Secrets of growing greens on the windowsill. How to grow fresh greens on the windowsill at home Is it possible to grow greens on the windowsill in winter

). Especially such a vitamin harvest will be relevant in winter, when each of us 100% wants to have more useful vitamins, macro- and microelements, as well as amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates on our table. So that there is no trace of diseases all year round, plant a lot of cultivated green plants in the apartment, on the window! They will not only reward you for your care with good health, but also help you get back on your feet after an illness at home.

What greens can be grown at home on the windowsill: suitable varieties of juicy greens and herbs for growing at home

In the conditions of the apartment, namely on the window, you can grow the following types of greens and herbs (suitable varieties are indicated in brackets):

• basil (Clove, Yerevan, Dwarf, Lemon, Marquis, Purple);

Note! You can read in detail about how to grow basil at home,

• witloof or salad chicory (Danish, Cone, Rocket, Ekstrella, Express);
• mustard leaf or sarepta (Freckle, Volnushka, Mustang, Prima);
• green onions or, as they say, onions on a feather (Bessonovsky, Chernigov, Rostov, Soyuz, Spassky, Timiryazevsky);

• cilantro;
• coriander;
• watercress (Spring, Vesti, Vitamin, Danish, Dukat, Prestige);
• chard or leaf beet (Scarlet, White Salver, Emerald, Beauty);
• mint;

• parsley (Aster, Beads, Breeze, Sandwich, Sorceress, Gloria, Emerald lace, Curly, Ordinary leaf, Prima, Russian feast, Morning freshness);

• vegetable purslane (Golden, Kuzminsky Semko, Paradox);
• leaf lettuce or lettuce (Grand Rapids, Oakleaf, Lollo Rossa, Lolla Bionda, Odessa Kucheryavets);
• celery (Cheerfulness, Zakhar, Kartuli, Gentle, Samurai);
• arugula (Emerald, Corsica, Koltivata, Solitaire, Poker, Rococo, Rocket, Sicily, Euphoria);
• rosemary;

Specific Tips growing rosemary at home are given

• dill (Grenadier, Gribovsky, Kibray, Richelieu);

detailed information about growing dill available on the windowsill

• chives (Bohemia, Velta, Medonos, Moscow early, Khibiny, Chemal).
• spinach (Bordeaux, Victoria, Virofle, Zhirnolistny, Fortress, Stoic);

Detailed information about growing spinach on the window you can get by reading

• sorrel.

Note! When choosing planting material, it should be borne in mind that varieties of greens for growing at home should be:

• early ripening (with a short ripening period);
• resistant to low light;
• undersized.

Features of growing some types of greens on the windowsill

Important! If you want to work out, then first you should try to grow the most unpretentious care (under the necessary conditions) fast-growing crops, which means that you are best to focus on the following: green onions (per feather), watercress, leaf lettuce, parsley, chives - onion, arugula and basil.

But grow dill(need low temperature - 16-17 degrees and 14-hour daylight hours) and cilantro a little more complicated and troublesome, especially witloof.

How to sow or plant greens on the windowsill: general rules for creating a garden bed (garden) in an apartment

When sowing greens at home, as well as when planting houseplants, one should take pre-planting measures, such as choosing planting containers (pots) and soil, as well as creating a drainage layer and preparing seeds for sowing, with all seriousness.

landing tanks

In principle, you can sow green seeds in any container, it all depends on how much crop you plan to grow. If you just want to try, then it will be logical to take small pots (greenery will look especially beautiful in flower pots). If you are going to sow a lot of seeds, then the containers need to be wider and more spacious (for example, you can take containers).

Important! Almost any greenery tends to grow quickly, so you should not take too small pots. The minimum height of the container is 10-15 centimeters. In addition, the diameter must be sufficient. For example, to grow chard, you need a pot with a diameter of 30 cm. For other, simpler greens such as dill, parsley, spinach, much less (10-20 cm is enough).

Home greens will look especially attractive in hanging planters.

soil

As always, you have 2 choices: dig up garden soil or buy ready-made soil in the store. At the same time, you should not think that the first option is more budgetary and advantageous, because such land will be required without fail disinfect(for example, heating / steaming in the oven or microwave, or spilling a pink solution of potassium permanganate or), as well as fertilize to improve its fertility. Let's say you can add ash. Among other things, ash is a good deoxidizer, because the soil for greenery should not be acidic.

To grow green crops, you will need air- and moisture-intensive soil (light and loose), equipped with all the necessary micro and macro elements. Therefore, if you buy a regular universal substrate, it is advisable to add some river sand and perlite (vermiculite) to it. Humus should also be added to the garden soil.

Drainage

First of all, a layer of drainage should be laid out at the bottom of the landing pit (this can be shards from ceramic products, expanded clay, pebbles, gravel, crushed stone, brick chips or broken bricks, coarse river sand), at least 2-3 centimeters thick.

Repetition! Drainage is needed so that water does not stagnate in the ground. Thanks to the drainage layer, air exchange is noticeably improved, root rot, acidification of the soil, and mold formation are prevented.

Seed preparation

For example, to speed up the germination of dill seeds in the ground, they should first be kept in warm water for 1-2 days (on a wet napkin). Parsley seeds are even better to germinate (this will take about 2-3 days).

By the way! For better germination and rooting in water, you can add honey(1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water).

But there is usually no special need to prepare lettuce, basil, cilantro and spinach, chives, and arugula seeds for sowing. However, if desired, it is possible, and even necessary, to prepare them.

Important! Preparing seeds for planting is a recommended activity, but if you are used to sowing without soaking (in water or special preparations) or germination, then you can not do this. However, carrying out these procedures significantly increases the likelihood of a successful outcome, namely, the speed of germination (it is obvious that dry seeds sprout longer) and further active development of plants.

