In order to receive the required amount of vitamins during the cold season, you need vegetables and fresh herbs. Let's learn how to grow healthy crops on the windowsill.
In the cold season, when the body lacks vitamins, leafy vegetables and fresh aromatic herbs will come to your aid. Let's figure out how to grow a crop of these healthy plants on the windowsill in winter.
Healthy harvest on the windowsill
- General agricultural techniques
- Growing greens
- We grow herbs
- Growing leafy vegetables
Buying fresh vegetables at any time of the year is not a problem now. However, when purchasing beautiful-looking cucumbers or tomatoes, parsley, coriander or dill, you must remember that, due to their high nitrate content, they can be harmful to health, and their price in winter can be high.
In addition, at this time, store-bought vegetables have neither taste nor aroma. If you want to pamper yourself with vitamin-rich salads and dishes with the addition of leafy vegetables and herbs at any time of the year, you can organize a small vegetable garden on a windowsill or on a heated loggia.Cucumbers, tomatoes, hot and sweet peppers and even eggplant are grown in apartment conditions. And growing greens and leafy vegetables in the kitchen window in winter is not a problem at all.
What containers can be used for growing
Small beds can be organized using wooden or plastic pallets, boxes, ceramic or plastic pots, as well as clay or plastic bowls available on the farm. The only condition in this case is the presence of holes at the bottom of the container for water drainage.
Boxes can be made independently from pine or spruce boards. The optimal dimensions of the boxes are as follows: length - 40...50 cm, width - 20...30 cm, height - 12...15 cm. For manufacturing, you can use a board with a thickness of 1 to 1.5 cm. It should be noted that It is not recommended to make boxes from furniture scraps, since high humidity will promote peeling of the coating, and harmful substances can get into the soil, and therefore into the plants.
General agricultural techniques
To get a good harvest of greens and leafy vegetables, you must follow the following rules:
- At the bottom of any container used, it is necessary to put drainage, which is used as expanded clay, fine gravel or broken brick.
- It is not recommended to use garden soil to grow greens on the windowsill, as it can be infected with pests that will destroy your entire already small harvest. It is better to purchase a special substrate in the store, especially since it already contains all the components necessary for the growth and development of plants.
- It must be remembered that plants need light for normal growth, so containers should be placed on southwest, southeast or south windows. In the middle of winter, when daylight hours are very short, it would be good to organize additional lighting. To do this, use fluorescent lamps, which are hung at a height of 50–60 cm from your beds.
- Greens and leafy vegetables need to be watered regularly as the soil dries out. For irrigation use settled tap water. It must be remembered that crops growing in clay pots require more water than plants “living” in plastic. Beds on southern windows need to be watered more often than on eastern or southwestern ones.
- Crops growing on a windowsill require regular feeding - once every 1.5–2 weeks. To do this, you can use regular universal fertilizer for indoor flowers.
- When organizing a vegetable garden on a windowsill, you should remember that the air temperature next to the window is always lower than in the room. Therefore, when there is severe frost outside, it is advisable to remove the beds from the window. This will help prevent the roots from rotting at low temperatures. The optimal temperature for growing green crops on a windowsill is 18–20 degrees.
Growing greens
Of all the variety of greens on the windowsill, the easiest to grow are dill, parsley, green onions and celery.
Dill is an unpretentious plant and does not require special care when growing. It is sown in boxes separately or together with other greens scattered, lightly sprinkled with earth. Shoots appear within one and a half to two weeks, and you can taste fresh greens in about a month.
Parsley can be grown on a windowsill in a variety of ways. Before frost, they dig up several plant bushes in the garden along with a lump of earth and transplant them into a suitable container.
Parsley can be sown by seeds, but there is a certain problem. Essential oils contained in the seeds greatly slow down the germination of this crop. Soaking will help speed up germination - before sowing, the seeds are placed in several layers of gauze and kept for half an hour under warm running water, then soaked for a day.
Parsley is demanding of light and soil moisture. It is necessary to water such beds as they dry out, avoiding waterlogging of the soil. After the emergence of seedlings, the bed needs to be thinned out, leaving the strongest plants at a distance of 3–4 cm from each other.
You can also grow parsley on a windowsill by forcing root crops. To do this, it is necessary to select several short but thick roots (at least two centimeters in diameter), preferably with well-developed petioles. The roots should be planted in well-moistened soil at a distance of 2–3 cm from each other, and four to five centimeters should be left between the rows.
Until the petioles sprout, keep the container in a cool place and water it moderately; after the greenery appears, transfer it to the windowsill. In this way, the first harvest can be obtained in 25–30 days. The most suitable varieties of parsley for growing on a windowsill, which produce a lot of greenery, include: Urozhaynaya, Saharnaya, Bordovinskaya.
It is very easy to grow green onions on the windowsill. This can be done by simply placing the onion in a container of clean water. But this must be done so that its bottom barely touches the surface of the water, otherwise the bulb may rot.
To speed up growth, before planting, the bulbs can be filled with hot water and kept for 12 hours, then remove the husks, cut off the top tail and place in a container for germination. With this growing method, it is necessary to change the water every 1-2 days and regularly rinse the containers, otherwise an unpleasant odor will appear.
