Windowsill Herb Garden
Whenever I see a windowsill herb garden I have to smile. It’s such a nice way to spruce up your garden and your window at the same time. Windowsill gardening is great for your garden. It’s a wonderful way to extend it up the side of your house.
Before you get started, you need to know this—windowboxes are hard on plants. For one thing, they usually don’t hold a lot of water. For another, the window reflects a lot of light and the wall can be pretty hot too. If it’s a particularly sunny side of your house it really won’t be an ideal condition for any herb. Check the sun quality at different times of the day to be sure before you start your windowsill garden.
Next on your list is to choose your herbs wisely. And be aware that you’re going to need to water them everyday. Morning is always best for watering, that way the herb can use the water from the morning to get through the day. You can get some water-beads at the home improvement store that will help in these efforts, but it won’t get you off the hook from watering everyday.
A trick I read about in a book is to keep your plants in small plastic pots and just set them inside the windowsill. That way when it gets really hot you can take them out to give them a break from the sun and heat. You can even set the entire pot in a tray or dish of water to give the plant a nice drink.
Here are some great herbs for windowsill herb gardens:
• Sage: You can’t go wrong when you add this leafy herb to your windowbox, especially if you have one of the deeply colored varieties. Not only is it decorative and fragrant, it’s a great addition to your floral arrangement. If you buy the culinary variety, you can snip off a few leaves for your soups, stews and meat dishes.
• Santolina: The santolina plant will be a beautiful addition to your windowsill because of its year-round foliage. It comes in both green and silver-leafed varieties, so you could go with both for balance. Both varieties have little cute yellow button flowers.
• Scented Geraniums: This beautiful herb is very different from the traditional geranium you may be familiar with. There are so many varieties of scented geraniums that you could plant all different types and never be bored. The flowers, leaves and stems of the scented geranium are all beautiful and edible. They grow in a controlled way, so they won’t take over your windowsill.
• Artemisias: Artemisias is a pretty plant that has pale purple blooms. Use it as a backdrop in your windowsill. It will be a nice contrast to other, brighter plants. An added bonus is that it stays green year-round in most regions.
One thing you don’t want to do is have a sad empty windowbox. If you mount this to a windowsill it’s going to be difficult to remove. I had this beautiful fleur de lis wrought iron hanging windowbox that had no drainage and never could keep anything alive in it. And then I just left it there for a while, empty. And if a windowsill herb garden makes me smile, an empty windowsill garden makes me sad. So believe me when I tell you that I know it isn’t easy. So think about it before you do it.
Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.