Video: how to grow greens on the window - pre-sowing preparation and sowing seeds

direct sowing

Step-by-step instructions for sowing greens for growing on a windowsill at home:

• Choose a suitable container.
• Lay out a drainage layer (at least 2-3 cm).
• Fill the planting container with prepared soil.

Important! It is impossible to fill the pot completely with earth (i.e., to the very brim), be sure to leave 2-4 cm so that the water does not spill out when watering.

• Moisten the soil by lightly spilling it with warm (room temperature) water.
• Sow seeds (surface, in holes or in grooves).

Pay attention to the features for different greens! seeds parsley, dill, lettuce, basil, arugula, chives you can just sow evenly over the surface of the soil, randomly spreading at close range (preferably thicker, since germination is by no means 100%). Or you can sow in very shallow (up to 1 cm) grooves (lines). And here are the seeds spinach and cilantro better to sow in separate holes (depth 1-1.5 cm), at some distance from each other (at least 5 cm). seeds chard - to a depth of 3-4 cm.

• Lightly sprinkle with earth (i.e., literally fall asleep a couple of millimeters).
• Spill with water again.

Advice! In order not to wash or excessively deepen the seeds, it is better to wet the surface of the soil with sprayer. In this case, it is desirable to use warm water.

• Close the crops with plastic wrap or a bag (you can also use a shoe cover) to achieve a greenhouse effect.
• Put in a warm (the warmer, the faster shoots will appear) and not necessarily a bright place.

Video: how to sow greens and grow at home

Caring for greenery on the windowsill: the main secrets of getting a good harvest in the home garden

To grow a rich crop of greenery on the window, you should create all the necessary conditions for comfortable growth and development at home.

Important! Your little greenhouse is required almost every day open for airing so that too much condensation does not accumulate inside (which can lead to mold). But can be completely removed only after shoots appear, and it is better to do this gradually, allowing the greenery to get used (adapt) to the changed conditions (light, moisture).

It's time to take the tape off!

Place in the apartment: lighting, temperature and more

Sufficient daylight is one of the main, if not the main conditions for the successful cultivation of any greenery at home. So, if you sowed green winter, then not without additional illumination.

Important! For normal growth and development of greenery at home, it is required 12-14 hour daylight hours (at least 10 hours).

Grow herbs at home all year round you will be allowed special lamps (phytolamps) or the most common LED or fluorescent (incandescent lamps are not suitable, because generate too much heat). It is necessary to turn them on every morning and evening, as well as on very cloudy autumn-winter-spring days.

Note! Artificial light on plants should fall from above, and not from the side.

Another thing is if you decide to grow greens on the windowsill in late spring, summer or early autumn, when the daylight hours are quite sufficient. In this case, the best place would be southern (or southwestern, western) window sill or balcony (loggia).

Important! Direct sunlight is very undesirable, otherwise your greens will simply burn out. Therefore, landings (especially in summer) are recommended to be shaded (with curtains) or set aside / rearranged.

In order for the plant to develop harmoniously (from all sides), do not forget to periodically twist the containers, turning different sides to the light(if you have a long pot, then at least 2 sides).

By the way! Green onions are the only plant that practically does not need additional lighting.

It is also very important that the greens did not suffer from drafts(windows must be airtight) and too dry air(no need to put the pots close to the heaters, but it’s better to cover them with something at all).

Worth knowing! Not very suitable conditions for growing greens are formed on the windowsill: from the window it pulls cold (drafts), and from below the batteries are “frying” with might and main.

It is optimal to place a home garden on a table specially designated for this purpose., of course, under the lamps. In principle, it is very convenient to take under the home garden a place on a balcony or loggia(there will definitely not be problems with dry air due to batteries). However, unfortunately, it can be too cold there.

As for the optimal temperature, remember under what conditions the greens grow in open ground or in a greenhouse. In addition, do not forget that plants need fresh air. But periodic temperature drops (hypothermia or too high temperatures) will definitely not benefit them.

Generally, ideal conditions for greenery- this is a temperature in the region of 15-20 degrees and good 12-14 hour lighting, as well as moderate soil moisture (more on that later).

Watering

The rules for watering greenery grown on the window are practically the same as those growing in the garden. Watering should be carried out regularly, avoiding both drying out and waterlogging of the soil.(required moderate humidity). The very frequency of watering, of course, will also depend on the structure of the soil, and on the very type of greenery.

Advice! For irrigation, use only settled water at room temperature. It is absolutely impossible to water with cold water.

For example, loves moisture and it should be watered every day (and preferably in the morning).

When, after the appearance of the first shoots, you remove the shelter, then during the first 2 weeks, seedlings should be sprayed with a spray bottle, and not water from a watering can, even from the smallest. Further for watering it is better to use a sprayer, because in this way you can also saturate the green leaves with moisture.

Important! If you have very dry air (due to central heating), then regular spraying is a must.

The optimal level is air humidity 60-75%.

loosening

To improve the access of oxygen and moisture to the root system of the plant, the soil in pots should be at least occasionally loosened. This will also keep the roots from rotting.

Picking or thinning

Obviously, by planting with a margin, in other words, thickened, you get thickened seedlings that will not be able to develop normally in the future, because. they will not only lack space, but also light. The fact is that they will simply obscure each other, which means that they should be subsequently thinned out, leaving the strongest ones.

Note! It is highly recommended to thin out the following green crops: leaf lettuce, chard, arugula. So, the chard is thinned out for the first time immediately after germination, and the second - after the appearance of 3-4 leaves, leaving 15-20 cm between shoots. Arugula should be thinned out approximately 8-10 days after emergence. But dill and parsley do not need to be thinned, they can grow quite densely, especially watercress (it should grow as densely as possible).

top dressing

You can feed home greens with any complex mineral fertilizers with an increased (predominant) content of nitrogen, because it is he who is responsible for the set of green mass by the plant. For example, such popular fertilizers as Kemira Universal or Gumi are suitable.