Green onions can be grown on a windowsill or in a box with soil. When planting, the bulbs should not be deeply buried. Until the first greenery appears, the containers are kept warm, then moved to the windowsill. Onions, like dill, are not very demanding of light, so the beds can be placed in light shade. It should be noted that you should not break off the first onion feathers that appear, otherwise the growth of greenery will stop.
Celery is grown in the same way as parsley - either by forcing root crops or from seeds. When forcing this crop from root crops, it is necessary to select roots with a diameter of at least 5 cm with well-developed petioles. If the root crop is longer than the height of your container, its lower part can be cut off or the roots can be planted at an angle. Care for celery in the same way as parsley, that is, provide good lighting and optimal watering.
We grow herbs
The most commonly used aromatic herbs for growing on a windowsill are watercress, basil, mint and lemon balm.
Watercress is considered the fastest growing crop; after sowing the seeds in moist soil, seedlings appear within 4–5 days. This plant is undemanding in terms of lighting; it can be grown in shaded corners of the windowsill, on northern or northeastern windows.
Seeds are planted to a depth of 1 cm and watered well. The first harvest can be harvested in 2-3 weeks. For a garden on a windowsill, the best varieties of watercress are Broadleaf, Curly and Pepper.
The easiest way to grow basil on a windowsill is by transplanting a ready-made bush from the garden, since the seeds of this plant are extremely difficult to germinate. Basil is quite demanding of light and does not respond well to temperature changes, so containers with this crop should be placed on southern windows. It is necessary to water the beds with basil as the top layer of soil dries out. Overwatering has a bad effect on the well-being of the plant.
Mint and lemon balm are grown on the windowsill in two ways - by sowing seeds or transplanting bushes from the garden. Seeds should be planted shallowly in well-moistened soil. These crops are demanding on watering and lighting. With sufficient soil moisture, seedlings appear quickly, after which containers with mint and lemon balm are transferred to well-lit southern or south-eastern windows.
Growing leafy vegetables
Among the leafy vegetables for gardening on the windowsill, various varieties of lettuce and Chinese cabbage are best suited.
Leaf lettuce is a cold-resistant crop, so it can be grown in apartment conditions on well-insulated loggias or balconies. For such beds, early ripening varieties of lettuce are best suited: Odessa, Red Credo, Lollo Biond and others.
Leaf lettuce seeds are planted in well-moistened soil to a depth of 0.5 cm; seedlings appear within 3–5 days. The first harvest, depending on the variety, can be harvested in 4–5 weeks. This culture is very demanding in terms of watering and lighting. It is necessary to water the salad abundantly, and in the winter months it is necessary to additionally illuminate the beds with fluorescent lamps.
In winter, you can also grow Chinese cabbage on the windowsill. The seeds of this crop are planted to a depth of 0.5–1 cm in furrows at a distance of six to eight centimeters, leaving 3–4 cm between the seeds. The crops are well watered and placed in a warm place for germination. After the first shoots have appeared, the containers are moved to the window.
Chinese cabbage is a short-day crop, so it tolerates light shading well and does not need additional lighting during the winter months. It is necessary to water the cabbage bed sparingly, when the soil is thoroughly dry. It is necessary to use early ripening varieties of Chinese cabbage for growing on the windowsill, the harvest of which can be harvested after 25–30 days after the appearance of the first shoots.
As you can see, growing greens on a windowsill in winter and early spring is not difficult and even a novice gardener can do it. Of course, you won’t get a big harvest, due to the fact that in such conditions you won’t be able to allocate a lot of space for the garden. However, with a minimum of effort and following simple recommendations, you can provide your family with vitamins exactly at the time when they are most needed.published
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I think you will agree with me that it is very nice to come into the kitchen on a cold winter morning to drink aromatic coffee and make yourself a sandwich with greens.
Yes, not store-bought, expensive and grown in an unknown place, but from your own small home garden.
How sweet it is to look at a frosty window and see a tender one - a little hello to sunny summer.
So let's create it!
What you need for a mini-garden
◊ Containers. It is best to use plastic (wooden ones can leak) or wide clay pots. Each type of greenery needs its own home (many plants do not combine with each other).
◊ Soil. Suitable soil is a mixture of garden soil, sawdust, peat and clean sand in equal proportions. You can buy ready-made soil for seedlings. Before pouring it into containers, place a thin layer of small pebbles, pieces of broken brick or crushed foam on their bottom. This is drainage (it is necessary to drain excess water when watering, otherwise the greenery on the windowsill may rot).
◊ Lamps(luminescent, white spectrum). It is necessary to illuminate a small garden in the winter months so that the daylight hours are 13-15 hours.
- You can purchase special timers and set the backlight time in advance, which is very convenient.
◊ Polyethylene film. It is necessary to create a greenhouse effect so that seeds germinate better.
But the most important thing that is needed is your desire to always have fresh greenery on the windowsill in winter, a good mood in the fall, a constant supply of vitamins in the spring and the beauty of tender seedlings in the summer.
Growing dill
This fragrant herb is quite unpretentious for home life. Knowing some tricks, you can provide yourself with a constant supply of fragrant and very healthy greens.
Choosing a variety
Not every variety of dill will give you a lush one with excellent taste. The following varieties are best suited for a mini-garden:
♦ Early ripening. It will be possible to harvest 35 days after the first shoots.
- Grenadier. Delicate dill, beautiful, with a light shade of leaves. It is unpretentious, with lush greens.
