Planting greens on the windowsill from seeds. Secrets of growing delicious greens at home

In principle, greens on the windowsill are grown in the same way as in the garden, but at the same time, they take into account the characteristics and needs of the plant. Novice gardeners can start by growing parsley, green onions and watercress, but this is not the whole list. We will talk about how and what kind of greens can be grown on the windowsill in this article.

What you need

To grow greens on the windowsill, we need:

• land of good quality;
• seeds;
• lighting lamps;
• various containers for planting.

Important

To grow greenery on the windowsill, you need high-quality soil - black soil or special mixtures that are sold in abundance in stores. Such mixtures are enriched with fertilizers and do not contain debris, various pests and their larvae, which can nullify your work. After everything you need is prepared, we will start growing.

green onion

The easiest thing to grow on a windowsill is green onions. Even first graders know how to grow onions on a windowsill in winter. They show it in class. This plant does not need any special care, it grows actively, it is an indispensable component of many dishes, and everyone loves it.

planting material

To grow onions on a feather, you can take a large onion set or the most common onion, used even for food purposes in an ordinary grocery store. Small onions are not suitable, since a small onion will be depleted very quickly, but the feathers turn out to be tender. But a large bulb for a longer time will give a lot of greenery.

distillation in water

The most primitive way of forcing an onion onto a feather is to place it in water. To do this, take a small container right size and fill it with water or nutrient solution. We set the onion so that only its bottom reaches the liquid. Water should be changed daily. Such a planting can provoke rotting of the bulb.

Distillation in the ground

But if you plant an onion in the ground, then this will not happen. The earth is poured into a shallow container. If the container is without holes for drainage, then in order to protect the roots from decay, it is necessary to arrange a drainage layer at its bottom, using pebbles, expanded clay, and broken bricks for this. Bulbs should be planted not deep, but tightly. They are not afraid of tightness. But you need to water the bulbs often so that the earth does not dry out.

Landing frequency

Do not use all planting material at once. It is much more reasonable to divide it into several parts and land at an interval of 20 days. So you can secure yourself green onions throughout the winter.

vertical distillation

For growing onions, you can use not only pots and boxes. You can arrange a vertical distillation. To do this, special flowerpots are sold in specialized stores for summer residents, or you can adapt a plastic bottle for this. Side holes are cut in it and filled with earth. The onion grows very well in such a vertical container, and besides, it looks original.

Watercress

It is as easy as green onions to grow on a windowsill. It is characterized by unpretentiousness and this makes it popular for home cultivation. Plus, it grows fast. Already two, maximum, three weeks after planting, it can be eaten.

Seeding tank

To grow watercress, you do not need a large and deep container. An ordinary tray will suffice. It is filled with a thin layer (no more than 3 cm) of peat soil, cotton wool or paper napkins folded in several layers, thus obtaining a substrate for planting.

Sowing

Watercress is planted thickly, then young shoots support each other. The seeds are lightly pressed into the resulting substrate and the tray is placed on the windowsill. There the crops will be well and light. You don't even need additional lighting.

Watering and temperature

When growing watercress, you need to follow the watering regimen. It is very important to ensure that the earth in the tray does not dry out, but it is not advisable to fill it. In addition, this plant is not enthusiastic about the heat, so the temperature in which it grows should not rise above 18 degrees C. In order for the plantings to feel good in winter, you need to keep them closer to the window glass. You need to sow watercress every 10 days, then this greenery will always be on your table.

Leaf salad

Growing lettuce is a bit more difficult. Here you need to take into account varietal characteristics and choose those varieties that feel best in apartment conditions. In addition, in winter, he will need additional lighting.

Temperature and watering

Must comply temperature regime. Leaf lettuce loves watering and coolness. In a dry and hot room, and even with insufficient watering, lettuce leaves will become bitter, rough, and peduncles will quickly form. That's why the best place for him - a glazed balcony.