Top dressing must be carried out necessarily only in liquid form.

When and how to harvest greens at home

To understand that the greenery is ready for cutting, you can by its appearance or simply by pinching off a leaf for testing.

The main guidelines for the readiness of greens for harvest (days after germination and / or reaching certain sizes):

Important! Spinach leaves can be cut until the peduncles appear (they become bitter and less useful after that).

• arugula - after 21-28 days;
• vegetable purslane - after 3-4 weeks (21-28 days);
• chard - after 45-60 days;

A few tips for harvesting homemade greens:

• You should not cut (and it is better to carefully tear off) more than 1/2 of the green mass of the plant at a time.
• Every time you cut (tear off) greens, be sure to do a little top dressing so that the plant has the strength to grow new green mass.

As you understand, having your own mini-garden on the windowsill (including in winter), consisting of fragrant and juicy greens, is not so difficult. Another thing is that you need to find a suitable place, as well as follow the basic rules for growing and maintaining the necessary conditions for the successful growth of green crops.

Video: growing greenery in the winter in an apartment

In contact with

I think you will agree with me that it is very pleasant to come to the kitchen on a cold winter morning to drink aromatic coffee and make yourself a sandwich with herbs.

Yes, not store-bought, expensive and grown no one knows where, but from your own small home garden.

How sweet it is to look at the frosty window and see the gentle one - a little hello to the sunny summer.

So let's create it!

What you need for a mini-garden

◊ Containers. Best of all are plastic (wooden ones can leak) or clay wide pots. Each type of greenery needs its own home (many plants do not combine with each other).

◊ Ground. 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, put a thin layer of small pebbles, pieces of broken brick or crumbled foam on their bottom. This is drainage (it is necessary to drain excess water during irrigation, otherwise the greens on the windowsill may rot).

◊ Lamps(luminescent, white spectrum). It is necessary to highlight 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 a fresh greenery on the windowsill in winter, good mood in autumn, a constant supply of vitamins in spring and the beauty of tender seedlings in summer.

Growing dill

This odorous herb is quite unpretentious for home life. Knowing some tricks, you can provide yourself with a constant supply of fragrant and very healthy herbs.

Choose a variety

Not every variety of dill will give you a lush with excellent taste. For a mini-garden, the following varieties are best suited:

♦ Early maturing. It will be possible to harvest the crop 35 days after the first shoots.

• Grenadier. Delicate dill, beautiful, with a light shade of leaves. It is unpretentious, with juicy greenery.
• Gribovsky. Resistant to diseases, undemanding in care, to the temperature regime. The dark green leaves are fragrant and tasty.

♦ Mid-season. They form more greenery and leaves. Dill of these varieties will be ready to decorate your table 40-45 days after germination. Also, these species form umbrellas 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(abundantly leafy). Large, dense dark green crown has an excellent aroma and excellent taste.

♦ Late maturing. Form a lush, fragrant greenery. Such varieties are distinguished by a high content of nutrients.

• Kibray. Broad, green, with a pale yellow tinge, the leaves have a large supply of vitamins, have a sweetish taste.
• Salute. The dark crown of a bluish hue is spicy and fragrant. Greens on the windowsill with this variety of dill are very productive. It quickly grows back after cutting.

seeds

Soak the seeds overnight in warm water. Change water every 6 hours. Then dry them a little and immediately sow in richly moistened soil.

Sow in rows 15 cm apart in the grooves made beforehand. Or directly on the soil, sprinkling a 2 cm layer of soil on top.

• Advice. Sow seeds at intervals of 3 weeks. Then you will provide yourself with fragrant greens for the entire winter period.

From above, cover the dill kindergarten with polyethylene and hide 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 do dill need	Tips
Watering	plentiful drink	regular watering, especially during seed germination
top dressing	complex mineral fertilizers (Raduga is better)	fertilize the soil every 14 days after watering
air temperature	the best t° for it is from +18° to + 20° С	dill on the windowsill will also tolerate lower t ° (up to + 8 ° C), if t ° exceeds the limit of + 20 ° C, increase the illumination (otherwise it will grow lethargic and too light)

You can sow greens constantly (every three weeks), on the vacated 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.

Choose a variety

Parsley is of two types. Root (use its roots in cooking, for the preparation of medicinal decoctions) and leaf (to obtain lush, thick and fragrant greens for the table).

♦ Root parsley. It forms thickened light roots. Early-ripening varieties are best for drying, and late-ripening varieties for long-term storage.

• Sugar(early variety). 3 months after the appearance of the first sprouts, this parsley is ready for use. Such root greens on the windowsill have the best taste.
• Harvest(mid-season). Parsley fully ripens in 4-5 months. The white pulp of the root crop has a mild aroma.
• Berlin(late maturing). Harvest can be harvested after 5-6 months. This variety has a delicate spicy taste, very juicy.

♦ Sheet. These varieties are grown for lush, fragrant greenery. Leaf parsley has two types of leaves: regular and curly (they are very effective when decorating dishes). Cut leaves retain their aroma for a long time and do not turn yellow within a week. Leafy greens on the windowsill grow back very quickly after cutting.

• Curly Sue(early ripe, curly). You can cut it off after 1-2 months after germination. Differs in dark green, curly leaves. It is fragrant, rich in vitamins and exquisitely beautiful.
• Esmeralda(mid-season, curly). The dense curly crown is very fragrant, has a sweetish taste. Harvest can be removed after 2 months.
• Bogatyr(late-ripening, smooth). One of the best varieties of leaf parsley. Differs in especially fragrant leaves and high productivity. Parsley of this variety can be cut to the table in 2-3 months.

seeds

Wet a cotton cloth (or gauze) in boiled water, put the seeds in it. Wrap gauze with parchment and place in the cold. Let the seeds stay there for a week.

