label with your flat number on each tub avoids most misunderstandings. It also stops the well-meaning neighbour who waters everything twice.
Which crops suit which pot, and how long do they take?
Pot widths below are the minimums given on the relevant RHS growing pages, all listed under Sources. Volumes are my rounded estimates for a standard round pot of that width, so use them as a guide to the label.
Light bands follow University of Maryland Extension: 6 to 8 hours of direct sun for fruiting crops and 3 to 5 for leafy ones.
| Crop and varieties | Minimum pot | Direct sun | First harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microgreens (radish, mustard, cress, beetroot, chard) | Seed tray or punnet with 2.5 to 4cm (1 to 1½in) of compost | Bright sill; direct sun not essential | 1 to 3 weeks |
| Pea shoots | Seed tray or shallow pot | Bright sill | 3 to 4 weeks, at 10 to 15cm (4 to 6in) tall |
| Loose-leaf lettuce ('Salad Bowl', 'Lollo Rossa') and mixed salad leaves | Trough or pot 30cm (12in) wide, about 15 litres (4 US gallons) | 3 to 5 hours; light shade in midsummer | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Small hearting lettuce ('Little Gem', 'Tom Thumb') | 30cm (12in) wide | 3 to 5 hours | 10 to 14 weeks |
| Rocket (arugula) | 30cm (12in) wide; window boxes and hanging baskets also work | Sun or light shade | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Salad radish ('French Breakfast', 'Scarlet Globe') | 30cm (12in) wide and deep | Sun; light shade acceptable in midsummer | From 4 weeks after germination |
| Basil ('Aroma 2', 'Pluto') | 20cm (8in) wide and deep, about 4 litres (1 US gallon) | Bright, warm sill or 6 hours outdoors | Pick through summer from a March to July sowing |
| Parsley | 25cm (10in) wide and deep, about 8 litres (2 US gallons) | Sun or partial shade | Slow: seed can take a month or more to germinate |
| Chilli, compact varieties | 22cm (9in) pot, about 5 litres (1.3 US gallons) | Sunny windowsill or 6 to 8 hours outdoors | Sow late winter to mid-spring; fruit by August outdoors |
| Bush cherry tomato ('Gold Nugget') | 30 to 45cm (12 to 18in), which is 15 to 40 litres (4 to 10 US gallons) | 6 to 8 hours | Ripens from midsummer |
| Strawberries ('Cambridge Favourite', alpine types for shade) | Pots, troughs or hanging baskets, plants 20cm (8in) apart | Full sun for sweetness; tolerates some shade | Early summer to autumn, by variety |
| Chard ('Bright Lights') | 40cm (16in) wide and deep, about 30 litres (8 US gallons) | Sun or light shade | Repeated pickings over several months |
| Dwarf broad bean ('The Sutton') and dwarf peas | 40 to 45cm (16 to 18in) wide | 6 hours or more | Late spring onwards |
US readers will find that extension tables allow smaller pots than these. Illinois Extension, for example, lists one gallon for leaf lettuce, spinach, chard and cherry or patio tomatoes, two gallons for peppers and radishes, and three gallons for a standard tomato.
Read those as survival minimums. In a hot, windy spot a one-gallon tomato will dry out several times a day, so size up if your summers are warm.
How do you grow microgreens on a windowsill?
Microgreens are vegetable seedlings sown thickly and cut young, at around 5 to 7cm (2 to 3in) tall. They are the right first crop for anyone with no outdoor space, because they need almost no depth, no feeding and no patience. University of Maryland Extension gives 7 to 21 days from sowing to harvest.
Step 1: choose seed and a tray
The RHS suggests cress, radish, chard, turnip, mustard or beetroot. Maryland adds kale, rocket, mizuna, coriander, basil and peas. A seed tray works, and so does a clean fruit punnet with holes in the base. Buy seed sold for sprouting or microgreens where you can, since you will use a lot of it and garden packets are small.
Step 2: sow thickly on shallow compost
Fill the tray with 2.5 to 4cm (1 to 1½in) of peat-free seed or multi-purpose compost, water it, scatter seed so it nearly covers the surface, and add a thin layer of compost on top. Keep it moist, never soggy. Watering from below, by standing the tray in a dish of water for ten minutes, keeps the stems clean.
Step 3: give it light, then cut
Put the tray on a warm, bright windowsill. Turn it daily if the seedlings lean. When the first true leaves appear, cut just above the compost with clean scissors. Microgreens do not regrow after cutting, so start a second tray a week after the first. Penn State Extension recommends washing microgreens in fresh drinking water before eating.
A sceptical note on nutrition. Microgreens are often sold as many times more nutritious than the mature vegetable. Whatever the concentration by weight, a garnish weighs a few grams, and I have not found good evidence that eating them changes anyone's health. Grow them because they are fresh, quick and taste of something in February.
How does cut-and-come-again salad work?
You sow loose-leaf lettuce or a mixed leaf packet fairly thickly, harvest leaves young and let the plants regrow. The RHS guide to salad leaves describes two methods.
Either snip a few outer leaves from each plant and leave the centre growing, or cut the whole lot about 2.5cm (1in) above the compost and wait for the stump to re-sprout. Start picking when plants are about 10cm (4in) tall. Expect two or three pickings from each sowing.
Timing is where most people go wrong. One big sowing in April gives you a glut in May and nothing in July. Sow a small batch every two to three weeks instead.
In the UK that means indoors from February and outdoors from mid-spring to late summer. Rocket sown in August and September gives winter leaves under cover. In the US, start a few weeks before your last spring frost, pause in the hottest weeks, and resume in late summer for an autumn crop.