Sowing

Lettuce seeds are sown very densely (no more than 1 cm) and covered with cellophane to create a greenhouse effect. In the future, seedlings should be thinned to 5 cm. In addition to abundant watering, the plant needs good lighting.

Appearance of arrows

The arrows that appear on the plant signal that it is unsuitable for food. The obsolete plants are removed and other seeds are sown.

Parsley

The dream of many housewives is to grow a mini-garden on the windowsill in the apartment. And there must be parsley.

Sowing

Sow seeds in ordinary containers filled with high-quality soil, peat cups or in decorative flowerpots. Starting sowing, the seeds must be soaked in a manganese solution. Parsley seeds will take a long time to germinate.

Care

The plant loves light very much, so in winter it will need additional lighting. But parsley does not need a high temperature, she likes coolness. For that, the plant is very fond of abundant watering, but in winter watering should be reduced.

After 40-50 days after germination, you can start cutting greenery, and for a long time it will delight you with its freshness.

root parsley

In general, it takes a long time to grow parsley from seeds and you need to start it in advance. To speed up this process, you can use the rhizome to grow parsley. This is much easier to do in winter.

Parsley root can be dug up in your garden or even bought at a greengrocer's. It should have a healthy appearance, not have damage and signs of wilting, and the apical bud should be intact.

Landing

It should be placed in a container filled with moist soil. Excessively long roots are planted obliquely. The first greens will hatch within a few days after planting, and after another two weeks the leaves can be used for food. The root will give you greenery for six months.

Basil

In addition to the usual parsley, onion and lettuce, you can grow basil on the windowsill. He will add a little exotic to your mini-garden. You can grow any variety and color: both purple and green. Grow it from seeds and cuttings. Most fast way cultivation - cuttings.

Planting cuttings

Basil sprigs can be bought at a grocery store, placed in water and after 10 days, when the roots appear, planted in a container with soil. After 2-3 weeks, after the plant has taken root and starts to grow, young side shoots can be cut. Basil grown from a cutting develops quickly, but it will also bloom faster, which means it will become unfit for food.

In order to always have fresh basil on the table, plantings need to be rejuvenated every 3 months.

Sowing seeds

Growing basil from seeds requires more attention, but such a plant will live productively for about a year. Basil seeds should be soaked in a manganese solution, the container with the sown seeds should be covered with cellophane to create a microclimate, and the grown seedlings should be transplanted into other pots. In general, it is better to grow basil from seeds in the spring, as in winter the plants will need additional lighting.

Rosemary

This plant will not only add spice to your dishes, but also become a decoration of the kitchen. It is grown in summer personal plot, and in winter he lives perfectly in an apartment. It needs a wide container, in which a sufficiently thick drainage is arranged.

Growing conditions

Rosemary makes high demands on lighting and fresh air. In winter, he needs South side, and in the summer it must be transferred to open ground, they take it out to the loggia or balcony, or at least put it out the window so that the leaves can accumulate required amount essential oils.

Rosemary is propagated by cuttings and seeds.

seeds

They have poor germination. They are kept wet for two days, then placed on the surface of the soil, covered with cellophane and sprayed daily with water from a spray bottle. If after a month shoots did not appear, then you need to sow other seeds. When the seedlings have at least 3 leaves, they are placed in larger containers.

cuttings

But rosemary grown from cuttings is much better. For cultivation, a lignified shoot is used, which is in a vessel with water or wet sand until roots appear, and then transplanted into a pot with soil.

Care

Rosemary should be watered frequently, but in moderation. It is better not to water it than to pour it. But you do not need to get carried away with overdrying the earth, since with a lack of moisture, the lower leaves of the plant will turn yellow. Excess water contributes to root rot, and the plant dies. If in winter the plant is kept in the cold (up to +5 degrees C), then in the spring it will bloom. An adult plant must be trimmed, forming a neat bush.

Here is a mini-garden you can arrange on the window of your apartment. As you can see, greenery is unpretentious and it is not difficult to grow it even for an inexperienced person. Using the knowledge gained, you can at least slightly extend the summer and in the winter time please yourself and your loved ones with a green harvest.