Air them every day, 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 in a dark place.

Cover the ground with a damp cloth. Water once every two days. Look after the seeds - air and moisten every day with a spray bottle. Three days later, the first timid sprouts will appear.

Remove the cloth from the ground, and transfer the pot to a well-lit window sill. As soon as there are more shoots, build a dome-shaped support from thick wire and use it to lift the film a little higher.

It can be removed completely when the shoots are spiked. Spray the young shoots often with water.

Young shoots need to be thinned out so that the distance between them is at least 4 cm.

parsley care

	What does parsley love?	Tips
Watering	moderate watering	do watering every 3-4 days, do not allow completely dry soil or vice versa, excessive soil moisture
top dressing	superphosphate standard 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 grass leaves turn yellow, remove them immediately. Perhaps this is a sign of a disease. If yellowness recurs, make an aqueous 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 of 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 deep aroma of cilantro brighter, richer in taste, and its leaves are more tender.

Choose a variety

To get a rich harvest, it is best to plant coriander essential oil seed varieties: Ray, Amber, Change.

By the way, coriander greens must be eaten before it blooms. During the appearance of flowers, cilantro has a specific, not very pleasant aroma.

seeds

In order for cilantro to sprout faster, its seeds must first be germinated in wet sawdust at an air temperature of + 17 ° C to + 20 ° C.

As soon as the first sprouts appear, we replenish our greenery on the windowsill with a new plant. Sprouted cilantro seeds are planted in moist soil to a depth of 2 cm. Sow in rows with a distance of 5-10 cm, cover the seeds with a layer of earth on top.

Cover the pots with foil for the first time. But be sure to check them every day, water and ventilate.

After two or three weeks, the coriander will make itself felt with the first shoots. And we solemnly transfer them to our home garden.

At first, greens need good air humidity (spray it more often with a spray bottle).

Cilantro Care

	Whims of coriander	Tips
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 (preferably "Flora")	dilute the composition at the rate of a liter of water per 3-5 ml of the product
air temperature	favorable t° from +10° С to + 12° С	cilantro can withstand frosts down to -5 ° C (it is best to grow coriander on the balcony)

The first harvest after the appearance of sprouts can be removed after a month. Cilantro on the windowsill can only take one cut. But if you remove 1-2 leaves from coriander, then extend this period of a week by two.

After you cut all the plants, dig up the soil, renew it by one third and add ash (50 g of ash per 6 kg of earth). Then moisten the soil with a warm manganese solution (1%) and re-sow the coriander.

The greenery on the windowsill will bring you a lot of pleasure, the joy of self-created beauty, 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 greens (dill, parsley, cilantro) at home, and in the next article in this cycle ("Garden on the windowsill") I will talk about growing at home. What plants would you like to grow at home? Write about it in the comments and I will try to describe in detail the process of growing these plants.

See you soon!

Half a century ago, growing vegetables and herbs in apartments was much more difficult. Not everywhere there was central heating, most had wooden windows, the industry did not produce pretty pot containers - they had to be knocked together from improvised materials or use jars of sour cream.

Today, all the conditions have been created for a room garden in our apartments: uniform temperature, double-glazed windows, large windows, wide window sills. And in stores for gardeners, you can buy everything from soil and seeds to top dressing and growth stimulants.

Table of aromatic plants that can be grown on the windowsill

It is easy to grow on a windowsill. The plant can be propagated by cuttings, or sown by seeds. In winter, when the apartment is hot due to the heating being turned on, the seeds will sprout already on the 7th day. Cuttings take root for about two weeks (if you use growth stimulants - faster). For cuttings, you need to cut off (or pinch off) a twig from a bush of an adult plant and put it in water. After 10-14 days, when the shoot takes root, it is transplanted into the ground.

Basil loves loose soil, so you need to add coconut fiber to the pot. Also, the plant loves light, high humidity and needs frequent haircuts. The more often you pluck the basil, the more magnificent and abundant it grows.

Cultivation of chervil

Chervil is not picky about lighting conditions, it loves shade. However, he needs regular watering - when dehydrated, chervil quickly goes into color, and the quality of greenery deteriorates significantly. Grows in light soils with good drainage.

Chervil does not require special care. It is propagated by seeds, which are sown before winter in boxes to a depth of 1.5 cm. Before sowing, the seeds must be soaked for several hours in water to speed up germination. Shoots after sowing will appear in 12-14 days. Sowing is carried out either in grooves or scattered. When the seedlings grow to 5 cm, it is necessary to thin out, remove the weakest plants, and transplant the strong ones into individual pots.

Advice! In order for the yield of chervil greens to be higher, it is necessary to remove flower stalks in a timely manner, to prevent flowering of plants.

Growing onions on a windowsill

Feather onions are the best source of vitamins

Feather onions are the best source of fortification. Their feathers are tender, juicy, do not coarsen even a month after regrowth. They need regular watering, fertile soil and timely loosening. Then their feathers will stay fresh and green for a long time.

Advice! So that the feather of perennial onions grown on the windowsill does not shrink, it is necessary to rejuvenate the plant every three years and make sure that they do not thicken in the pot.

Ordinary onions are grown from the mother bulb or nigella. Chives propagate by dividing the bush. Onions are best sown from seeds.

1. For forcing in winter, summer bushes are dug up on the window sill of chives and stored in sand or peat on a cold balcony or in a bag in the refrigerator until November. In November, you can plant in pots and put in heat. By the beginning of winter there will be greenery.
2. Nigella can be sown in the ground, starting in autumn and all winter. Onion bulbs for greens can also be planted in boxes with soil, or they can be germinated in water.
3. Onions are sown with seeds in boxes with soil to a depth of 2-3 cm. The soil is coconut fiber with biohumus. Crops should be covered with foil before germination. Greens can be cut off after two months. Batun, sown with seeds, will live on the windowsill for 2-3 years.

