Exercise 3 solution

Example answer (yours will differ): a balcony of containers.

Size and light: a south-facing balcony of about 2 m x 1 m, with six sun-loving hours a day. Containers: two large tubs (30 litres or more), three window boxes, one grow bag.
Crops: potatoes in a tub (a few seed potatoes), a courgette in the other tub (one plant), salad and radishes in the window boxes, a few bush beans in the grow bag.

Feb: order seed and seed potatoes; chit the potatoes; sketch the layout.
Mar: buy potting compost; clean and check containers have drainage holes; sow courgette indoors late in the month.
Apr: plant potatoes in the tub; sow salad and radishes in the window boxes; sow beans indoors.
May: harden off courgette and beans; plant out after the last frost; water in; mulch; pull first radishes.
Jun: water daily in warm weather (containers dry fast); weed; earth up the potatoes; pick salad; check for aphids and slugs.
Jul: lift early potatoes; refill the tub and sow salad; pick beans and courgettes young and often; feed every 1 to 2 weeks with a liquid feed (check).
Aug: keep picking and watering; sow late salad.
Sep: final pickings; empty the containers; add the old compost to a heap if you have one.
Oct: store containers, tidy tools, write up the notebook and plan next year.

Containers dry out quickly and run out of nutrients, so watering and feeding are the key differences from a plot.