- Gribovsky. Resistant to diseases, undemanding in care and temperature conditions. The dark green leaves are fragrant and tasty.
♦ Mid-season. They produce more greenery and leaves. Dill of these varieties will be ready to decorate your table 40-45 days after germination. These species also form umbels and seeds, ideal for pickling, canning and seasoning.
- Richelieu. Fragrant blue-green lacy leaves. One of the most beautiful varieties that will become a highlight in our home mini-garden.
- Aelita(leafy). The large, dense dark green crown has an excellent aroma and excellent taste.
♦ Late ripening. They form lush, fragrant greenery. These varieties are characterized by a high content of nutrients.
- Kibray. Wide, green, with a soft yellow tint, the leaves have a large supply of vitamins and have a sweetish taste.
- Firework. The dark bluish crown is spicy and aromatic. Greens on the windowsill with this variety of dill are very productive. It grows back quickly after cutting.
Seeds
Pre-soak the seeds for a day in warm water. Change the water every 6 hours. Then dry them a little and immediately sow them in abundantly moistened soil.
Sow in beds 15 cm apart in pre-made furrows. Or directly onto the soil, sprinkling a 2 cm layer of soil on top.
- Advice. Sow seeds 3 weeks apart. Then you will provide yourself with fragrant greens for the entire winter period.
Cover the top of the dill garden with plastic and hide it in a dark place for a week, where the temperature will be at least +20° C.
As soon as the first shoots appear, lower the air temperature at night.
Dill care
| What does dill need? | Adviсe | |
| Watering | drinking plenty of fluids | regular watering, especially during seed germination |
| Top dressing | complex mineral fertilizers (Rainbow is better) | fertilize the soil once every 14 days after watering |
| air temperature | the best temperature for him is from +18° to + 20° C | dill on the windowsill will tolerate lower temperatures (up to +8° C), if the temperature exceeds the limit of +20° C, increase the light (otherwise it will grow sluggish and too light) |
You can sow greens constantly (every three weeks), in the freed area after cutting.
Growing parsley
Fragrant parsley will be a useful decoration for any dish and a constant supplier of vitamins all year round.
Like dill, this greenery on the windowsill is quite unpretentious in home gardening.
Choosing a variety
Parsley comes in two types. Root (its roots are used in cooking, for preparing medicinal decoctions) and leaf (to obtain lush, thick and aromatic greens for the table).
♦ Root parsley. It forms thick, light-colored roots. Early-ripening varieties are best suited for drying, and late-ripening ones for long-term storage.
- Sugar(early variety). 3 months after the first sprouts appear, this parsley is ready for use. Such rooted greens on the windowsill have the best taste.
- Harvest(mid-season). Parsley fully ripens in 4-5 months. The white pulp of the root vegetable has a faint aroma.
- Berlin(late ripening). The harvest can be harvested after 5-6 months. This variety has a delicate spicy taste and is very juicy.
♦ Leafy. Such varieties are grown for their lush, fragrant greenery. Leaf parsley has two types of leaves: regular and curly (they are very impressive when decorating dishes). Cut leaves retain their aroma for a long time and do not turn yellow for a week. Leafy greens on the windowsill grow back very quickly after cutting.
- Curly Sue(early ripening, curly). You can cut it after 1-2 months after germination. It has dark green, curly leaves. It is fragrant, rich in vitamins and exquisitely beautiful.
- Esmeralda(mid-season, curly). The thick curly crown is very fragrant and has a sweetish taste. The harvest can be harvested after 2 months.
- Bogatyr(late ripening, smooth). One of the best varieties of leaf parsley. It is distinguished by particularly fragrant leaves and high yield. Parsley of this variety can be cut for the table after 2-3 months.
Seeds
Soak a cotton cloth (or gauze) in boiled water and place the seeds in it. Wrap the gauze with parchment and place it in the cold. Let the seeds stay there for a week.
Ventilate them every day and re-moisten the gauze. After a week, the seeds are ready to take root in the ground.
Sow them 0.5 cm deep, cover with a layer of soil on top. Then cover the pot with plastic and place it in a dark place.
Cover the ground itself with a damp cloth. Water once every two days. Take care of the seeds - ventilate and moisten them every day with a spray bottle. After three days, the first timid shoots will appear.
Remove the cloth from the ground and move the pot itself to a well-lit windowsill. As soon as there are more shoots, build a dome-shaped support from thick wire and use it to raise the film a little higher.
It can be removed completely when the shoots begin to spike. Spray the young shoots with water often.
Young shoots need to be thinned out so that the distance between them is at least 4 cm.
Parsley care
| What does parsley like? | Adviсe | |
| Watering | moderate watering | water once every 3-4 days, do not allow the soil to become completely dry or, conversely, excessive soil moisture |
| Top dressing | standard superphosphate solution | dilute 5 grams of granules per 1 liter of boiled water; parsley at home requires feeding once a month |
| air temperature | best t° from +22° to +24° С | this greenery is very afraid of drafts and cold |
If the leaves of the grass begin to turn yellow, remove them immediately. Perhaps this is a sign of illness. If yellowness recurs, make a water solution of organic soap and spray the entire plant with it.
Growing cilantro
Cilantro (or coriander) is a very unpretentious, cold-resistant plant. It is in the same class as parsley (it is even called “Chinese parsley”).