Marjoram and its cultivation in winter

Grows great from seed. It is also possible to cut and divide, subsequently transplanting into other containers, marjoram. When sowing seeds, they immediately take a large pot, and then dive the seedlings into cups and, as they grow, plant each bush in a separate pot.

Sowing is carried out to a depth of 0.5 cm. Pre-seeds are well held with potassium permanganate. In heat, the seeds will sprout in 7-8 days. The temperature of marjoram content is normal room temperature. It does not require special conditions and special cultivation. Marjoram loves water very much, so it will have to be watered more often than other spicy plants.

Mint is a great idea for winter growing

Mint is an unpretentious indoor plant

The simplest and most unpretentious indoor plant is mint. Any variety of it grows quickly and does not require special care. Peppermint is commonly grown in pots because of its rich aroma. It's a good idea to plant assorted mints in one container. Fragrant family get along well with each other.

You can grow mint from seeds, but for a long time. You can get seedlings in a store or a bazaar (grandmothers often sell bunches of greens with roots). Each seedling must be placed in a personal pot. Do not worry if the landing does not look very decorative at first. Mint after rooting begins to grow very quickly. You will not even notice how in a couple of months a thin sprout will turn into a fragrant bush.

Growing oregano on the windowsill in the apartment

This plant, in addition to culinary, also has healing properties. Aromatizes the air, kills bacteria. Oregano is light-loving - it can only be grown in a sunny window. He does not like waterlogging and stagnant water in the soil, so a baking powder is added to the soil when planting. You can grow oregano from a seedling or sow seeds. The seeds of the plant are small, so they are not sown in the grooves, but are distributed over the surface and slightly sprinkled with peat. Seeds will germinate in the room in 12-14 days. Best of all, the bush grows in coolness - at + 16 ... 20 ° C.

Parsley and its cultivation on the windowsill in winter

For successful indoor growing of parsley, only a few conditions are needed. The plant is sown with seeds in boxes. The soil must be fertile. Parsley loves moisture, so you should not place the box next to the battery. Watering is done carefully so as not to erode the soil. Drying of the soil must not be allowed.

Advice! The temperature for parsley is the same as for oregano - + 16 ° C ... 20 ° C. Both plants love light, so you can put them side by side.

If the room is cold, the growth of parsley greens will slow down, and if it is too hot, the leaves will dry.

The first harvest can be harvested after 1.5 months, when the parsley grows by 8-10 cm.

Rosemary and how to grow it

A rosemary bush can appear on your windowsill in two ways - either you buy a ready-made plant in a pot, or you ask someone for a cutting.

Rooting of the cutting occurs in the soil (do not put it in water). For the best effect, you can first hold the stem in a root solution. Landing is covered with a glass jar for a period of about two weeks. This is how long it takes rosemary to take root.

Rosemary needs light, drainage is placed at the bottom of the pot, and fresh air without drafts is shown. This plant will not make any claims to the lack of moisture. He likes occasional thorough watering and foliar spraying.

stevia

Stevia is a natural sweetener

Stevia has recently been grown on the windowsill. Mostly those who suffer from diabetes and need natural sweeteners. The plant turned out to be so unpretentious that many novice gardeners wanted to have it on their windowsill. Stevia leaves are used for tea, to add sweetness to any dessert or other dish, as well as for medicinal purposes.

The plant needs light sandy soil, a large pot volume, constant intense lighting and heavy watering. Stevia should be watered with boiled water. She loves heat up to + 25 ° C and frequent pruning, as soon as the bush reaches 25 centimeters.

Growing dill on a windowsill in winter

Dill grows well and quickly. The main thing is that he has enough nutrition, light and moisture. The plant propagates by seeds. Before sowing dill seeds, sand must be added to the soil. Seeds are sown in boxes. Make wide grooves at a distance of 5 cm from each other.
After moistening the soil, the seeds are sown thickly and covered with peat.

Advice! It is not necessary to water the soil in the box after sowing, otherwise the seeds will deepen and there will be no seedlings.

Dill should be grown on a windowsill that gets enough sunlight. Plant care will consist of thinning, regular watering and loosening the soil. To avoid early flowering of dill, you need to provide it with abundant watering.

Thyme

It is necessary to grow thyme in shallow, but wide containers, no more than 15-20 cm deep. When sowing, the seeds are not deepened by 10 mm, carefully covered with earth, well moistened and kept in a moist state all the time until germination. In no case should the soil be allowed to dry out, otherwise the seedlings will die.

Advice! To maintain a humid microclimate, thyme crops are recommended to be covered with a film or glass.

Thyme is drought tolerant. You can water it no more than three times a month, with an interval of 8-10 days. To make the plant bush more actively, pinch the central shoots.

Tarragon

Tarragon not only flavors sweet drinks, but also goes well with meat, fish, vegetables in a salad, is added to soups and sauces, and is used in canning.

Tarragon reproduces in three ways - vegetatively (dividing the mother bush into several parts), seeds and cuttings. Cuttings are cut and rooted, as with other plants. The bush divided in autumn is planted in separate pots. After rooting, it takes about five months before the first leaves are removed.

In an apartment, it is best to grow tarragon from seeds. They need to be sown at the end of winter. Shoots will appear in 18-20 days.

Start growing greens on your windowsill. You can always find a sprig of fragrant dill for soup or a mint leaf for tea. In addition, your home will be filled with essential oils and healing aromas, and the air will become fresh and cleansed of all harmful impurities.

Video - Greenery on the windowsill

green onion many grow on the windowsill. In addition to it, other greens are also suitable for winter cultivation. We will tell you how to grow other crops.

