Stuck for plant ideas in your garden? Take a leaf out of Kim Wilde's gardening book as she offers her expert tips on how to pick and mix borders of easy-to-grow vegetables, healing plants and eye-catching architectural plants

Five of the best veg

1. Beetroot
The large, easy to handle seeds can be sown directly outside in spring and the young leaves are very tasty in salads. Beetroot tastes fabulous roasted with other root veg, sprinkled with fresh rosemary or pickled with horseradish and garlic. Fresh raw beetroot is delicious grated in salads and is a powerful blood cleanser.

2. Potatoes
Potatoes will grow in anything that can retain water but has good drainage, from old tyres to plastic bags. I grow tubers in the ground and keep them covered with earth as they're growing so as they don't become exposed to the sun as this will turn them green and poisonous.

Potato barrels are available with easy lift up sides. These are very useful on patios or balconies. A plate of fresh, young potatoes lightly steamed with a sprig of fresh mint and butter is a taste sensation not to be underestimated!

3. Rhubarb chard or 'Rainbow Mix'
A plant that looks so beautiful and striking you could simply grow it as a container plant. This very easy to grow, leafy vegetable and can be steamed with butter or the young leaves tossed into salads.

4. Salad leaves
When you look at how expensive packets of salad leaves are, surely it makes sense to grow your own organic ones right outside your kitchen door. They are packed full of goodness, and most will re-sprout after harvesting 'cut and come again'. To protect seedlings from slugs and snails, I use copper tape. They hate to slither over as it creates a small electric shock so they soon slither off!

5. Apples
You don't have to have a big garden to grow your own apples. A small courtyard with a sunny wall could easily play host to an espalier tree which has been trained horizontally. Choose apple varieties grafted on rootstock M27 which is extra-dwarfing. M27 is a tried and tested rootstock developed in 1929 that reliably restricts height to 2 metres but the plant will need the support of a tree stake.

Choose disease-resistant apple varieties as these are easier to care for, healthier and happier and may be grown organically without too much effort. If you are buying only one tree and you are not surrounded by apple trees in your neighbours' gardens, make sure it is self-fertile. Otherwise buy two or more different varieties of apple tree with overlapping flowering periods.

Five of the best medicinal plants

1. Garlic
The king of all healing plants! Plant in late autumn or early spring in a well-drained sunny site. Avoid cloves from supermarkets which may harbour viruses.

2. Apples
If you don't have a garden, small apple trees are available to grow in containers. They help lower cholesterol, are great detoxifiers and more than live up to their reputation of keeping the doctor at bay! Look for coronet or ballerina trees to grow in containers.

3. Beetroot
Rich in iron, boosting the blood and circulation.

4. Nettles
Full of iron and vitamins. Early spring growth can be harvested to make soup with onion, carrot, celery and potato.

5. Pumpkins
Full of beta-carotene that helps protect us against cancer. Seeds can be dried and eaten and are packed with protein and B vitamins. Pumpkins need rich soil with plenty of well-rotted manure, sunshine and watering. A great growing project for you and the children.

Five of my favourite plants

1. Crambe cordifolia (Giant seakale)
Crambe is a herbaceous perennial plant that can reach a mighty 2.5 metres in height. I'm a bit of a sucker for herbaceous plants that can grow really tall and make a real statement and this giant is fabulously pretty too. The tiny white flowers arrange themselves on tall strong stems like an exploding firework, then later in the winter its delicate skeleton reminds you of the summer past, and looks stunning after a sharp frost.

2. Nectaroscordum siculum
This tall growing bulb (1.2 metres) has pinkish, grey/green bell shaped flowers that hang down in early summer on sturdy stems. These flowers have a strong garlic odour and if you put your tongue inside you're treated to its sweet garlic infused nectar. Later the seed heads face upwards like miniature fairy castles.

3. Buxus sempervirens
Sun or shade tolerant, this evergreen shrub is the perfect partner for herbaceous plants, or clipped into spheres, cubes or a multitude of interesting shapes. The fresh apple green growth in spring helps the plant to appear to glow, and in winter our clipped Buxus balls look like old fashioned Christmas puddings after a sharp frost or snow.

4. Equisetum hymale
This moisture-loving plant can reach 1.5 metres high, with its moody green tubular stems striped black. Without doubt it was the 'star' plant in the Chelsea courtyard garden Richard Lucas and I designed in 2005, lending a contemporary edge to an otherwise traditional and romantic design. We under-planted it with baby?s tears (Soleirolia Soleirolii), which also enjoys damp conditions. The two contrasted wonderfully both in form, texture and colour.

5. Iris unguicularis
The winter flowering iris is a real star, sending up delicate blue/lilac blooms on the coldest days. This plant does best at the base of a south facing wall in well drained soil where it will colonise happily bringing a touch of summer in the depth of winter. Flowers are scented when picked in bud and brought inside to unfurl.

Kim Wilde supports the Dig Your Dinner campaign to help save 10 endangered 'Heirloom' vegetables which were grown in the past but are not produced in modern, large-scale farming. Seeds of Change's Dig Your Dinner campaign encourages the nation to grow their own dinner and to help preserve tasty, endangered British vegetables for the future. For further information please visit www.digyourdinner.co.uk