Let the city’s pretty mews be your muse for container planting

I study these cobbled backstreets for inspiration. But whatever plants you choose, adhere to basic rules that make for a successful container garden

You can chart the geography of London by its window boxes. In a few weeks, it’ll be 15 years since I moved here, the city where this country girl fell in love with gardening.

I started by looking at what other people grew. I looked beyond the glare of bright West End lights and saw smart stucco buildings with window boxes crammed full of primped ivy and glossy-leaved cyclamen, and neat miniature box balls, all lined up like soldiers.