But this greenery on the windowsill will fill the entire garden with a stronger, deeper aroma. Cilantro is brighter, richer in taste, and its leaves are more tender.
Choosing a variety
To get a rich harvest, it is best to plant essential oil coriander varieties: Beam, Amber, Change.
By the way, coriander greens must be eaten before they bloom. When flowers appear, cilantro develops a specific, not very pleasant aroma.
Seeds
In order for cilantro to germinate faster, its seeds must first be germinated in damp sawdust at an air temperature of +17° C to + 20° C.
As soon as the first shoots appear, we replenish our greenery on the windowsill with a new plant. We plant the sprouted cilantro seeds in moistened soil to a depth of 2 cm. Sow in rows with a distance of 5-10 cm, cover the seeds with a layer of soil on top.
Cover the pots with film for the first time. But be sure to check them every day, water them and ventilate them.
In two or three weeks, the coriander will make itself known with its first shoots. And we solemnly transfer them to our home garden.
At first, greenery needs good air humidity (spray it often with a spray bottle).
Caring for Cilantro
| The vagaries of coriander | Adviсe | |
| Watering | moderate watering | water constantly, in small portions, do not allow the soil to dry out, otherwise the plant will be weak |
| Top dressing | complex fertilizers (best "Flora") | dilute the composition at the rate of liter of water per 3-5 ml of product |
| air temperature | favorable t° from +10° C to + 12° C | cilantro can withstand frosts down to – 5° C (it is best to grow coriander on the balcony) |
The first harvest after the sprouts appear can be harvested a month later. Cilantro on a windowsill can only tolerate one cut. But if you remove 1-2 leaves from coriander, then extend this period by two weeks.
After you have cut all the plants, dig up the soil, update it by one third and add ash (50 grams of ash per 6 kg of soil). Then moisten the soil with a heated solution of manganese (1%) and sow the coriander again.
Greenery on the windowsill will bring you a lot of pleasure, joy from the beauty you created with your own hands, which in gloomy autumn and frosty winter will remind you of a warm summer.
Have a rich home harvest!
Now, my dear readers, you know how to grow vitamin-rich herbs (dill, parsley, cilantro) at home, and in the next article of this series (“Vegetable garden on the windowsill”) I will talk about growing them at home. What plants would you like to grow more in your home? Write about it in the comments and I will try to describe in detail the process of growing these plants.
See you soon!
Growing food in cities is popular all over the world. So, Britta Riley lives in a tiny apartment in New York. She came up with a hydroponic vertical garden. It takes up little space and brings a good harvest. About her innovation Britta.
In the West, if a product is labeled eco, bio or organic, it means two things. Firstly, these products are grown, harvested and processed in accordance with environmental standards, that is, without pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, growth stimulants and other “nasties”. They were certified, and serious organizations guaranteed their quality. Secondly, organic products are an order of magnitude more expensive than conventional ones.
In Russia, the “clean food” market is just emerging. Biocertification and control systems have not yet been formed. And the difference in prices between bioproducts and conventional vegetables and fruits sometimes reaches 1,000%! Therefore, for us, the most eco, bio and organic are products grown with our own hands.
But not everyone has dachas or relatives in the village. What should urban children do, accustomed to seeing potatoes washed and in nets, and greens in vacuum packages? Grow vegetables and fruits directly on the balcony or windowsill.
6 reasons to start a mini-garden at home
- You can pamper yourself with fresh vegetables and herbs full of vitamins all year round.
- Saving. Vegetables and fruits are expensive, especially in winter. With a home garden, you no longer have to adapt to the season (we only eat enough tomatoes in July, and apples in September).
- You yourself can grow a plant from a tiny seed with your own hands, and you can collect the fruits. This is a creative activity that charges with positive energy.
- You can improve your knowledge of biology, gain useful skills and acquire an exciting hobby.
- Your children will see how tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables grow, and will understand that they do not miraculously materialize in the refrigerator; growing them is serious work.
- You can surprise your friends and acquaintances. Imagine showing off your harvest by showing off your window beds. ;)
What you need to grow vegetables and herbs at home
- Place. Usually this is a windowsill or balcony. It is better if they face the sunny side. If not, lamps will be required for additional lighting. If necessary, the window sill can be expanded or shelves can be built for “beds” (the minimum distance between shelves is 50 cm).
- Capacities. Beds for a home garden can be clay or plastic pots or wooden boxes. The main thing is that there are holes in the bottom for draining water. It is recommended to place containers on pallets.
- Priming. There are many soil mixtures for indoor gardening. As a rule, several layers are made: peat, compost, turf. You can prepare the soil yourself, or you can buy it at a specialized store.
- Seeds. Some varieties of tomatoes or cucumbers grow well at home, while others do not even sprout. Therefore, before you start indoor gardening, you need to sit on forums, read articles on the Internet and find out what seeds to buy.
In addition, you may need fertilizers, fertilizing, a thermometer and a vessel for settling water (houseplants are watered with water at room temperature, separated from chlorine).
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We have the inventory, now we need to decide what to plant. Lifehacker has already written about some vegetables that grow beautifully on a windowsill.
Today we will tell you about ten more such plants.
Carrot
DenisNata/Depositphotos.com Variety
: "Amsterdamian".
Temperature
: from 15 to 25 ºС.
Harvest
: in ≈70 days.
