Summer pickings from your windows

You can raise glorious crops of healthy ingredients in your home - just follow our guide from windowsill-veg grower Lerato Umah-Shaylor

- Lerato Umah-Shaylor

Before we begin, let me first say that I am not your typical green-fingered grower who picks lush tomatoes from her garden and harvests rows of rhubarb and competitive giant squashes. I squeal at the sight of slugs and confess to having thrown out a beautiful flowerpot after spotting some kind of movement in the compost. I also don't have the outdoor space to even consider becoming the next Monty Don. But as a lover of food, and not just any food but seasonal food that's grown for maximum flavour, I have succumbed to the joys of growing my own indoors. I love vegetables, herbs and edible flowers.

Most of my fruit and veg - peppers, pears, apples, spinach, tomatoes and many more - come from my organic veg box, the grocer (especially for plantains and scotch bonnet chillies) and local farm shops. But the very best microgreens, herbs and leafy greens I have ever enjoyed have been those that I have grown at home, indoors and on my windowsill - full of flavour, crunch and fragrance. With just a few tips and tricks even drab and sad herbs from the supermarket can be transformed.

While many of us live without outdoor space, growing crops indoors and on your windowsills is much easier than it seems. Growing your own food can also be rewarding, from the cost-saving benefits to the sense of pride in nurturing these living things from plant to plate.

From my slug-hating perspective, the best crops to grow indoors are herbs, and salad leaves such as lettuce and microgreens. I find herbs can take quite a long time to germinate from seed; some take a week or more and others much longer, and it's only months later before there are enough leaves available for you to start enjoying them frequently. I much prefer buying baby herb plants from good nurseries and nurturing them into well-established plants, then propagating them to flourish in multiple plant pots.