Few of the zealous housewives did not try to grow onions on the windowsill, because even the most inexperienced gardener can get a green feather of an unpretentious vegetable.

Method 1. It is enough to fill a small glass or plastic container water, cover it with cardboard with a hole for onion roots - and get fresh greens really without soil.

Select bulbs that do not rot, scald with boiling water and remove the top. Dip each spine into the water so that it is well fixed on the cardboard. Cut off the greens and grow a new one. As the heads shrink, replace them with new ones.

Method 2. To grow onions at home in a container with soil, choose planting material that is about the same size. Soak the bulbs overnight hot water, then remove the top husk and remove the damage. Cut off the top of each head by 1-1.5 cm and plant shallowly in the ground, leaving between planting material distances 2-2.5 cm.

Water the soil and keep the container in a warm place for 6-7 days, and when strong green feathers appear, put it on a bright windowsill. Water the soil every other day with warm water. 3 weeks after you planted the onions, you can cut the first greens to the table.

Growing garlic on a windowsill at home is also not difficult, as the vegetable is easy to care for. The first home planting can be carried out as early as October, the second - in April, so that you can have a spicy, vitamin-rich supplement to the menu all winter and demi-season.

To plant garlic in a container, choose a loamy soil, the easiest way is to take it ready in a flower shop. Separate healthy, whole prongs and place in a damp cotton cloth to germinate.

Plant in damp soil in a row at a distance of 7-8 cm, to a depth of 2 cm, place the container in a warm sunny place. If you have chosen a flower pot for growing a vegetable, it is enough to plant 4-5 heads in it.

To grow garlic greens at home, special care is not required, it is enough to moderately water the soil 2 times a week. Plantings should not dry out or stand in moisture, and also be out of sunlight, then garlic feathers will please with juiciness.

Parsley, cilantro

To grow lush parsley, you need to germinate healthy seeds and choose the right soil. You can buy ready-made peat soil in the store, or pre-prepare your own earth mixture. Mix two parts of garden soil with a part of peat and a part of humus, pour over with a pink solution of potassium permanganate.

In a deep container with holes and a 1.5 cm drainage layer, place the prepared soil. Parsley seeds, preferably early varieties, soak for a day in warm water, do not forget to change it regularly. Wrapping the hatched seeds in a cotton cloth, dip for a few minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate.

Moisten the soil and plant the parsley in the holes, leaving a distance of 4-5 cm between the grooves. Cover with a 1.5 cm layer of earth, carefully pour and cover with a film. Keep in a bright, warm place for about a dozen days until sprouts appear. After that, the film coating must be removed.

To grow parsley on a windowsill, remember to water your plantings 2-3 times a week. Similarly, you can harvest cilantro at home. Fragrant greens will spice up the everyday and festive menu. For the home, it is recommended to choose varieties of cilantro "Yantar", "Ray".

Dill beds on the windowsill can sprout already on the tenth or twelfth day and will delight you with fresh greens for a long time, which can be sown regularly. Seeds need to be chosen large, healthy, kept in warm water for 5 hours, drained of moisture and moved the seed for a couple of hours into a pink solution of potassium permanganate at room temperature.

In containers with holes at the bottom, put expanded clay drainage, then special soil from the store or prepared on your own. Recommended land mixture with biohumus and coconut fibers (1:2). Plant the seeds shallow in the ground in a row, water and arrange a greenhouse effect by covering the container with a film.

Already after 10 days, the first sprouts of dill may appear and the film can be removed. For the first week, keep seedlings at night in a cooler place, for example, on a glazed loggia. Then still keep a small green vegetable garden on the windowsill and water regularly. Hardening off will help the dill grow in thicker clumps without stretching too much.

If you have learned how to grow greens on the windowsill and got a taste, you can surprise your family and guests with something. For example, to drink them in the middle of winter with fragrant tea with fresh lemon balm. Take care of this in advance - dig up the plant in the fall, without damaging the earthen ball, and transplant it into a flower pot. Keep lemon balm at room conditions.

