I have made a few of these soda bottle self watering pots to use as a windowsill herb garden and need advice on which herbs will be best to grow in them? They will recieve sun most of the day. Any help would be great as this will be my very first time growing herbs.
I haven't tried making the soda bottle self watering pots but here is a list of what grew best for me on the windowsill. Basils (especially lemon basil and spicy globe basil), oregano (but not the greek oregano- it seemed to prefer to be planted outdoors), thyme (every kind of thyme seems to be easygoing and adaptable), dill and marjoram. Rosemary and lavender did not grow well for me in small pots indoors. Generally, any small leaf annuals seemed to do well indoors for me- no matter where I lived as long as they had a sunny window. One thing I learned the hard way- the potted herbs you can buy in grocery stores in the produce section do not do well anywhere. When I first moved to Kuwait, they were all I could find. Then I did some reading and found that they are bred to adapt to sitting on shelves in produce sections and have short lived lives. They are really only for using a bit longer than cut herbs sold there. That said, I have coaxed rosemary plants purchased in the produce section to live but it was touch and go for awhile. (I cannot resist a challenge!) I would start with herbs that you use often that are easy. For me it would be the basils and thymes. whoops- forgot to add this. Good air circulation and keeping the soil moist but not soaked made all the difference as well. Too wet and they died. Good luck!
Rosemary needs a load of humidity, hard to do inside. Basil, parsley, chives, are commonly grown on windowsills.
Glad to hear that basil is one of the easy herbs to grow and grows on pots too. :-D you see, i live in a building and there's no garden. this post really is a good idea!
I have just started basil and cilantro a few weeks ago on the windowsill. Their doing great. Mid winter just about every herb i grow will be started there. The fennel, anise, dill, parsley, basil, cilantro, rosemary, tarragon, small leaf basil, summer savory is all started at the window. And those are just a few. Just about anything can be grown on the windowsill, believe me i live in the Arctic, and when everyone else is starting outside, i still have hurricanes and 3 ft of snow out there. It can be done, just remember to fertilize after your plants have at least 2 sets of main leaves. You'll be fine. I just plant mine in what ever container is available too.
Glad to hear that basil and parsley are commonly grown on windowsills. This is a great idea since I live in a small place either.
So can you start growing herbs inside at any time of the year or do they need to be planted at a certain time like outdoor vegetables do? I want to start growing some things in my window and don't know if I need to wait until spring or not.
I don't know wether right nor wrong. But I like to play with some of my herbs seeds in the house, starting in the fall. Ones like rosemary, basil, echinacea. This way if they do grow you can use them through out the winter. Also its just something I like to play with in the winter time.
PublicDesign, my mother-in-law used to use liter cartons to plant all winter long in. That would be the quart size milk cartons over there. She would put a few seeds in each carton and the strongest one would be the one she would leave in it. She planted beets, carrots, parsnips (these she would set outside for a few days for the sweetness to set in) just about any kind of root veggie would be planted. They were everywhere all over the home. Since indoors is a controlled enviroment and not like outdoors, you can plant anything your heart desires, as long as you have the room. I grow peppers all winter, and this yr i am going to try tomatoes. Since i have to grow them indoors to begin with and not outside they should do quite well. The only thing you have to remember is they can not draw nutrients from the earth so you have to do that for them, and fertalise a bit more than if they were planted outside. So anything is possiable. I grow herbs all winter long also.
Thanks for the advice and the tips on how to get the seeds to grow. I don't like winter as I cannot see my greenery and flowers outside. I want to bring some of that inside with me this year. Thanks again.
