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Monday, April 7, 2014

Windowsill Herb Garden


Growing up, my family usually planted a garden every spring in the back yard.
My grandpa grew most common plants like corn, okra, tomatoes, green beans, squash, and even strawberries in the Spring.  My mom's garden was never as big, but we usually had enough okra and squash to feed our family every night, plus more to give away to neighbors.

Since going to college, garden food has been a luxury I haven't been able to partake in.  Even my college apartments didn't really have enough light through the windows to grow anything of worth.  

The apartment I've lived in since getting married is great, however, because we have a very large eastern facing window in the living area.  Last summer I kept potted parsley, chives, and basil in the window sill.  It was great being able to use the plants to eat, and they also look wonderful!  The morning sun was never too hot for the plants in the window...even in Oklahoma summers.  



This Spring, I'm doing a little more work on my windowsill garden and thought I would share with each of you!

First off, I am attempting to get the pots to look a little more unified.  I have some nice ceramic pots, but then several plants were in the ugly plastic pots from Walmart.  I've decided to make all my flower pots white or mostly white, but for each of them to be different shapes and designs to give the windowsill an eclectic but pulled-together look.





 Tyler and I went to the thrift store and found these four pots for under $5 to purchase them all!  And what's great is that three of them are white.  The green and blue pot I just liked, and will probably use to store paintbrushes or something else.




 I wanted to transplant some succulents into a new pot (they were still in their original container from the store that we bought the week before our wedding to put on the wedding cake...its been a bit too long for these poor little guys).


I think this little pot is a great size for them!  And I just love the shape.



Next is the basil plant!  My old basil was alive, but just barely holding on through the winter.  It was time for it to go.


This pot didn't have a drain hole, so I stacked rocks in the bottom to allow the water to drain as much as it could.



All my precious plants looking happy!  

Left to right, top to bottom:  Jalapeno, Parsley, Cilantro, Chocolate Mint, Rosemary, Basil, and Succulents.





I think the whites look nice in the window!  It keeps things light and airy feeling.



The jalepeno plant on the left will most likely go on the front porch when it is for sure warm enough.  It is currently in one of my old pots, but probably needs a bigger one.



The little rosemary is cute, and smells great!



Have you ever tasted or smelled Chocolate Mint?  My grandpa always grew Spearmint plants...but oh my.  Chocolate mint is prettier, and much tastier.  :)

I think they'll go great on some chocolate cupcakes, or in a drink this summer!



Did you know that Cilantro is a food category?  Well, it is in my house.  I sometimes just eat cilantro by itself.  I know, that's probably a little weird.

The sad part is I have had a past of not being able to keep it alive...
please stay alive, little plant!



The basil.  I honestly don't cook that often with basil, but I like having it around.



We really have an abundance of these succulent plants.  Three pots, and I've been giving away a bunch of little runners to friends.  So.many.succulents.



Don't they just make the area by the window just feel so awake?







I already know I'm going to love this morning view!

Do you grow any of your own food?  If you're also an apartment dweller, do you try to grow food in the window, or do you leave that for the grocery store?
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9 comments:

  1. Those look really nice with your new pots!! We have rosemary and a "Christmas Cactus" I think it's called on our windowsill right now. We have cilantro and mint that come up again and again every year in our yard, so that's nice!

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  2. I love all of those pots! We just moved back to Alabama after 2 years in Korea so Im having to start from scratch with all of my plants (aside from 2 that a friend kept for me). I definitely think little herb pots are next on my list!

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  3. Wow, everything looks great! I love that you are getting crafty in growing your own herbs/veggies while living in an apartment. For years I used this as an excuse about why I couldn't garden myself, but it works out perfectly! I've never heard of chocolate mint, but now I'm so intrigued. I'm going to look into it :) And I'm with you -- cilantro is DEFINITELY a food of its own. I could eat it every day!

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  4. What a fabulous idea! I tried doing this but we don't have a window that gets enough sunlight. :-(

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  5. Love this idea! I would love it if you joined and contribute your awesome posts at my link party at City of Creative Dreams on Fridays :D Hope to see you there at City of Creative Dreams Link Party

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  6. We also have an apartment and have started a mini garden - herbs in one medium-sized pot!! We have basil, lemon thyme, and parsley, as well as spring onion (we just buy a bunch from the supermarket and then sit it in a can with some water in the bottom and it grows happily forever!)

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  7. The white pots really do look great together! We're trying to grow basel and parsley, though from seeds so there's not much to see yet. I love having a East-facing window for them to get sunlight - my previous apartment was north-facing and had really narrow sills, so they'd get too much direct sun, or get knocked off by the curtains.

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  8. Love it. My cats would sadly try to eat the herbs if we did a large indoor selection like this. pinned for "just in case" though!

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  9. Lovely! The mix of different pots is great!

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