You can grow a plant from seeds, although this is quite troublesome. First you need to treat the seed with a solution of potassium permanganate, then sow to a depth of 1 cm in a container with a fertile earthen mixture. Water the plantings and provide a greenhouse effect until the two-centimeter sprouts appear. The soil should not dry out, as well as mold.

When the plants get stronger, they must be transplanted into separate pots and dive at the same time. Water the soil regularly and spray the leaves with a spray bottle. With a little patience, you can have fresh herbs at home any time of the year. Experienced growers successfully grow spinach, lettuce, mint, and other tasty and healthy vegetables and seasonings at home. Do not be afraid to experiment, and even in the cold you will always have a piece of summer nearby.

A winter garden on the windowsill is, perhaps, the little thing that unites an uncompromising city dweller, an amateur gardener and an experienced summer resident. Indeed, in order to break a small bed on the window, there can only be arguments “for”, and it is absolutely impossible to come up with something against.

Gardening on a windowsill in winter is easy!

• Aesthetics.

No wonder the green color is considered soothing, and in the summer, when the foliage on the trees and the grass on the lawn are in the juice itself, no one will even think to complain about its abundance and annoyingness. So a few bushes of greenery or even better - flowering and fruiting plants, at least, will please the eye.

• Practicality.

Rationalists and skeptics, making a choice between geranium and parsley, will certainly give preference to the latter - not only beautiful, but also tasty.

• Saving.

Greens and fresh vegetables, which are also quite possible to grow on your own window in February, are expensive in winter, but the quality and taste, however, leave much to be desired. Whether it's the fruits of their own labors - both tasty and free, and pleasure in the process and in the result.

• Great pastime.

How often, especially among women, on cold winter days, hands itch from the desire to do something or make something. Someone knows how to knit, someone sews, and someone may well find in himself an outstanding experimental gardener who, no, no, and will move, as soon as it gets warmer, from the windowsill to a real garden.

• No complications.

No matter how it seems to a novice gardener that growing plants, and even more so food, is the lot of the elite, there really is nothing difficult in regularly harvesting the same green onion. On the contrary, it may turn out to be easier and more interesting than growing even the most unpretentious indoor plants.

In order to start breaking up a vegetable garden on the windowsill, you will need the following:

• Containers.

The most reliable plastic or clay. Each type of plant should have its own container.

• Priming.

It is easier and better for those who decide to do gardening for the first time to buy soil in a specialized store.

• Drainage.

Purchased gravel can be used as drainage, or, say, broken brick or small pebbles from the nearest body of water.

• White spectrum fluorescent lamps.

Absolutely necessary, especially for the northern winter, to extend the daylight hours for plants at least up to 13-15 hours.

With the listed minimum of devices and a great desire to get the result and enjoy the process, the winter harvest will be inevitable.

Fresh herbs all year round

It is easiest to grow greens not only in summer beds, but also on the windowsill.

The undisputed leader here is the green onion, but there are other tasty plants that are easier to grow on the window:

1. parsley and dill;
2. cilantro and basil:
3. thyme and mint;
4. lemon balm and spinach;
5. sorrel and rosemary;
6. lavender and tarragon;
7. celery and lettuce, etc.

Each of them has its own nuances in growing, but in general, the process is not difficult.

Onion

Oddly enough, in the first place in the composition of both onions and its green feather, nothing more than sugar! It is present in the plant in the form of fructose, inulin, maltose and polysaccharide. In the second and third place in the composition of the beloved plant and part-time food product, proteins and vitamin C. But the essential oil, which is contained in it in negligible amounts, but creates, nevertheless, the entire reputation, gives a specific taste to the onion.

Green onion can be grown in two ways:

• in small containers of water
• in shallow boxes with earth.

In the first case, only the lower part of the bulb purchased in the usual vegetable department should be in the water, and the water should be changed once or twice a day.

In the second case, only the lower part of the bulb and roots are also in the ground.

