Winter Herb Garden
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Indoor winter herb gardens make it possible to enjoy fresh herbs year round. These herbs can be grown organically, in an Earth-friendly manner.
The first step is to gather all necessary materials.
- Open pollinated heirloom seeds. Open pollinated, heirloom seeds are organic, traditional seeds that produce herbs from generations ago.
- Organic compost.
- Crushed egg shells.
- Cooled coffee, tea water, or water from cooking vegetables or pasta.
- Eco-friendly planters that fit on a windowsill. One planter will be needed for each type of herb.
- Popsicle sticks and a pen or marker.
A clean surface, either indoor or out, is necessary to begin. Lay out the planters and the container of compost, as well as the rest of the items from the list above.
Fill each pot nearly full of compost. Write the names of the herbs on separate popsicle sticks and poke them part-way into the pots. Add seeds to their corresponding pots according to the manufacturers’ instructions, then top with a thin layer of crushed egg shells. The water types in the list above, as well as the compost and the crushed eggshells, will provide many nutrients that will help the herbs to grow. Water the seeds with tea, pasta or vegetable water , and place the planters on whichever windowsill will provide the most sunlight during the winter months.
Over the winter, try to keep the soil damp but not too wet.
Once the plants have grown in, begin snipping a few leaves off each plant throughout the week. Use the herbs in soups, salads and other meal components. Many herbs can also be used in tea.
Though it is not necessary to do so, it is possible to transplant the herbs outside to the garden after the last frost in the spring.
Growing herbs in an eco-friendly manner throughout the winter and adding them to your cooking will give your family a nutritional boost and provide some green to get you through the winter months.
(Eco-friendly planters) Not all of them are suitable for herbs especially if resembling plastic in cosistency. For instance, pots made from rice hulls do not breathe like natural clay does. Also look at the total footprint of taking rice hulls and making pots out of them. The enrgy it takes to make a planter out of rice and the shipping involved are probably a bigger footprint than just letting the rice hulls compost They also fall apart and have to be thrown out resulting in purchase of a new rice hull pot instead of a one time manufactured plastic or clay that will last almost forever.
(Water the seeds with tea, pasta or vegetable water, (coffee grounds etc)) Hold on a minute here: Is the coffee organic or naturally de-caffed! Is the tea water from organic tea, is the pasta water from organic pasta.
All this hoopla about growing eco-friendly herbs on a window sill is enough to make a new herb grower throw their hands up and say the heck with it. Egg shells will never break down fasrt enough in a small flower pot to do much good before it becomes time to move the herbs outside for the summer.
Just plant the herbs in a clay pot, plenty of bright light or a small T5 fluorescent grow fixture and fertilize with some compost or fish emulsion and skip the eco-theatrics.
Result? more people planting herb gardens and enjoying gardening insteading of slaving the Eco-Godz.
Mind you I garden using little if no pesticides and compost like crazy.
I crush the shells that I use with a mortar and pestle, and my plants just love it. The soil and shells from the pots will go right into the garden with the herbs in the spring.
It is always important to research and purchase the proper seeds, as it is when purchasing planters. There are eco-friendly alternatives available.
Thank you for reading my article.
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