A vegetable garden on the windowsill

Perhaps, in the past year, a good half of your friends took to growing there on the windowsill greens and vegetables. If you are one of those, who have not yet succumbed to the mass hobby of home horticulture, you should look at this hobby right now. Here’s why this is a great activity and how to approach it.

For note, to calculate the square footage space for the plants on your own, you can get the help of an online square footage calculator.

Why do you need it?

Until recently, growing seedlings and planting greenery right on the kitchen windowsill was a lot of retirees and curious schoolchildren, but over the past year, home gardening has become a fashionable hobby.

There are several reasons at once, and they are somehow tied to the pandemic as a source of anxiety and household restrictions: caring for plants is a meditative calm business that helps to distract and establish contact with nature, love your home, and also get fresh and environmentally friendly greens for your table.

Now all these benefits of home gardening have not faded at all: yes, we can again leave the house and go to the dacha, but this does not prevent us from having a green corner with spicy herbs at home. Plus, it’s not difficult to get it started.

What to plant?

The best place to start is really with herbs and herbs. Plant parsley and cilantro, sprout green onions, thyme, and basil. If you have a large windowsill or balcony, you can start growing vegetables: small tomatoes, peppers, and mini carrots can produce a small but pleasant harvest at home.

You can also grow different types of lettuce, arugula, and spinach. All these plants differ in the complexity of growing and require different conditions, so if you need a very basic level, germinate any seeds and harvest microgreens, add it to salads and decorate any dishes with them.

Where to get seeds?

Wherever! Now the seeds of the most popular varieties of greens can be found in the nearest supermarket, in the hardware store there may be more choices. Make sure that the seeds are within their expiration date, and also follow the planting instructions printed on the packs. Another life hack: if you buy greens or salad in cups at the store, you can cut off the leaves, and transplant the root system into a larger container, and new leaves will grow.

What do you need from the inventory?

In addition to the seeds themselves, you need soil – a universal one, which is sold in any hardware or flower shop, will do. For a home garden, you can purchase special garden pots, or you can give a second life to plastic containers from under anything: you just need to make drainage holes in the bottom and put them on a saucer or pallet.

Miniature garden plants can also come in handy. instruments and a small greenhouse, which is convenient to place on the windowsill. If you want to make your garden as aesthetic as possible, do not forget about the cute watering can…

How to care?

Firstly, it is very important that the soil is always well moistened, but the water does not stagnate, so a lot of drainage holes in the pot are needed. At the stage of seed germination, it is better to maintain humidity in the air above the micro-bed: create a greenhouse for your crops from cling film (but do not forget about small ventilation holes).

Lighting is also very important: for some plants, a well-lit windowsill will be enough, but if you have the opportunity to put a special lamp, it is better to do so. If you are seriously engaged in gardening and have planted, for example, peppers, then you cannot do without additional lighting for seedlings.

When to Harvest?

If you do not like to wait long, germinate any seeds (for example, easy-growing wheat or peas with juicy stalks) and cut off fresh seedlings – they are high in vitamins, are tender, and crunchy.

If you grow herbs or herbs, then wait until the bush is well-formed, and then you can and should “pluck” it. In salads, the rosettes of leaves ripen gradually, so pick the outer ones when they seem large enough to you. But with vegetables, you will have to be patient and wait until the fruits ripen.