As soon as a few long enough green feathers have appeared, you can cut the first crop and enjoy fresh herbs in a salad.

In exactly the same way as onions, you can grow garlic from cloves in which a green sprout has hatched.

Greens from seeds

When planting dill, parsley or, say, cilantro, you need to be patient, because the first harvest will not be earlier than in a month if you choose an early-ripening variety, and in almost two months if you choose a late-ripening variety. Experienced gardeners recommend not to be tormented by the choice at all and plant several varieties of your favorite greens that ripen at different speeds, because each of them has its own taste characteristics, each looks different, which will help to unusually decorate your salads on the festive table.

So, the early-ripening dill varieties "Grenadier" and "Gribovsky" are quite unpretentious and resistant to various kinds of diseases, the mid-ripening varieties "Aelita" and "Richelieu" give more fragrant greens, and the late-ripening "Kibray" and "Salut" are distinguished by productivity and a higher content vitamins and others useful substances. The same goes for parsley, cilantro (coriander) and other types of greens.

How to grow dill from seed:

• Soak the seeds in warm unboiled water for about a day, remembering to change the water every 6-7 hours.
• After a day, dry the seeds and plant in well-moistened soil. You can sow in beds, sprinkled with earth to a height of a couple of centimeters.
• Next, cover the pot with polyethylene and send it to a dark, warm place for about a week.
• After the appearance of the first shoots, gradually reduce the temperature, first for a short time, and then for longer and longer, leaving it on the windowsill.

Dill should be watered abundantly and the temperature should be kept at 18-20 degrees Celsius. If you add new seeds every 3-4 weeks, you can provide yourself with fresh dill for several months.

To grow parsley from seeds, you need:

• Keep the seeds wrapped in damp gauze for a week in a cold, dark place, remembering to constantly moisten the gauze.
• After a week, the seeds should be sown to a depth of half a centimeter.
• Then cover with a wet cloth and water 1 time in 2 days in anticipation of seedlings.
• When sprouts appear, you need to transfer the box to the windowsill.

Parsley does not like dry land or waterlogged soil, so it is worth watering it once every 3-4 days and maintaining the temperature at 22-24 degrees Celsius.

Parsley, celery and root vegetable salad

It is even easier and faster to start harvesting, waiting a minimum of time and spending a minimum of effort, if you use purchased greens in a pot.

In winter, lettuce, parsley and celery are often sold in pots, which most customers throw away after they have eaten the greens. But if you choose a pot with a good intact rhizome a couple of centimeters wide for parsley and about five for celery, plant them, leaving the cut cuttings on the surface, then very soon you can get a new crop of greens.

How to grow vegetables in the winter on the window

Despite the fact that the apartment, it would seem, is the same greenhouse in which tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers bear fruit in the northern latitudes, there is one significant feature due to which growing vegetables in winter (in addition to a short sunny day) is significantly difficult, namely limited pot area. Due to the small amount of land provided to the plant, it needs noticeably more attention and care, as well as time in order to begin to bear fruit.

When choosing vegetable seeds for a future garden on a windowsill, you should prefer those that combine all of the following features:

• self-pollinating hybrids (among them there will be no empty flowers guaranteed);
• undersized (so that the height of the window is enough);
• small-fruited varieties (because they ripen faster).

For those who want to grow tomatoes on a windowsill, it makes sense to consider a cherry variety. The well-known tomatoes measuring 2-3 cm in diameter have been cultivated for just over 200 years and were first brought from Peru and northern Chile. Caring for them is no different from other varieties of tomatoes, but the fruits, due to their size, ripen much faster.

To grow vegetables you will need:

• a pot with a volume of 3-4 liters for each individual bush;
• land purchased in a specialized store;
• drainage.

The process of growing a fruiting plant is as follows:

• We disinfect the seeds in a pale pink 2% solution of potassium permanganate for 2-3 hours.
• After a couple of hours, we take out only the seeds that are at the bottom, and put them on a dry cloth or cotton pad to dry.
• Plant seeds in disposable cups. To do this, put up to 5 seeds in the rammed earth, and then sprinkle with earth a layer of 1.5-2 cm.
• After germination, we thin out the plants, leaving the strongest, until one bush remains.

