Not many of us have a couple of acres in which to grow our flowers and vegetables, but even if you are short on space and money, container plants can be very successful.

One of the first mistakes that many gardeners make is to line their containers with pebbles. Conventional wisdom used to be that stones or broken pieces of clay pots inside a container improved drainage, but plant experts now say that they take up space needed by plants and may encourage fungal growth. What you need to do is ensure that the soil goes right down to the bottom of the container. If you are worried about soil washing out of the drainage hole, cover it with a couple of pieces of kitchen paper. Alternatively, if you have any broken pots or broken cheap mosaic tiles from stonetrader.co.uk, a small piece could be used to cover the drainage hole. The plant’s roots will soon bind the compost.

Just as you would buy Stone tiles online and look for the best price, remember to use price comparison tools when buying ornamental pots and urns. However, if an array of matching ornamental pots is beyond your budget, there are a number of household items that can be used as garden containers: stuff you would probably normally throw away, like ice-cream tubs, and dented biscuit tins, cans or buckets from the seaside. All you need to do is drill holes in the bottom, for drainage, but you could also paint them in matching colours.

To help plants to thrive, move pots and containers close together on your patio or window sill. This allows the plants to provide each other with humidity and shade. Sheltering them from the wind will also help to conserve water. Keep them out of direct sunlight too; if they are indoor plants put them behind windows shielded with net curtains. You should be rewarded with your own flourishing green space as a result.