To grow at home, you need to take miniature varieties of carrots. You can plant in boxes, pots or simply cut plastic bottles with holes in the bottom. The soil should be drained.
The seeds are placed in the ground to a depth of about 7 cm. When the carrots sprout and sprout a few centimeters, they need to be thinned out, leaving the strongest sprouts at a distance of about 2 cm from each other. It is not recommended to keep the beds in direct sunlight.
You need to water carrots at home often, but you need to make sure that there is not too much moisture, otherwise the root crop will rot. From time to time you can feed with fertilizers with a low nitrogen content (if there is a lot of it, all the growth will go into the tops). It is also very useful to loosen the soil from time to time.
Pepper
Pepper grown on the balcony Varieties
: “treasure island”, “dwarf”, “watercolor”, “swallow” and others.
Temperature
: from 25 to 27 ºС.
Harvest
: after 100–130 days.
The seeds are first planted in small pots, which are covered with cling film and placed in a warm place. When the first shoots appear (in one to two weeks), several small punctures need to be made in the film. After some time, the pepper will get stronger, then it can be transplanted into large pots or buckets. This must be done carefully so as not to damage the spine. Root the plant by a third, after which it is watered with warm (30 ºС) water.
In the future, the pepper can be watered every day. This plant loves light, so in addition to natural light, lamps with a white spectrum are recommended. It is necessary to protect home-grown peppers from drafts and direct sunlight.
You can fertilize with nitrogen fertilizers, but potassium salt and potassium chloride will destroy the roots of the plant. With proper care, peppers on the windowsill can produce fruit for up to two years.
Cherry tomatoes
Levranii/Depositphotos.com Varieties
: “pygmy”, “bonsai”, “bead” and others.
Temperature
: from 23 to 25 ºС.
Harvest
: after 90–100 days (depending on the variety).
Soil, as in the case of pepper, is more convenient to buy ready-made. It is recommended to take a cylindrical container: it is better filled with the root system.
First, the seeds are germinated in small pots: buried to a depth of 1.5 cm, covered with cling film and left in a warm place until the first sprouts. When the tomatoes have risen, they are dived into a larger and deeper bowl.
It is important that the plant receives even lighting. To do this, you can hang fluorescent lamps over the “beds” or regularly turn the containers towards the window.
Water carefully: it’s easy to overwater cherry tomatoes. When the plant grows, it is recommended to loosen the soil from time to time and feed it with mineral fertilizers. If necessary, the tomato trunk can be tied to a support (wooden skewer or pencil). It is also important to ensure that pests do not appear on the tomatoes.
By the way, not only cherry tomatoes grow well in home gardens, but also ordinary tomatoes.
cucumbers
Cucumbers grown on the window Varieties
: “Rytov’s room”, “miracle on the window”, “ant” and others.
Temperature
: from 21 to 24 ºС.
Harvest
: in 35–45 days.
For cucumbers you need fairly large containers, at least 6 liters in volume. The soil should be loose, with peat or compost.
Self-pollinating varieties of cucumbers grow well at home. First you need to prepare the seeds: they are poured into a weak saline solution, those that float are thrown away. Then suitable seeds are soaked for 20 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate, after which they are washed on damp gauze and planted in the ground (under a film). When the seedlings sprout and grow, they can be planted in large containers.
Water homemade cucumbers with warm water every day, but with caution. The leaves can also be sprayed with a spray bottle. Potassium nitrate is recommended as a top dressing.
When the vines of cucumbers form and grow, supports should be built for them so that the plant can weave.
Radish
Homegrown radish Varieties
: “Carmen”, “White Fang”, “Celeste F1” and others.
Temperature
: from 18 to 20 ºС.
Harvest
: in ≈40 days.
It is recommended to plant radishes in wooden or clay containers, but ordinary plastic cups can also be used. You need loose, well-drained soil. Before planting, seeds can be tested for germination, like cucumbers. After which they need to be buried to a depth of 1–3 cm.
After planting, the soil must be watered and covered with film. When the shoots appear, the “greenhouse” is removed. Radishes, as a rule, are not picked. But sometimes they place it for two or three days at a lower temperature - about 15 ° C. This hardens the plant and promotes a better harvest.
Five days after the appearance of the first shoots, organic feeding is carried out, and two weeks later - mineral feeding. Water the radishes generously as they dry. It is also important that the air in the room where it grows is not dry.
Spinach
Homemade spinach Varieties
: “virofle”, “godri”, “gigantic” and others.
Temperature
: 15 ºС.
Harvest
: in ≈40 days.
Spinach is a green vegetable and is considered very healthy. To grow it at home, you need containers 15–20 cm high. You can use ready-made soil mixtures. The main thing is that they contain peat.
It is recommended to soak the seeds in water for a day before planting. Sowing is carried out to a depth of 1–2 cm. To speed up germination, you can cover the containers with film. Spinach sprouts about a week after planting, then it can be picked.
In winter, when the heating is on in the apartment and when there is short daylight, it is recommended to illuminate the plant with lamps and spray it with a spray bottle (in addition to watering).
The harvest can be harvested when the spinach reaches 7–10 cm in height.
Basil
jamdesign/Depositphotos.com Varieties
: “marquis”, “lemon”, “Baku” and others.
Temperature
: from 22 to 24 °C.
Harvest
: in 50–55 days.
Basil is one of the most aromatic and favorite seasonings for housewives. At the same time, it is quite unpretentious and grows well on a windowsill.
