If you think that you can’t have a garden simply because you don’t have a large outdoor space – guess again. As our guest author today proves, it’s possible to have a small garden even if all you have is a vacant windowsill.
Having a home fully equipped with outdoor space that is ideal for planting and growing my own produce, it is often easy to forget that just a year ago I was ever so slightly disadvantaged in the garden department, in that I didn’t have one.
There are many new houses found in estates with miniscule gardens; often featuring paving and/or graven rather than soil and grass. And let’s not forget those unlucky would-be gardeners who find themselves several floors above ground!
Fortunately, there are ways around these gardening setbacks, and all that’s required is a free windowsill facing any direction but north. When secured in an outdoor window box, your vegetables will be elevated and thus will absorb the sunlight that pours in through the window.
It’s not just garden-deprived folk who can benefit from window sill growing either. Here are some advantages to harnessing the sunlight through your window:
1. Soil: You have complete control over the soil/compost, as well as how much water and fertiliser your veg receives. You also have the option to use ‘virgin’ soil, which provide a good amount of texture and nutrients and are free from weeds/pests.
2. Indoor Protection: For those growing their vegetables from the seed, they will be much easier to get started if they are grown indoors, protected, before being moved to the outer sill.
3. Accessibility: Window veg are accessible for wheelchair users or those who are physically incapable of maintaining a garden.
4. Décor: Trailing plants, that can grow from strawberries and tomatoes, can be displayed for all to see if allowed to tumble down from an outside window box.
5. Pests: It is a lot easier to control pests at window level than it is on the ground. For example, many species of fly cannot fly above 2 feet, meaning they are unable to lay their eggs which will eventually turn to tunnelling maggots. The same applies to slugs, which would have to climb all the way up the side of the building to get to your veg. A scattering of salt on the sill can add that extra layer of protection to your prized veg!
6. Resistance: Finally, window sill vegetables stand more of a chance in winter than if they were planted outside. If they start to look a bit shabby, simply move the container to an area with little or no frost where they will stand more of a chance.
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