How to actually
grow these
Crop-by-crop guides written for a small reservoir and a room, not a field. Sowing, feeding, pollination, the failures that catch people, and how to harvest so the plant keeps producing.
15 crops
Growing lettuce
Lettuce is the crop that teaches you how fast a reservoir changes. It goes from seed to plate in under six weeks, tells you immediately when
Solanum lycopersicumGrowing tomatoes
Tomatoes are the heaviest load you can put on a small reservoir: a fruiting plant drinks faster than a leafy one, wants stronger light, and
Ocimum basilicumGrowing basil
Basil is the most useful thing you can grow indoors: quick, forgiving, expensive to buy, and it responds to almost nothing except pinching a
Brassica oleracea & B. rapaGrowing brassicas
Kale, cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, pak choi, mizuna — the largest group here, and the one that punishes sloppy isolation hardest. Almost eve
Phaseolus vulgarisGrowing beans
Beans fix their own nitrogen, which changes how you feed them completely. They are also the easiest seed crop in this catalogue — self-polli
Allium cepa, A. sativum, A. porrumGrowing alliums
Onions, garlic, leeks and chives. Slow, undemanding, and almost entirely about day length — which is the one thing an indoor system cannot g
Capsicum annuumGrowing peppers
Chillies and sweet peppers are the same species and will cross without hesitation. They are slow to start, want more heat than anything else
Cucurbita pepo, C. maximaGrowing squash and courgettes
Courgettes, pumpkins and summer squash. Enormous, fast, thirsty plants that will take over a net pot — and the only crop here with separate
Cucumis sativusGrowing cucumbers
Fast, thirsty, and prone to bitterness if the plant is stressed at the wrong moment. Cucumbers want a vertical frame and consistent water mo
Daucus carota, Raphanus sativus, Beta vulgarisGrowing root vegetables
Carrots, radishes, beetroot and turnips. The hardest group to grow in a net pot, because the part you eat is the part that has least room.
Ocimum, Petroselinum, Coriandrum, Anethum, MenthaGrowing herbs indoors
Basil, parsley, coriander, dill and mint. The highest value per square centimetre of anything in this catalogue — and the group where buying
Pisum sativumGrowing peas
Peas fix their own nitrogen like beans, crop fast, and are the most cold-tolerant thing in this catalogue. The main challenge is keeping the
Cucumis melo, Citrullus lanatusGrowing melons
The most demanding thing in this catalogue and the least worth the space in a small system. Grow them because you want to, not because it ma
VariousGrowing microgreens
Ten days from seed to plate. The fastest crop in this catalogue and the only one where you harvest the whole plant — which changes everythin
Solanum melongenaGrowing aubergines
Slow, heat-hungry and heavy-fruiting. Aubergines are the most demanding of the nightshades and need a long warm season to give anything at a
Talk to other growers
Crop reports, dosing questions and the threads where something died.
Saving the seed
Every crop here can be saved from your own plants, if you get the isolation right.
One email when there is something worth reading
New varieties, seed-saving notes, and corrections to the reference tables. No sales, no fixed schedule.