Plant basil immediately in large containers (at least 1.5 liters in volume). First you need to prepare the soil for planting: water it twice with mineral fertilizers at intervals of five days. The seeds are deepened by 1–1.5 cm. Until the plant sprouts, it must be watered every two days. Further watering is carried out daily, preferably in the morning.
Green garlic
fotomod/Depositphotos.com Varieties
: “Kharkov”, “anniversary” and others.
Temperature
: from 18 to 25 °C.
Harvest
: in 15–20 days.
As a rule, garlic bulbs are used in cooking. But green shoots (arrows) are also suitable for gastronomy: they are suitable for making marinades and sauces.
Garlic varieties are divided into two groups: winter and spring. The latter usually do not produce arrows, so they are not suitable for growing at home.
For those who have ever grown onions on a windowsill, dealing with garlic will not be difficult. You need to take winter garlic cloves, preferably with sprouted sprouts. You can use any soil mixture. Each clove is planted at a depth of 2–3 cm and at a distance of 1–2 cm from each other. After planting, you must water it.
The container with garlic should be kept on the brightest window in the house. Water as the soil dries. From time to time you can feed with nitrogen-containing fertilizers.
Mint
martiapunts/Depositphotos.com Temperature
: from 20 to 25 °C.
Harvest
: in ≈60 days.
Mint has a fairly branched root system, so to plant it you should take a deep and wide container. It is recommended to use peat soil, any variety.
There are two ways to plant mint: seeds and cuttings. The latter is shown in the video below.
To grow mint from seeds, you need to plant them in the ground to a depth of about 5 mm and water them. To create a greenhouse effect, you can use film. Before the emergence of seedlings (about two weeks), the soil should be sprinkled with water every day. After germination, mint must be planted.
Mint is unpretentious. In summer it should be protected from direct sunlight, and in winter from lack of light and excessive watering. From time to time, the plant can be fed with organic mixtures.
Mature plants can reach a meter in height. As a rule, they have a lot of leaves - there will almost always be mint for tea or homemade mojito.
Strawberry
S.Bachstroem/Shutterstock.com Varieties
: “autumn fun”, “homemade delicacy”, “garland” and others.
Temperature
: from 18 to 20 °C.
Harvest
: in ≈30 days.
For the home garden, ampelous remontant varieties of strawberries are suitable. They bear fruit all year round and are not too demanding of light. You can plant strawberries in any soil mixture. But first, drainage (expanded clay, small pebbles) should be poured onto the bottom to protect the strawberries from stagnation of water.
Strawberries can be grown from seedlings or seeds. Both are sold in gardening stores.
The seeds are planted in small containers (for example, plastic cups), watered generously and covered with cling film. After the first shoots appear, the film is removed and the seedlings are placed in a well-lit place. When three or four leaves are formed, the strawberries are dived into larger containers.
This plant loves light. When days are shorter than nights, artificial lighting should be used. Watering and spraying are carried out as the soil dries. Strawberries are easy to pour.
Solutions with a significant iron content are used as fertilizing. During active growth, the strawberry grows tendrils; they need to be tied to supports.
As you can see, growing vegetables, herbs and even berries in a city apartment is not difficult and even fun.
If you have experience with home gardening, please tell us about it. Write in the comments, what and how did you happen to grow on your windowsill?.
Have you noticed that in winter you really crave summer greens or a fresh cucumber from the garden, or even better, a fragrant tomato. We are so designed that we wish for the impossible... But who said that these dreams are impossible. Even in winter, you can grow many garden plants at home - start a real vegetable garden on your windowsill. Let's talk in more detail about what you can grow on a windowsill in winter.
What greens and herbs can be grown on a windowsill in winter?
When you hear the word greens, the first thoughts that come to mind are growing dill, parsley or lettuce. It's quite easy to grow them at home. To do this you need:
I advise beginning gardeners to start with unpretentious ones to grow: green onions, parsley, watercress. For herbs, you can try rosemary and basil. They will not only be useful as a seasoning, but will fill the apartment with their aroma!
Now let's look at it step by step,
Seed preparation
Before planting, it is better to soak the seeds overnight in warm water, and then put them in pink potassium permanganate for a couple of hours.
Sowing
You can use any suitable container for sowing. From a box and a flower pot to a cake box. I like the last option. After sowing, it is convenient to immediately close the mini-garden with a cake lid and create greenhouse conditions there. I remove the lid only after the emergence of full shoots, and before that it needs to be ventilated every day. When sowing in boxes, cover them with plain plastic bags.
Use store-bought soil or heat your garden herbs to get rid of pests and weeds. You need to water your home garden with settled water. Do not use tap water.
To prevent plants from stretching towards the window, you need to turn containers with plants every day.
How to grow onions for greens at home
Onions on greens in a bottle For this purpose, turnip onions of early varieties are used. The later ones have a long shelf life and will not grow well.
This is the easiest crop to grow on a windowsill. Even children in kindergarten are trying to grow onions. It is growing quickly, useful, accessible.
It is better to use larger heads - they will provide you with vitamin greens longer.
The easiest way is to put the onion in water - just make sure that only the tip of the onion touches the water, otherwise it will begin to rot.
You can plant the onions in the ground - close to each other. And water regularly. If you make such a bed once every two weeks, you will provide yourself with greens for the whole winter.