The main feature of these crops is that they calmly endure the lack of sunlight and grow very quickly: after 2-3 weeks they can please you with juicy greenery. At the same time, watercress and mustard grow well from seeds in winter, but parsley, celery and onions can be obtained faster in the forcing process. As for the basil, it is well propagated by cuttings.

Watercress on the windowsill

Varieties of watercress for growing on a window: Dansky, Dukat and Vesti.

This is not only unpretentious fast-growing greens, but also a very useful product for the human body, as it normalizes blood pressure and relieves insomnia.

Watercress grows well without soil. Place a layer of porous paper, cotton wool, or hydrogel on the bottom of the growing container. Moisten the base well and sow the seeds.

ON A NOTE! Watercress should be sown thickly, in which case the seedlings "support" each other in the process of growth and form a green mass that is pleasing to the eye.

Cover the container with the planted seeds for the first few days, before germination, with cling film and place in a warm, shaded place. When the seeds germinate together, remove the film and place the container on the windowsill. Don't forget to turn, water, and mist your crops: Watercress loves moisture. After a few weeks, you can cut the first crop. Leaves are considered ready for cutting when they grow to 6-10 cm.

Varieties of leaf mustard for growing on the window: Freckle, Volnushka, Mustang.

In the same way as watercress, leafy Sarepta mustard is grown. Keep in mind that this culture grows well at a temperature of 10-20⁰С, so place a container with seedlings on a glazed insulated loggia. In an apartment, it is better to choose the coolest window sill for greenery.

A rosette of leaves grown 20-25 days after germination is suitable for eating. Leaf mustard will enrich your diet with vitamins B1, B2, PP, ascorbic acid, carotene, salts of calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus and other useful substances.

For speedy germination, seeds can be soaked for 12 hours in a solution of trace elements, and then dried to flowability. After sowing, place the seed container in a warm, shaded place. When the seeds germinate, transfer the mustard to a cool, bright room. Leaf mustard is undemanding to the soil, just like watercress, its seeds can be sown on cotton wool, porous paper, in hydrogel, or in universal fertile soil.

Mustard leaf should be harvested either by pulling the entire rosette of leaves out of the ground, or by carefully cutting off individual leaves and keeping the growing point.

ON A NOTE! If you want to get fresh greens throughout the winter, then you should sow new batches of watercress and Sarepta mustard every 20-25 days.

Varieties of onions for growing on the window: Chernigov, Rostov, Soyuz, Bessonovsky, Timiryazevsky, Spassky and other multi-bearing varieties.

An onion in a jar - a familiar plant for Soviet window sills - now not so often pleases the eye and stomach with a spicy taste.

For forcing onions on a feather, choose dense, medium-sized bulbs. To make the feather germinate faster, cut off the top of the bulb. And if you find bulbs that have already “pecked”, then you don’t need to cut anything. A large bulb will give more greenery, but will take up a lot of space. It is better to plant such specimens separately, lowering the bottom with germinating roots into a container of water.
If you plant onions in the soil, you can add a hydrogel soaked in a nutrient solution to it. It will prevent the soil from drying out, which often happens at room conditions.
For planting, you can use containers of any size. If there are no holes in them to drain excess fluid, pour expanded clay on the bottom, and then up to about half the volume - soil with or without hydrogel. Having slightly compacted the mixture, plant the bulbs in it close to each other, without deepening them into the soil. Water abundantly and expect a harvest.

Varieties of parsley for growing on the window: Astra, Beads, Gloria, Emerald lace, Ordinary leaf, Russian feast, Morning freshness.

Varieties of celery for growing on the window: Cheerfulness, Zakhar, Kartuli, Gentle, Samurai.

In winter, growing parsley and celery from seeds is not easy. But if you have left the roots of these plants in the bins since autumn, greens can be obtained by forcing. Pick up small, not overdried roots and immerse them in water for several hours. Then plant in a pot with soil up to the "shoulders" so that the soil does not fall on the growing point of greenery.

Place containers with roots first in a shaded place. After the appearance of the first leaves, the pots must be transferred to the lightest window sill, because. parsley and celery are very sensitive to light. Water plantings no more than twice a week.

Cut off the grown greens carefully, leaving a three-centimeter petiole on the root crop. Fresh greens will grow back in about a month.

Varieties of basil for growing on the window: Clove, Yerevan, Dwarf, Lemon, Marquis, Purple.

Cuttings are one of the easiest ways to get basil greens in winter. The main difficulty is to find a growing specimen in order to cut cuttings from it, in this case, you can try to root even branches bought in a store.

Place cuttings 10-15 cm long in water until roots appear, changing the water every 2 days. Basil cuttings should be planted in separate pots filled with universal soil. Basil loves light, loose nutritious soil, so pay special attention to the organization of drainage. In addition, basil is very photophilous. Find the lightest window sill for it and, if possible, illuminate the crops on cloudy days with special LED or fluorescent lamps.

Care for rooted shoots is the same as for adult plants: regularly water them with warm (30 ° C) water, periodically loosen the soil and fertilize. Basil greens can be harvested within a month after planting the cuttings in the ground.

Varieties of chard for growing on the window: Scarlet, White Salver, Emerald, Beauty.

Beetroot, also known as chard, can be not only a pleasant addition to the diet, but also an interior decoration, because its petioles and leaves are distinguished by different and very rich colors.

Sow the chard in a mixture of humus, garden soil and coarse sand (1: 1: 0.5), to a depth of 4 cm. Place the boxes on a sunny windowsill and try to maintain a room temperature of 17-20 ° C. After the emergence of shoots, the chard is thinned out for the first time, and when 4-5 leaves are formed, the second, leaving 15-20 cm between shoots. Remote specimens can be eaten. 1.5-2 months after the emergence of shoots, the chard begins to carefully cut off the side leaves. It is watered and sprayed with warm water every 3 days so that the soil does not dry out, and once every 2-3 weeks they are fed with a complex mineral fertilizer, for example, Kemira Universal according to the instructions.

