If you rent a flat in a paved-over town or city, it can be hard to be a grower, not least because you may not want to invest time and effort in somewhere that's only temporary. And now isn't the obvious time to start a garden. But perhaps urban, rented places are ones most in need of our love and attention, especially during the bleaker months.
A few pots can help make a house feel like a home. And when you move, because move you must, all those planters, and plants, have the potential to move with you. There are lots of hardy evergreens and edibles that can bear bad weather and a container-bound life.
Lost and found spaces
Many flats don't offer tenants much in the way of vegetated outside space. An urban trend to concrete over front gardens means valuable green land is being removed. But a snatch of gravel can become a garden; a set of front steps can host a range of well-placed pots; doorways were surely made for hanging baskets, and window ledges for window boxes. The humblest balcony can offer plenty of growing space. In fact, any hard surface in your possession has the potential to be planted.
The front step garden
Town houses often have a set of steps leading to a shared front door. Place a pot on each one to create a striking walkway. The key is to choose stable containers, leaving room for both people and plants. A series of evergreen lavender plants will be happy in pots and offers year-round interest. A large planter at the bottom of the steps could house a small Tibetan cherry, Prunus serrula, or a Betula utilis var. jacquemontii, although these trees will eventually need a more spacious home.
The ledge or bracket garden
Some are lucky enough to have sash windows with wide ledges that can house pots – a particular privilege if the window belongs to the kitchen. Edibles such as chervil, chard, mint, mizuna, rocket, rosemary and thyme will survive in winter. If you don't have luxurious ledges, a neat window box could be attached to a south-facing wall with a couple of sturdy brackets (see thebalconygardener.com for w ooden window boxes and fruit crates, or make your own). Plant cheerful spring bulbs, such as miniature daffodils and crocuses.
The hook garden
Hanging baskets can be lovely in the colder months. All you need is somewhere you can secure a hook and a container that's been adapted to hang (try theonlinegardener.com for hanging basket paraphernalia). A winter planting scheme could include trailing ivy, combined with flowering heather and the heart-shaped foliage of a hardy Cyclamen purpurascens.
The wallflower's garden
Houses and blocks of flats have lots of outside wall space. Push a narrow, trough-style container against a warm wall and plant winter-flowering jasmine and honeysuckle, or festive holly and ivy. Weave a support system out of bean poles and netting, and watch walls become tangled with growth. Such knotty plants provide food and shelter for wildlife during a tough time of year.
The concrete garden
If you have a paved front garden, an unused parking space or a balcony, create a jungle of pots. Small trees and shrubs will look good throughout winter. Try a potted flowering quince (Chaenomeles) or spicy scented witch hazel (Hamamelis). Evergreen virburnums can grow in deep pots, and some varieties flower from autumn to spring – try Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price'. Smaller evergreen options include hebes and heathers. Plant garlic cloves 5cm deep in a pot, to snip the leaves in spring and the bulbs in summer. Plant allium and anemone bulbs for spring flowers.
Classic terracotta is heavy and not especially portable (see terrapot.co.uk for ideas). Plastic pots are lighter and longer lasting, or you could try planting bags (see rocketgardens.co.uk). Zinc watering cans, oversized plastic teapots and tyre trugs make quirky containers (see henandhammock.co.uk).
But if recycling appeals, all sorts of things can become plant pots. Old colanders, pet travel baskets, paint pots, wooden drawers, vegetable boxes, holey buckets and even old suitcases can be filled with compost and stuffed with plants.
• To buy My Garden, The City And Me, by Helen Babbs, for £7.99 (RRP £9.99), visit the Guardian Bookshop.