You can expel onion greens in vertical containers. You can make them yourself. Cut holes in a plastic bottle with soil and insert the bulbs into the holes.
What vegetables can be grown on a windowsill in winter?
Homemade tomatoes Many vegetables grow well on a windowsill if you create the right conditions for them.
You can even grow cucumbers and tomatoes.
Read in detail in the articles "" and "".
What conditions are needed for the growth of cucumbers and tomatoes on the windowsill?
- Lots of light - be sure to grow on southern, south-eastern windows.
- Use additional lighting; daylight hours should be more than 12 hours.
- Fertile soil, mandatory fertilizing with complex and organic fertilizers.
- Provide a suitable temperature for cucumbers - not lower than +20°C
- The best results will be if you hide young cucumbers under a film cover.
- Use only self-pollinating varieties.
Little cucumbers at home How to grow radishes at home
A few details in the article "". The same lighting requirements must be observed as for all domestic crops. It is also necessary to sow early varieties.
Radishes in a box on the windowsill Not only vegetables and herbs can be grown on the windowsill in winter. But also exotic plants. For example: tangerines, lemons, mangoes, avocados.
They grow well at home, despite their southern origin. All these plants will not make real trees. But you can get the fruits.
Fruiting lemon at home A winter vegetable garden on a windowsill is, perhaps, the little thing that unites an uncompromising city resident, an amateur gardener and an experienced summer resident. After all, in order to create a small garden bed on a window, there can only be arguments “for”, and it is absolutely impossible to come up with something against it.
Gardening a vegetable garden on a windowsill in winter is easy!
- Aesthetics.
It’s not for nothing that green is considered a calming color, and in the summer, when the foliage on the trees and the grass on the lawn are at their best, no one would even think of complaining about its abundance and annoyingness. So, a few bushes of greenery or, better yet, flowering and fruiting plants will at least please the eye.
- Practicality.
Rationalists and skeptics, making a choice between geranium and parsley, will certainly give preference to the latter - not only beautiful, but also tasty.
- Saving.
Greens and fresh vegetables, which are also quite possible to grow in your own window in February, are expensive in winter, but the quality and taste, however, leave much to be desired. It’s either the fruits of one’s own labors - tasty, free, and a pleasure in the process and in the result.
- A wonderful time.
How often, especially women, on cold winter days, their hands itch with the desire to do or make something. Some people know how to knit, some know how to sew, and others may well discover in themselves an extraordinary experimental gardener who, no, no, and, as soon as it gets warmer, will move from the windowsill to a real garden.
- No difficulties.
No matter how it may seem to a novice gardener that growing plants, and especially food, is the lot of a select few, there is really nothing difficult about regularly harvesting the same green onion. On the contrary, it may turn out to be easier and more interesting than growing even the most unpretentious indoor plants.
In order to start planting a vegetable garden on the windowsill you will need the following:
- Containers.
The most reliable ones are plastic or clay. Each type of plant should have its own container.
- Priming.
It’s easier and better for those who decide to start gardening for the first time to buy soil in a specialized store.
- Drainage.
The drainage can be purchased gravel, or, say, broken bricks or small pebbles from a nearby pond.
- White spectrum fluorescent lamps.
Absolutely necessary, especially for the northern winter, to extend daylight hours for plants to at least 13-15 hours.
If you have the listed minimum equipment and a great desire to get results and enjoy the process, harvesting the winter harvest will be inevitable.
Fresh herbs all year round
The easiest way to grow greens is not only in summer beds, but also on the windowsill.
The undisputed leader here is the green onion, but there are other tasty plants that are easier to grow in a window:
- parsley and dill;
- cilantro and basil:
- thyme and mint;
- lemon balm and spinach;
- sorrel and rosemary;
- lavender and tarragon;
- celery and lettuce, etc.
Growing each of them has its own nuances, but in general, the process is not complicated.
Onion
Oddly enough, in the first place in the composition of both onions and their green feathers is nothing other than sugar! It is present in the plant in the form of fructose, inulin, maltose and polysaccharide. In second and third place in the composition of everyone’s favorite plant and part-time food product are proteins and ascorbic acid. But the specific taste of onions is given by the essential oil, which is contained in it in negligible quantities, but nevertheless creates its entire reputation.
Green onions can be grown in two ways:
- in small containers with water
- in shallow boxes with soil.
In the first case, only the lower part of the onion, purchased in a regular vegetable department, should be in the water, and the water should be changed once or twice a day.
In the second case, only the lower part of the bulb and roots are also in the ground.
Once a few long enough green feathers have appeared, you can cut the first crop and enjoy the fresh greens in your salad.
In exactly the same way as onions, you can grow garlic from cloves in which a green sprout has sprouted.
Greens from seeds
When planting dill, parsley or, say, cilantro, you need to be patient, because the first harvest will not be earlier than in a month if you choose an early-ripening variety, and in almost two months if you choose a late-ripening variety. Experienced gardeners recommend not to worry about choosing at all and to plant several varieties of your favorite greens, which ripen at different speeds, because each of them has its own taste characteristics, each looks different, which will help decorate your salads on the holiday table in an unusual way.