Witloof varieties for growing on a window: Danish, Cone, Rocket, Estrella, Express.

Salad chicory has baffled more than one gardener, because its cultivation has its own trick. This culture develops from seeds in two stages, so it does not make sense to immediately sow them on the window.

Witloof seeds are sown in open ground no earlier than mid-May, thinned out after germination and fed with any mineral complex with a high proportion of nitrogen. Caring for plants is simple - they need to be loosened and watered as the soil dries out. At the end of September, the resulting root crops, along with the leaves, are dug up and dried. Then the foliage is cut off at a height of 2-3 cm, and the root crops are stored, cleaned from the roots, in a box with sand, put away in a cool room.

Starting in November, root crops can be planted for forcing the head. Trim them in length, sprinkle the cuts with crushed coal and plant them in a deep (from 40 cm) box filled with a mixture of sand, earth and high-moor peat. Put the root vegetables in a box close to each other and carefully pour so that the root neck does not get wet. Germinate them in a cool (not higher than 15 ° C) and completely dark place.

IMPORTANT! From too high a temperature or from exposure to light, the heads of cabbage will begin to taste bitter, and from inaccurate watering they can rot.

You can harvest as soon as the heads of cabbage break through the layer of soil, that is, 2-3 weeks after planting.

Varieties of chives for growing on a window:Bohemia, Velta, Honey plant, Moscow early, Khibiny, Chemal.

Chives, like regular chives, are incredibly easy to grow, especially if you have somewhere to get a piece of a developed bush. But even from seeds it will grow, although it will take more time.

Choose a deep and voluminous pot, fill it with light and loose soil, sow chives seeds on the surface. Spray them with water, sprinkle with a centimeter layer of substrate and spray abundantly again. Cover the pot with foil, air every day, but remove it completely only after germination. Every 2 weeks, fertilize the chives with a complex mineral fertilizer for greens, and when the bushes develop, start cutting the crop. This is a perennial, fast-growing crop, so it can grow quite a long time on the window.

ON A NOTE! To make the greens tender, remove the flower ovary in a timely manner.

Varieties of arugula for growing on the window: Koltivata, Solitaire, Poker, Rococo, Rocket, Euphoria.

The pleasant nutty taste of arugula adds popularity to this culture, and the ease and speed of cultivation makes it an indispensable tenant for your windowsill.

Take a pot 10-15 cm deep and large, fill it with light purchased soil or a mixture of sand, peat and garden soil (1: 1: 1). Moisten the soil mixture and scatter the seeds over its surface, then spray them again with a spray bottle and cover with a thin layer of earth. Place the crate on a north window sill, as arugula may “burn” in direct sunlight. Every 10 days, apply a complex mineral fertilizer to the soil, do not water the seedlings for the first 2 weeks, but spray them. Arugula can be cut as early as 4 weeks after sowing, but it is better to let it grow.

As you can see, organizing a garden on the windowsill in winter and growing fragrant fresh herbs in it is not at all difficult. The main thing is to choose the right crops and follow our instructions.

In winter, the body more than ever needs a large amount of vitamins so that it can resist colds, which are usually rampant at this time. Leafy vegetables and fresh fragrant greens can come to the rescue, which can be easily grown on the windowsill in winter.

Although supermarkets do not suffer from a lack of assortment of fresh vegetables and herbs at this time, it should be remembered that they can harm the body due to the high amount of nitrates they contain. In addition, store-bought cucumbers or tomatoes have neither the taste nor the smell of vegetables grown in natural conditions.

If you want to prepare vitamin salads from fresh vegetables and herbs in the winter without the risk of nitrate poisoning, you can grow them at home by organizing a small garden bed on a windowsill or closed heated loggia. In the apartment you can grow cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, sweet and bitter peppers. And growing leafy vegetables and herbs is not difficult at all.


A bed in an apartment can be arranged using plastic or wooden boxes, pallets, flower pots, or plastic or clay bowls. An important condition is the presence in all these containers of holes for water drainage.

You can also make boxes with your own hands from spruce or pine boards, guided by the dimensions that are optimal for this. The boxes should be 40-50 cm long, 20-30 cm wide, 12-15 cm high. The thickness of the boards should not exceed 1-1.5 cm.

If you are going to make boxes from unnecessary furniture, it is better to stop this activity, because if the humidity is high, the coating will peel off and harmful substances can get into the ground, which then get into the plants.

Basic methods of agricultural technology


To get a good harvest of leafy vegetables and herbs on the windowsill, you must follow the following rules:

At the bottom of any container in which you are going to grow vegetables, it is imperative to put a layer of drainage, which is needed to avoid stagnant water and rotting of the roots. Drainage can be broken brick, fine gravel or expanded clay.
To successfully grow greens on the windowsill, you should not use garden soil that is infested with pests and can nullify all your efforts, destroying the entire crop. It is best to use a special substrate that can be bought at the store. It does not contain pests and has all the necessary nutrients for plant growth and development.
Containers with plants should be placed on windows located on the southwest, southeast or south side of the house, because the plants need a lot of light. In the middle of winter, additional artificial lighting can be arranged. For this, fluorescent lamps are used, which are placed above the beds at a height of 50-60 cm.
Plants need regular watering as the soil dries out. For irrigation, use only settled tap water. You should be aware that in earthenware, the soil dries out more slowly than in plastic. On southern windows, plants need to be watered more often than on windows of a different orientation.
Plants require regular feeding, which should be done once every 1.5 - 2 weeks. You can feed with an ordinary universal fertilizer for indoor flowers.
During severe frosts, it is better to take containers in plantings from the windowsill, since the temperature on them is much lower than in the room. The optimal temperature for growing vegetables on the windowsill is 18-20 degrees Celsius.
Growing greens on the windowsill
The most picky to grow on the windowsill are dill, celery, parsley and green onions. I eat these plants as an additional source of vitamins and microelements necessary in the winter-spring period, as well as a flavoring additive to various dishes.


