Flouncy for toms, you either need to:
- support the plant with bamboo canes if it grows tall (cordon varieties); or
- try and get "bush" varieties which don't grow tall, you don't need to pinch out side shoots and are perfect to put in things like hanging baskets as well as into pots.
Lettuce is grand, especially if you sow it thickly and pull off the outer leaves rather than waiting for whole plants to be ready ("cut and come again" varieties are particularly good for this - I usually just throw a pack of mixed leaves ones onto a rectangular pot and throw it on the window ledge of the downstairs bathroom which is sunny).
Dwarf French beans are also good in pots.
I have a small bed, a few windowledges, 1 hanging basket, and a "shelf stand" for pots. I had to give up the plot as that is 20 minutes drive (with no traffic) and 10 minutes walk (with all my tools) away from the house and I couldn't get there enough to keep it under control. But it was GREAT to have for 5 years!!! I had loads of soft fruit (raspberries, red currants, black currants, gooseberries, and rhubarb) as well as loads of different veg growing. DD loved the year we did pumpkins!! (They take a load of space so are great when you are starting off if weedy - cover the ground with cardboard or weed-suppressant membrane, cut small holes for plants to come through, and they grow all over the top!!).
Regular onions are also great to do - I used to do yellow ones and red ones - and salad potatoes which are hard to get in shops. And lots of peas, broad beans, French beans - lots of which ended up in the freezer for winter.
Don't like the sound of cold though, so I need to head for my train ….