• After about a month, we transplant the seedlings into large pots. To do this, we overturn the glass, holding the plant with our fingers, and then we put the seedling in a large pot and fill it with earth.

At first, you need to water the plants regularly, but in no case overmoisten. In winter, it is better to leave the ground a little dry than too moist, and with the advent of spring, on the contrary, increase watering.

Daylight hours for plants, regardless of the real sun, should be at least 10-12 hours due to artificial lighting and the temperature is at least 20 degrees. Also, the plant must be rotated 180 degrees once a day so that it grows evenly, without bending strongly towards the sun.

Is it possible to grow exotic plants at home in winter?

As for growing exotic plants at home, there are two opposing opinions: some believe that it is almost impossible, others do not see anything complicated in this and even demonstrate their own grown lemons and grapefruits.

The fact is that citrus trees already traditionally grow in Russian houses, despite the unsuitable climate, and here there are both productive and negative experiences. And all because someone is content with a beautiful tree with fleshy leaves that never fall off and saturate the room with the cleanest air, while someone certainly wants to see ripe fruits and considers their absence an unsatisfactory result.

In fact, from an unprocessed lemon or orange seed bought in a regular store, a beautiful citrus tree will grow with a 90% probability. But in order to ennoble your plant into a so-called cultivated tree and subsequently get a crop, you need to take into account many nuances and even take advice, or even the help of a specialist.

Nevertheless, nothing is impossible, and given how long an exotic tree develops, then its seed can be planted at any time, and what to do later - be content with little or do everything so that it begins to bear fruit - decide over time as its development.

How to grow a lemon at home from seeds (video)

In order to all year round enjoy the greens both on the window and in the salad, there are absolutely no obstacles. It will take more effort to grow vegetables on your windowsill, but it is also easier to do than it might seem at first. But becoming a real gardener, able to boast of his own lemons, will be a little more difficult, if only because of the more time that will need to be spent, but nothing is impossible here either.

Fresh herbs are a great addition to homemade dishes in winter. Portions of greens from the store constantly have to be updated, in the refrigerator it fades a little, loses its freshness. Another thing is to take sprigs of greenery from your windowsill for seasoning, the quality differs significantly.

Cultivation and care

soil for herbs

The soil is bought at a garden store or prepared in advance in the fall. It consists of equal parts:

• garden soil,
• peat,
• river sand
• sawdust.

It is necessary to start backfilling the pot with drainage: expanded clay, pebbles, small gravel or pieces of broken brick. The drainage layer is at least a quarter of the total volume of the pot. The earth is poured on top of it.

Water for irrigation

The pot is poured with melt water, which is very easy to prepare. incomplete plastic bottle with water is placed in the freezer or exposed to the cold for freezing.

Planting seeds

The seeds are laid out on the spilled earth in three segments and covered with a thin layer of slightly dried earth. Soon the soil moisture will even out, and you can save it if you cover the top of the pot with a transparent plastic lid or a plastic bag.

Creating conditions for plant growth

Plant growth and yield are affected by lighting and conditions in the apartment. To insulate the roots under pots on a cold windowsill, foam is placed or the plants are placed in two pots; if there is a lack of light, additional lamps are turned on.

Types of greenery

Spinach

At home, it is worth growing something that grows quickly. Spinach is one of them.

In early spring, it is planted in a greenhouse and after 1.5 months it is completely removed from it. Some varieties of spinach grow on the windowsill. He needs a lot of sunlight and moisture. Spinach roots penetrate deep into the soil, the plant requires loosening 2 hours after watering.