Dill is an unpretentious plant that does not require special care. It is sown in boxes in a scatter, lightly sprinkled with earth on top. Seedlings will appear in a couple of weeks, and in a month you will be able to taste the first greens.

Parsley can be dug up from the garden before frosts along with a clod of earth and planted in a suitable dish. It can also be sown from seeds. Before sowing, the seeds must be placed in several layers of gauze and soaked for a day in water to wash off the essential oils that slow down germination.


Parsley needs a lot of light and moisture. You need to water it often, but try not to overmoisten the soil. After the shoots appear, they need to be thinned out, leaving the strongest shoots at a distance of 3-4 cm between them.

Parsley can also be grown by forcing root crops. To do this, you need to take several small but thick roots with well-developed petioles, and plant them in the ground, keeping a distance of 2-3 cm from each other and 4-5 cm row by row, after moistening the soil well. Planting should be kept in a cool place, watering moderately until the petioles germinate. When greenery appears on the tops, the containers are transferred to the windowsill. With this method of cultivation, the crop can be harvested as early as 25-30 days.

The most suitable varieties of parsley for growing on the windowsill are Sugar, Harvest, Bordovinskaya.


Green onions grow best on a windowsill. To do this, it is enough just to place the bulb in a glass of clean water, so that only its bottom touches the water, otherwise the bulb may rot. To speed up germination, before planting, the bulbs can be poured with hot water and kept for 12 hours, then peeled off, cut off the upper tail and placed in a germination dish. To avoid an unpleasant odor, the water must be changed every 2-3 days.

Even green onions can be easily grown in a box with soil. Bulbs are placed in the ground, while not deepening much. Dishes with plantings are kept warm until the first greenery appears, and then put on the windowsill. Since onions and dill are not very demanding on light, they can be placed in a slight shading. The first onion feathers that appear cannot be broken off, because the growth of greenery will stop.

Celery can also be grown by forcing roots or by sowing seeds. Celery root is widely used as a spice for various dishes and garnishes, and the leaves can be used to decorate dishes. For distillation, strong roots are selected, which must have a diameter of at least 5 cm and have well-developed petioles. If the root crop does not fit in the container, it can be cut off, or planted with a slope. To ensure good growth and development of celery, it needs a lot of light and abundant watering.

Growing spices on a windowsill
Of the herbs, basil, watercress, lemon balm and mint feel great on the windowsill.

Watercress is the fastest growing herb, the seedlings of which appear after 4-5 days after sowing. In addition to excellent taste, this herb has a complete set of vitamins and minerals necessary for the human body, and is used in cooking and traditional medicine. This plant does not require strong lighting, so it can be grown even in northern or northwestern windows. Sowing is done to a depth of 1 cm and moisten the soil. The first harvest will appear in 2-3 weeks. For growing on the windowsill, the following varieties are best suited: "Pepper", "Curly", "Broad-leaved".

Basil not only has a special taste, but also has an antimicrobial effect on the body. Therefore, it is simply necessary in winter on the windowsill. To grow basil on the windowsill, it is best to dig up a ready-made bush in the garden and plant it in a suitable dish, because the seeds of this plant have a very low germination rate.

Basil is very picky about light, reacts poorly to temperature drops and drops, so the plant must be grown on the southern windows. Water the plant as the soil dries up, avoiding waterlogging, which adversely affects the development of the plant.


Mint and lemon balm have excellent taste qualities. Of these, you can brew tea, which, in addition to a wonderful aroma, also has a sedative effect. Melissa and mint on the windowsill can be grown in two ways. Plants can be transplanted with bushes from the garden or grown from seeds. Seeds are placed in the soil not too deep and watered well. Soon shoots appear, after which the containers with crops are transferred to the windowsill. Mint and lemon balm are very demanding on watering and lighting, so they need to be placed on the south or southeast windows and watered well.

Growing leafy vegetables on a windowsill
Lettuce and Beijing cabbage grow best on the windowsill.

For the successful cultivation of Beijing cabbage, its seeds must be sown to a depth of 0.5-1 cm, keeping a distance between seeds of at least 3-4 cm. The crops are watered abundantly and placed in a warm place. When the first shoots of the container appear, you can rearrange it on the windowsill. Beijing cabbage is a short-day plant, so it does not suffer from light shading at all and does not require additional illumination. Watering plants should be moderate, after the soil has completely dried. For growing on windowsills, early-ripening varieties of Chinese cabbage are suitable, which ripen 25-30 days after germination.


Leaf lettuce is a cold-resistant crop, so it can be successfully grown on insulated loggias or balconies. The best varieties for winter cultivation are Odessa, Lollo Bionda, Red Credo.

Leaf lettuce is sown in prepared moist soil to a depth of 0.5 cm. Seedlings will appear in 3-5 days. Depending on the variety, the first harvest will appear in 4-5 weeks. Lettuce is very picky about lighting and watering, so in the winter months, crops must be illuminated with fluorescent lamps.

As you can see, growing on a green windowsill in winter or early spring is not particularly difficult and even a novice amateur gardener can do it. Of course, you won’t get a big harvest in an apartment, for lack of sufficient space and suitable conditions. But, by making every effort, and adhering to the recommendations outlined in this article, you can provide yourself and your family with vitamins in the winter, when they are so necessary for the body.

Children love to decorate the garden on the windowsill