Cast iron plant
If you couldn’t guess from the name, these guys are tough as hell. Forget to water it? NBD. Zero light in your flat? That’s fine. It takes a while to grow but they get pretty big (about 90cm) and doesn’t need any special soil. Grow from an existing leaf if you want to speed the process up a bit though.

Citrus plant
Don’t wait for life to give you lemons. Grow your own! The main thing to be aware of is the fact that these plants need a lot of good light so pop ’em in a nice and bright room for good results. Lemons are the best place to start, and you’ll want to begin these guys outside in the summer and bring them in for winter. If you’re nervous about the pressure of growing something edible from scratch for the first time, locate a nursery and buy a one or two year old dwarf tree to grow lemons at home.

Peace lily
Peace lilies aren’t just pretty plants, they also help get rid of some of the air’s toxins and pollutants. If you fancy growing your own, you’ll want to sow a seed in a good soil mix that you can get from any and every garden centre, and water little and often. We’re talking about a year so wait to see something of substantial flower and size, but if they don’t seem to be producing any flowers at all they’re probably not getting enough light. Keep a close eye on them too, because they’ll probably outgrow their containers pretty quickly so you’ll need to repot them.

Chinese evergreen
The key with these nice and resilient plants is to make sure you put it in some well draining soil. It deals really well with rubbish light, dry air and little water, so maintenance wise, you’re golden. You might be hard pressed to find seeds if you want to start this plant’s journey from the very beginning but if you get a small one that you want to occupy some major space, just make sure you keep them away from pesky drafts because it’ll make the leaves sad.

African Violets
As beautiful as African Violets are, before you task yourself with growing your own you’ll want to make sure you’ve picked up the appropriate soil beforehand. You should be able to find a special pre-made mix, and then it’s just a matter of making sure you fertilise them (not while they’re in bloom though) to help them grow and avoid getting the leaves wet when you water it.

Spider plant
Spider plants grow pretty quickly so if you buy one and find yourself with loads of little plantlets, you can just pot those up to grow yourself a little spider plant family. Just make sure the baby spider plants have got roots and pop them in a soil-based potting mix and water just regularly enough to keep the soil moist.

Succulents
Yep, it’s our buddies the succulents again. Growing them yourself means popping them in a potted container with drainage holes before confining them to a fancy glass terrarium, okay? Their seeds are teeny tiny so you need to make sure they’re well covered with soil so that they aren’t moved by over watering or drafts around the house. They grow best in humid environments of course, so you might want to try covering them with something like a shower cap until they start sprouting.