Salad

The king of the kitchen window is the leaf sandwich salad. It is planted in a plastic box with two pallets. The second wide and deep pan is needed in order to wet the ground well once a week and excess water does not spread over the windowsill. An almost small bed is made under the leaf lettuce, maintaining a distance between the grooves of 5–6 cm and planting the seeds to a depth of 1 cm. You should not pour a lot of seeds. Lettuce expands. Extra bushes are transplanted into another pot or stored in the refrigerator.

Watercress

Greens on the windowsill can be any, even watercress. It is tasty and healthy, although the leaves are sometimes very small. Because of these features, it is planted separately from other plants. The container is filled with 10 cm of soil, the seeds are planted to a depth of 1 cm. The soil for watercress is watered abundantly, lettuce leaves are cut for eating, and they grow again from the roots. After the first cut, add to the irrigation water mineral fertilizers, and lettuce grows faster.

Onion

The most common greens on the windowsill are onions. The garden on the window begins and ends with it. It is the most common on the green market, but you also need to be able to grow it.

Onions can be grown both in the ground, without completely burying the onion head in the ground, and in water, changing it after two weeks. Features of cultivation are that only the roots and the lower part of the onion are lowered into the water. For complete success, a wooden raft is made, which has 3-4 holes for the bulbs. The raft is placed in a deep cup of water and a drop of fertilizer is added to it.

An old, tried-and-tested way to get green onions in winter is to spread the heads close together in a box of soil and water sparingly. In the early days, the box is placed in a dark, warm place. When the onion sprouts, the box is transferred to the windowsill.

Joint planting of herbs

The table becomes varied when fresh parsley, Dill And celery. They all coexist in one container and can grow not only on kitchen window but also in the room. Greenery looks beautiful in any interior.

In an apartment, a loggia, on an insulated balcony, you can grow a lot of greenery using modern patio seeds.

The spring garden at home is a million in one: eco-style praised by the Scandinavians, saving on vitamins and entertainment for the whole family. They checked what can be easily grown on the windowsill, and what will have to be very confused; where to get by with improvised means, and where it is better not to save; which plants should be grown from seeds, and which ones should be grown from leftovers not included in the salad.

Devices

You can grow fresh herbs at home without any special tools at all, planting seeds in packing trays from under vegetables and herbs, yogurt cups or containers from Doshik. However, for beauty and style, it is better to purchase special pots or boxes - wide, but not deep. It is convenient if they are equipped with special lids to create a greenhouse effect, although this can be achieved by simply covering the pot with plastic wrap or packing it in a transparent bag from the nearest Magnit.

The same principle applies to tools - you can dig in the ground with improvised means, but why, if Fix Price asks only 50 rubles for a decent mini-shovel and rake? You will also need a spray gun or a watering can with a “rain” nozzle and a bottle for settling water - watering young greens with tap water is too cruel.

The most stylish pots and watering cans this spring were seen in, although their prices are not the most affordable (the Bittergurka watering can made of white eco-ceramics is 799 rubles, and this is already with a seasonal discount). Quite fashionable ones can also go broke on garden gadgets - hydroponic beds, aqua farms and mini-greenhouses - you can check the possibilities of technology, for example, at the link.

For soil it is better to go to the store. Dig up on the nearest lawn or grandmother's dacha is not an option, because the street land is full of not only weeds, but also insect larvae that have no place in the kitchen. It is ideal to buy special soil for homemade vegetables (30-50 rubles for a five-liter package), but if there is none in the nearest store, soil for indoor plants is also suitable. You can also spend money on drainage - expanded clay or special pebbles, or you can use crushed polystyrene foam or chopped corks from eight-March wine bottles.

Training

Having stocked up with everything you need, we choose a place for a garden. Experts recommend a kitchen window sill - it is more humid and warm there than in rooms. However, before trusting expert opinion, decide on a list of plants: some (basil, oregano, spinach) really love light and warmth, while others (marjoram, watercress) need shade and coolness. These can be planted on a glazed loggia.

We plant each type of greenery in its own pot - not only because of differences in care and climate, but also because most plants cannot stand close proximity to others. If there is not enough space, but you want to plant a lot, it is better to use hanging planters or racks.

