Monks Wisdom

You have found a one-pot gap on the windowsill. Give it a sensible audition before offering it a permanent growing job.

Let your favourite autumn dinner choose your growing project. Your future seedlings can take their time while you get to know the flavours.

Eight herbs or seed sets? The larger number is persuasive, but your cupboard and windowsill would like to join the decision.

Give everyone a job, open a growing diary and explain early that there will not be a forest by tomorrow morning. A family project begins here.

Rain has cancelled the walk again. Clear the kitchen table and turn a wet afternoon into a growing project you can actually manage.

The kit has arrived. Your calendar is less enthusiastic. Here is how to check whether your growing project can wait for a sensible start.

There is definitely a pot somewhere in your cupboard. Before buying more supplies, find out whether seeds or a starter kit solve your real problem.

Does a Master kit require master-level skills? Put the imaginary qualifications away and compare what you would actually use.

One project has you imagining a future tree. The other has you thinking about roast potatoes. Find the grow kit that fits your autumn ambitions.

Tall, thin herb seedlings are often reaching for more light. Give them a brighter start and enough space before they topple.

Snipping random leaves can leave a parsley pot looking tired. Take mature outer stems and give the centre room to keep growing.

A limp basil plant may be thirsty, too wet or chilled by a window. Let the compost and room conditions tell you what to do next.