Heat is the enemy. The RHS lettuce guide notes that high temperatures can stop some lettuce varieties germinating at all, and that salad rocket bolts quickly in hot weather. In midsummer, sow in the evening, water with cold water and move the trough to light shade. The heatwave guide covers what to do when the whole balcony is struggling.
Maryland Extension uses the term baby greens for the same idea grown indoors: leaves cut at 10 to 15cm (4 to 6in), ready in 21 to 40 days, which regrow once or twice. Its indoor method uses about 16 hours a day under a grow light placed 15 to 30cm (6 to 12in) above the leaves.
How do you grow upwards when there is no floor space?
Vertical growing works when it uses crops that want to climb or trail, and fails when it puts thirsty plants in tiny pockets. Three approaches are worth the effort.
The first is a hanging basket or rail-side trough for trailing crops. The RHS recommends trailing and bush tomatoes, strawberries and rocket for baskets. A basket holds little compost and sits in wind, so it needs watering at least daily in summer, and the bracket needs to take the weight of the basket when soaked.
The second is a climber in a large pot with a wigwam of canes. Tall peas reach 1.8m (6ft), and the RHS lists runner beans among vegetables that suit containers. One 45cm (18in) pot against a sunny wall gives a column of crop from a doormat's footprint.
On an exposed balcony choose dwarf peas, which stay around 45cm (18in) tall. A wigwam of beans five floors up acts as a sail.
The third is plain shelving. A freestanding three-tier plant stand triples the number of 20cm (8in) herb pots you can fit in the same floor area, and puts the sun-lovers on top with parsley and mint in the shade below. It needs no drilling, which matters if you rent.
Fabric pocket planters and stacked towers look efficient in photographs. In practice each pocket holds a litre or two of compost, dries out within hours in July, and suits only the smallest herbs and alpine strawberries. If you use one, fit it with a drip line or accept that it is a spring and autumn feature.
What is not worth growing in a small space?
Anything that takes months, takes over, or costs pennies in a shop. Maryland Extension's container guide suggests 30 gallons (about 115 litres) for potatoes. That is most of a small balcony for a crop that costs very little to buy.
Full-size courgettes (zucchini), squash and sweetcorn each want a square metre and a lot of water. Maincrop carrots, onions, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts occupy a pot for four to six months for a single harvest.
There are compact exceptions if you are keen. The RHS suggests short-rooted carrots such as 'Nantes' or 'Amsterdam' types for containers, and garlic will grow in any pot at least 25cm (10in) deep over winter, when the space would otherwise be empty. The autumn and winter guide explains how.
What does one square metre look like in practice?
Take a balcony corner 1m by 1m (about 3ft by 3ft) with five hours of sun. Against the wall goes one 40cm (16in) pot with a bush cherry tomato, underplanted with basil once nights are warm. Beside it sits a 60cm (24in) trough of mixed salad leaves, re-sown in one half every three weeks.
In front, a 30cm (12in) pot of radishes is followed in the same compost by more salad. A 25cm (10in) pot of parsley stays all year. A 20cm (8in) pot of mint sits in the shadiest corner, alone.
That is five containers holding roughly 75 litres (20 US gallons) of compost, or about 75kg (165lb) when wet, using a rough rule of a kilogram per litre. It needs five minutes of checking most mornings from May to September and a fortnightly feed for the tomato.
In return you get salad most weeks from late spring to autumn, herbs whenever you cook, radishes in spring and autumn, and tomatoes from midsummer. It will not feed you. It may mean you stop buying bagged salad and cut herbs for five months, and those are two things that often die in the fridge.
Questions readers ask
What is the easiest vegetable to grow in a pot?
Cut-and-come-again salad leaves. They germinate in days, tolerate three to five hours of sun, crop in four to six weeks and forgive mistakes, because the next sowing is only a fortnight away. Radishes are a close second. Tomatoes are popular but are not the easiest: they need the most sun, the biggest pot, regular feeding and the steadiest watering.
Can you keep supermarket herb pots alive?
Sometimes. The RHS points out that supermarket basil is sold as lots of thin, overcrowded seedlings meant for short-term picking, which tend to succumb to fungal disease. They may survive if divided promptly and repotted into fresh peat-free compost. Water in the morning, since basil dislikes wet roots overnight.
How many plants can go in one pot?
Fewer than you would like. Allow one tomato, pepper or aubergine per large pot. Salad leaves go 10 to 15cm (4 to 6in) apart, radishes 2.5 to 5cm (1 to 2in) and strawberries 20cm (8in). Crowded plants compete for the same small reservoir of water, and all of them lose.
Do you need special seeds for containers?
No, but variety choice helps. Look for words such as bush, dwarf, patio or compact on tomatoes, beans, peas and chillies. Clemson Cooperative Extension notes that dwarf varieties often mature early but do not produce as much overall as standard ones, which is a fair trade on a balcony. For salad, herbs and radishes, any variety will do.
Sources
- Royal Horticultural Society. Vegetables in containers; grow-your-own guides to salad leaves, lettuce, rocket, radishes, peas, chard, tomatoes, chilli peppers, strawberries, basil and parsley. Accessed 21 September 2026.
- Royal Horticultural Society, Campaign for School Gardening. Growing microgreens. Accessed 21 September 2026.
- University of Maryland Extension. Growing microgreens and baby greens indoors; Growing vegetables in containers; Types of containers for growing vegetables. Accessed 21 September 2026.
- Penn State Extension. A step-by-step guide for growing microgreens at home. Accessed 21 September 2026.
- University of Illinois Extension. Growing vegetables in containers. Accessed 21 September 2026.
- Clemson Cooperative Extension Home & Garden Information Center. Container vegetable gardening. Accessed 21 September 2026.
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