You can get the most interesting heirlooms and other varieties by starting your plants with seeds rather than purchasing them as starts from a nursery. Most people had those little egg carton planter projects in grade school. That's really how simple it is. Add dirt, press a seed in, and remember to water. Garden supply stores and many hardware stores sell seed starter kits with little pellets of humus and clear plastic trays to cover them with, creating a greenhouse effect and keeping them warm and moist.

However, if you are gardening in small spaces, like indoors or your windowsill, then you don't need tons of plants and the seed starting kits. These are often rather large plastic containers with clear plastic glass and I consider them something of an eyesore to have in your house.

If you live in a small space and the seedlings are visible, grow them in something that looks nice. When cultivating small amounts of salad greens indoors use Edwardian terrariums made of glass and metal or a large cloche with saucer. They have the same greenhouse effect as the plastic kits, yet look nice in your living space. Salad greens grow quickly from seeds and starts work even for the impatient gardener. Herbs, especially the woodier ones like rosemary, are much more slow growing and so it's worth it to just buy them as starts.

For smaller starts, get very small, clean terra cotta planters with drainage holes in the bottom. Fill them with good potting soil and plant a few seeds in each one. To intensify the heat and light, put them under a cloche, or a bell shaped glass, or inside a glass terrarium. This will also look very nice and could go in the center of a table if it's in a sunny spot. Keep the seedlings moist. When they start to sprout, remove the glass cover. If there are too many plants growing up against each other, cull out the spindlier ones. After each plant has a few leaves, fertilize them with worm castings.

If they are going to be outdoor plants, they will need to be hardened off, so put them outside on mild days, and bring them back in at night. Do this for a few weeks, and then transplant them into your window box.

Save your cloche, terrarium and small terra cotta containers for the next round of seeds or plant small, tropical houseplants in the pots and keep them under the glass as a centerpiece.

This is excerpted from A Little Piece of Earth, How To Grow Your Own Food in Small Spaces published by Rizzoli Books, Feb. 16th, 2010.