We fill the bottom of the pots with drainage, and then lay out the soil. Its thickness depends on what we plant. Seeds can be soaked for several hours in a small amount of water - usually they are wrapped in cheesecloth and laid out in a saucer of water. The optimal moment for planting is when sprouts begin to hatch from the seeds.

Before planting, the soil is loosened, moistened, the seeds are planted to the desired depth, after which the soil is slightly tamped and watered again. Close with a lid or polyethylene until sprouts appear.

So that the plant does not grow crookedly, leaning towards the window, the “bed” must be rotated 180 degrees daily. An alternative for the lazy is to attach foil to the pot to reflect sunlight.

To use fertilizers or not, each gardener decides for himself. From effective and at the same time safe - ash, chopped banana peel, eggshell or yeast.

Starter level

Even a kindergartner can grow green onions, watercress or parsley on the windowsill. Planting watercress does not even require land: the seeds are placed in moistened cotton wool or paper towels. You can also do without a pot - a plate or a tray is enough. It is necessary to sow densely so that the plants support each other. Press the seeds into a damp substrate and place on a lighted windowsill. It is important to maintain humidity, but not flood. The salad does not like heat - the top temperature for it is 18 degrees. Harvest should be expected in 2-3 weeks. To renew seedlings, you can either plant new seeds every 3-4 days, or sow a new pallet every two weeks (this rule works for almost all plants that are grown from seeds).

Green onions can also be grown without soil. The bulb is placed in a glass of water so that only the root part is in the water. Change the water daily to avoid rotting. You can also transplant into the ground - after the roots appear. It is not necessary to deepen the bulbs entirely, you can plant them tightly - one to one. Also - through the roots and water - grow celery. They take as a basis not the root (which would seem logical), but the stump from the leaf. After the roots appear in the water, it is transplanted into a pot and wait a couple of weeks until new leaves appear.

Mint is grown directly from twigs bought in a store: they are placed in water, and after the roots appear, they are planted in a flower pot. Only regular watering is important.

Parsley can be grown from both roots and seeds. For the first method, we are looking for greens in a pot in supermarkets, cut off the leaves, and place the root in moist soil. The first shoots should appear in a few days. To grow not one bush, but a whole garden, we buy seeds. We plant them in peat cups or directly into the ground. The first harvest will appear only in a month and a half, but it will be updated throughout the whole year. Parsley loves light and water, but it is picky about temperature - it grows equally well on the kitchen windowsill and on an unheated balcony.

It is difficult to spoil the bed with dill. Seeds can not even be soaked - immediately planted in moist soil. The main requirement is to ensure frequent watering. best variety for growing at home - "Gribovsky".

Marjoram is also unpretentious - it survives on loggias even in winter and germinates well from seeds. It easily tolerates not only cold, but also a lack of light, but you still have to water it.

Level Explorer

Having dispersed "simple" plants, you can move on to more capricious ones. You don't have to do anything supernatural - just follow certain conditions.

Basil seeds are planted at a distance of 5-6 centimeters from each other, because otherwise the bushes that appear will be crowded, and the pots are placed in the warmest place in the kitchen, creating an "Italian" habitual conditions. You can also grow it from cuttings by putting the twigs bought in the store into the water and subsequently transplanting them into the ground. Spinach and arugula seeds are not planted deep - otherwise there is a risk of not waiting for the harvest at all. These plants need both sun and abundant watering. For a long time - 3-4 weeks - oregano also sprouts. But here the abundance of water is only to the detriment: even a slight stagnation of liquid can lead to the death of the crop.

Leaf lettuce will be good only in moist air - in a dry and hot room, its leaves will become rough and bitter. Watering should be plentiful, but if poured, the roots will rot. But the plant tolerates cold calmly - on glazed balcony will grow until late autumn. For home conditions, it is better to take the Lollo Rossa, Lollo Bionda, Red Credo, Odessa, Vitamin and New Year varieties. They can be grown from seeds, stalks or rhizomes left in pots from the supermarket.