Windowsill garden

Hi everyone,

I live in an appartement but would like to grow herbs indoor, in a windowsill garden. It sounds like an economical idea and a self-reliant idea. Do you have any tips and experience to share?

Thank you
François

Will Herbs even grow in Montreal? I hear it is WAY colder in Montreal than anywhere else.
Adventureboy

Frankie, I think with your combination of low temps and low light levels at that latitude, to have any success you would have to invest in some growing lights. Most of the popular herbs come from the Mediterranean, which has much warmer temps and high light levels.

Since leaves are the most used part of many herbs, you may not need specialty grow-lights as you would for fruiting plants. A cheap 2-bulb fluorescent shop light with a warm and a cool bulb combination, hanging over a bench may do very well. But the bulbs need to be within 2" (50mm) of the plants for optimum growth.

Sue

You may look at the Aerogarden- if you have the $$$$.

Thanks for the replies. At this point I'm only considering it. If it's too much hassle, I'll just give up this idea.

At this time of year, it's not feasible without artificial light.

Summer, though, is a different story. Provided you have some southern exposure (i.e., a few hours of direct sunlight) you could grow quite a bit. Better, you could ask if you can put some containers on the roof of your building. Container gardening is well established in urban areas. You'd be amazed at how much you can produce.

Just give it a try. If it doesn't work then you'll know. If it does work then you have fresh 'erbs!

Yeah, I'd like to grow Italian parsley, basilic, oregano and mint. I'll see maybe one of them is easier to grow in winter and needs less light and warmth. I've read that leaf lettuce and spinach don't need so much light. I'm only in the preliminary drafts of this project for now. Besides it's probably not a good time of the year to get them from the plant nurseries.

When I was young my mother has successfully grew very delicious green shoots out of small onion bulbs. And that was in the middle of winter in Russian Siberia (56N latitude), when the outside temp was -10F on average. It was just an East facing kitchen window with 8-10 small jars filled with water and with the bulbs on top of them (sometimes over the cardboard down-sizing rings). The windowsill was sitting over the hot water heat radiator, so it was quite cozy microclimate on top of it. Great snack to vodka year-round !

Good point. Sprouts only need warm soil and a bit of light.

I like the onion sprouts idea -- I have a few starting in my cold room already, from last fall's harvest, though they're not supposed to be.

Alfalfa sprouts? Bean sprouts? What else is good?

The Sprout People have quite a bit of info: http://www.sproutpeople.com/grow/sprouting.html

Generally, you sprout them in darkness, then bring them into light to 'green up'.

Please beware of feeding sprouts to babies. From a site that lists things that babies shouldn't eat: "The bacteria Salmonella can exist in all forms of sprouts, (alfalfa, clover and radish), even ones that are grown at home. Refrain from serving sprouts, or any foods prepared with sprouts, to your baby." http://healthmad.com/children/foods-babies-shouldnt-eat/

And there are always mushrooms...

Sue