Thus, the early-ripening dill varieties “Grenadier” and “Gribovsky” are quite unpretentious and resistant to various kinds of diseases, the mid-ripening varieties “Aelita” and “Richelieu” produce more aromatic greens, and the late-ripening varieties “Kibray” and “Salut” are distinguished by their yield and higher content. vitamins and other useful substances. The same goes for parsley, cilantro (coriander) and other types of greens.
How to grow dill from seeds:
- Soak the seeds in warm, unboiled water for about a day, remembering to change the water every 6-7 hours.
- After 24 hours, dry the seeds and plant them in well-moistened soil. You can sow in beds, sprinkling with soil to a height of a couple of centimeters.
- Next, cover the pot with plastic and place it in a dark, warm place for about a week.
- After the first shoots appear, gradually reduce the temperature, first for a short time, and then leave it on the windowsill longer and longer.
Dill should be watered abundantly and the temperature should be kept at 18-20 degrees Celsius. If you add new seeds every 3-4 weeks, you can provide yourself with fresh dill for several months.
To grow parsley from seeds, you need:
- Keep the seeds, wrapped in damp gauze, in a cool, dark place for a week, remembering to constantly moisten the gauze.
- After a week, the seeds should be sown to a depth of half a centimeter.
- Then cover with a wet cloth and water once every 2 days while waiting for germination.
- When sprouts appear, you need to move the box to the windowsill.
Parsley does not like dry soil or waterlogged soil, so it is worth watering it once every 3-4 days and maintaining the temperature at 22-24 degrees Celsius.
Parsley, celery and root salad
It’s even easier and faster to start getting a harvest, waiting a minimum of time and spending a minimum of effort, if you use purchased greens in a pot.
In winter, lettuce, parsley and celery are often sold in pots, which most buyers throw away after eating the greens. But if you choose a pot with a good, intact rhizome, a couple of centimeters wide for parsley and about five for celery, plant them, leaving the cut cuttings on the surface, then very soon you can get a new harvest of greenery.
How to grow vegetables in winter on a window
Despite the fact that the apartment, it would seem, is the same greenhouse in which tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers bear fruit in northern latitudes, there is one significant feature due to which growing vegetables in winter (in addition to the short sunny day) is significantly difficult, namely limited pot area. Due to the small volume of land provided to the plant, it needs noticeably more attention and care, as well as time in order to begin to bear fruit.
When choosing vegetable seeds for a future garden on a windowsill, you should choose those that combine all of the following characteristics:
- self-pollinating hybrids (there are guaranteed to be no barren flowers among them);
- short (so that the height of the window is enough);
- small-fruited varieties (because they ripen faster).
For those who want to grow tomatoes on the windowsill, it makes sense to consider the cherry variety. The well-known tomatoes, measuring 2-3 cm in diameter, have been cultivated for just over 200 years and were first brought from Peru and northern Chile. Caring for them is no different from other varieties of tomatoes, but the fruits ripen much faster due to their size.
To grow vegetables you will need:
- a 3-4 liter pot for each individual bush;
- land purchased in a specialized store;
- drainage.
The process of growing a fruit-bearing plant is as follows:
- We disinfect the seeds in a pale pink two percent solution of potassium permanganate for 2-3 hours.
- After a couple of hours, we take out only the seeds that are at the bottom and place them on a dry cloth or cotton pad to dry.
- We plant the seeds in disposable cups. To do this, place up to 5 seeds in compacted earth, and then sprinkle with a layer of 1.5-2 cm of earth.
- After germination, we thin out the plants, leaving the strongest ones, until one bush remains.
- After about a month, we transplant the seedlings into large pots. To do this, tip the glass over, holding the plant with your fingers, and then put the seedling in a large pot and add soil.
At first, you need to water the plants regularly, but under no circumstances over-water them. In winter, it is better to leave the soil a little dry rather than too wet, and with the arrival of spring, on the contrary, increase watering.
The daylight hours for plants, regardless of the actual sun, should be at least 10-12 hours due to artificial lighting, and the temperature should be at least 20 degrees. Also, the plant must be turned 180 degrees once a day so that it grows evenly, without bending too much towards the sun.
Is it possible to grow exotic plants at home in winter?
There are two opposing opinions about growing exotic plants at home: some believe that it is practically impossible, others do not see anything difficult in it and even show lemons and grapefruits grown with their own hands.
The fact is that citrus trees have traditionally grown in Russian homes, despite the unsuitable climate, and there are both successful and negative experiences. And all because someone is content with a beautiful tree with fleshy leaves that never fall off and saturate the room with the purest air, while others certainly want to see ripe fruits and consider their absence to be an unsatisfactory result.
In fact, from an unprocessed lemon or orange seed purchased in a regular store, there is a 90% chance that a beautiful citrus tree will grow. But in order to refine your plant into a so-called cultivated tree and subsequently get a harvest, you need to take into account many nuances and even take advice, or even the help of a specialist.
However, nothing is impossible, and if you take into account how long it takes for an exotic tree to develop, then its seed can be planted at any time, and what to do later - be content with little or do everything so that it begins to bear fruit - will be decided over time as time goes on. its development.
How to grow lemon at home from a seed (video)
There are absolutely no obstacles to enjoying greens both in the window and in salads all year round. To grow vegetables on your windowsill, you will need to spend more effort, but it is also easier to do than it might seem at first. But becoming a real gardener, able to show off your own lemons, will be a little more difficult, if only because of the larger amount of time that will need to be spent, but nothing is impossible here.