Beautiful Plants For Your Interior
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Winter often seems like a gardening dead zone. It’s too cold outside to do much, too wet to consider trying any jobs. Or even too frozen to even consider walking out on that slippery decking! But the whole of winter doesn’t need to be a bust when you think about using something almost every house has – a windowsill.
Lots of gardeners use their windowsills to grow things like flowers or maybe herbs. But you can also grow something practical. Let’s look at the best winter windowsill vegetables that you can easily grow indoors.
Why grow vegetables indoors in winter?
There’s a solid case for growing vegetables indoors during the winter. For starters, it supplies you with all year round fresh vegetables at a time when you just can’t make use of your garden. And we all know that fresh vegetables are the best in terms of nutrients.
Not only that but it keeps your gardener brain active during the lull period. Remember spring coming and not being able to remember which end of the fork went into the ground? Well, when you keep busy with some windowsill vegetables, you’ll hit spring in full gardener mode, ready to make the most of every shoot and ray of sunshine!
Which windowsill will work best?
Next, you want to pick your location. Now, in theory, any windowsill that received light can work but some locations are better than others.
The best windowsill for growing vegetables is one that gets plenty of sun. If it gets five hours or more sunlight during the summer, it is a good candidate for winter growing as it will still get the most sunlight possible.
Skinny windowsills are manageable for small pots but the larger the sill, the better. It just means you can either add larger containers or have a few pots with different veggies in them.
Best winter windowsill vegetables
Some vegetables aren’t ideal to grow indoors for a number of reasons. Sometimes it’s the space they need or the extra treatments they require. Perhaps it is just that they won’t grow during the winter months. Sometimes it is just that they smell a bit unpleasant while growing and you don’t want that in your house.
Others are better candidates. Let’s look at a few of the best winter windowsill vegetables.
Baby beetroot
Baby beetroot is an easy one to grow because you don’t need a lot of space for it. Sow seeds around 2 inches (5cm) apart and about 6 inches (15cm) deep. Add another 2 inches of compost on the top.
Plants grow in clusters so thin them out a little once they are around 1.5 inches (3cm) in height. Keep just a few plants and let them grow until around 6 inches and start harvesting.
Carrots
Carrots can be planted in fall and this allows them to grow over winter and be ready for harvest before you plant spring crops. Think about the depth needed for decent size carrots when choosing a contain or look for smaller varieties – Amsterdam varieties are one example.
Sow the seeds 1-4 inches apart and make sure the soil is kept moist. They will take 65-75 days to mature depending on the variety, sometimes a little longer if your home’s temperature is on the cool side.
Onions
Onions are a bit like carrots in that you need enough room for the vegetable to grow when you pick the size of the container you use. Plus you probably want to grow a few onions rather than one or two so take this into account. Tubs are a popular option for growing these, especially if you have something like a wide windowsill or even a conservatory.
Onions need a good supply of light or some daylight bulbs to supplement them. Water them regularly, at least 2-3 inches of water a week and touch up a little if dry. Harvest them when they have reached the right size.
Peppers
Peppers are a popular plant to grow indoors and there’s tons of varieties from the chilli peppers to bell peppers and beyond. The important thing is that they get plenty of sunlight, around five hours a day.
Plant in rich potting soil and make sure it is kept moist as it needs a lot of water to grow. Fertilise the plants each month and then harvest as they reach the required size.
Radish
Radish is one of those vegetables everyone sees as a salad ingredient. But whatever you call them, they are a great candidate for windowsill gardening because they are quick to grow, don’t take too much work and are easy to harvest.
You can get cool-season varieties that actually grow better in winter. You can sow the seeds in the soil in a container then move to a pot around one gallon in size. Make sure it is well-drained and has organic fertiliser – a vegetable starter mix is ideal.
Once the seeds germinate, thin them so they are 1-2 inches apart and make sure the soil is moist as well as being sheltered from the wind (or open windows in this case). The edible part is the root which starts to grow after germination. When they reach the desired size, harvest the plant.
Top tips for successful windowsill gardening
While each plant will have its own requirements, there are a few tips that will stand you well for almost every type of vegetable you can grow in the windowsill.
Get the right pot to plant ratio
The size f the pot you can accommodate goes a long way to dictate how many plants you can grow. If plants don’t have enough space, they will be small and weak and may not even manage a harvestable crop.
For example, a container that is 10 inches (25cm) across is big enough for a couple of carrot plants or a small number of something like radish or peppers.
Depth also plays a big part. A container that’s 7.5 inches (20cm) is fine for things like salad leaves, herbs and even some vegetables like radish. But you would want something deeper, around 12.5 inches (30cm) if you want to grow carrots.
Does the plant need support?
Another thing to consider is if the plant needs support. You can grow peas and beans inside but you do need to create some kind of string support system strong enough to hold the plant’s weight as it grows.
Other plants might just need something like a short length of cane to give them the support they need. Make sure you have the space for this when planning your planting.
Get the right compost
There’s tons of compost out there but what you want is a special container compost. This helps to hold the water in more than normal compost and works better for containers of all kinds. Water retaining granules or loam-based products are good examples.
Feeding and watering correctly
One of the big mistakes any gardener makes is watering too little or too much. In containers, this is a bigger issue, made more so by being indoors. So regularly water plants and check them between waterings to see if they need a boost.
Also, remember to fertilise them to boost their nutrient levels. This is key to getting the best crops from them.
Get a successful winter harvest
Growing vegetables on the windowsill is a great way to get an extra harvest of your favourite ingredients. Plus it is an ideal way to keep your gardening urge under check during the colder months!
Have you tried windowsill vegetable growing? What was your most successful crop?