Growing a Window Herb Garden

Don’t have room for a backyard garden? You can still grow fresh herbs. Instead of gardening outdoors, simply start a window herb garden. A window herb garden can give you the same satisfaction of knowing that you are cooking with fresh, pesticide free, organically grown herbs that a traditional herb garden gives you.

To have a successful window herb garden, you will need to start by selecting a window that receives a lot of sun throughout the day. After all, few herbs are happy growing in shady conditions and the light inside a home, even in the sunniest window, is already dimmer than the light outside. If you don’t have a sunny window, you will need to install a plant grow light to provide enough supplemental light to make your herbs happy.

Once you’ve located a sunny place for your window herb garden, you will need to look at several other factors. First see if the windowsill is wide enough to hold several pots of herbs. If not, you will need to look for a windowsill plant shelf. These shelves are designed to hook easily to the windowsill and can hold three or four nice sized herb pots. Next, check to see if there is a heat vent either under the window or close by. A heat vent means that any plants nearby will dry out much more quickly than plants that aren’t beside a heat vent.

When you’ve chosen the best spot for your window herb garden, it is time to choose your plants. Since you have very limited growing space, you will have to be fairly selective. Think about which herbs and spices you use most frequently and choose several of those herb plants. Some popular herbs that do well when they are grown indoors are chives, parsley, aloe vera, and bay trees.

While a window herb garden is fairly low maintenance, you should check the plants at least once a week to see if they need to be watered. Don’t just pour in the water automatically, since one of the most common problems with indoor plants is over-watering. Instead, test the soil with your finger to see if it feels dry to the touch. Also, you should plan to fertilize your herbs with special plant food spikes during the growing season. After all, since the plants are in containers, they can’t pull any more nutrients from the soil once they’ve used what is there.