How Do You Make a Window Garden?

Having a window garden can help you enjoy fresh herbs year-round. Whether you want to make a Caprese salad with basil straight from your garden or add fresh mint to a cocktail, you can do it no matter how urban your home is.

Some homes have very little outdoor space and some areas of the country are not ideal for an outdoor growing season. Regardless of your reason for considering how to build a window garden, we’ll outline in practical tutorial format how to make it happen and explain the top considerations.

Steps to Making a Window Garden

You can build a window garden in about 30 minutes once you’ve assembled the necessary materials and tools. The smell of fresh flowers or herbs will begin to fill your home within a few weeks as your garden matures. You’ll have a beautiful area of your home with some practical benefits.

Step 1: Assemble Your Tools

You’ll need to purchase a few items to get ready for building your garden.

Pots
Seeds
Potting soil
String
Non-permeable plate or tray to place your plants on to avoid water in your window or on your countertop

As you shop for your garden essentials, consider the aesthetics. Since the pots will be on display within your home, you might want to spend a little extra to match your indoor décor. Or if you want to do this more economically, you could use plastic containers from used food items, such as yogurt cups or cottage cheese containers. Just be sure you cut a hole in the bottom to allow excess water to escape.

Step 2: Prepare Water Siphon String

To keep your plants healthy, you’ll create a water siphon from the plate to the pot. If you don’t like the look of the string hanging out on your window garden display, you can place the pot entirely over the string and it will still serve its purposes.

Cut 3-foot-long pieces of string for each plant you’ll be potting. Then, soak the string in water.

Place the string around the bottom of the pot and string your leftover side through the bottom. You should have plenty of string within the pot and down on the plate.

Repeat this step for as many pots as you’ll be planting in your window.

Step 3: Fill Pots with Soil

Get your potting soil and fill up your pots most of the way. Don’t overfill the pots. You need to leave room to plant your seeds and add the appropriate amount of soil over the top of the seeds. Read your seed packages to see how deep you are supposed to plant the seeds and plan accordingly.

Add water to your soil and mix it up as best you can to ensure you have evenly moist soil.

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Step 4: Plant Your Seeds

Make a small depression in the middle of your pot to prepare for your seeds. Having a depression will aid in water collection to retain moisture in the right place. You should use a few seeds from each pack.

Read the directions on the packet to see how many seeds it recommends planting together. And if the packet just says to sow the seeds thinly, put 4-6 seeds in each pot. Generally, small window garden pots should not have more than 10 seeds.

Cover the seeds with the appropriate amount of soil. Again, this depends on what the package says. You’ll likely see a quarter to half an inch below the soil surface, which means you’ll need to cover your seeds with a quarter to half an inch of potting soil.

Step 5: Water the Plants

Water the soil to create a moist environment. You don’t want to overwater to the point where your soil is soggy, but soil that is too dry will also not create a hospitable environment for your plants to grow.

You also want to fill your tray or plate with water. The water level on the tray should be above the bottom of the plants. You can add water to the tray as the plants soak it up. This way, you can water your plants about every week instead of every few days.

Step 6: Place Plants Near Window

Although you’ll be growing indoor plants, they still need sunlight. Make sure to place them as close to a window as possible. Consider what window in your home gets the longest rays. But also consider where the plants will be safe from disruption from other household members, such as children or pets.

Indoor Gardening Tips

Growing an indoor garden should be fairly easy with the right environment. But to ensure you have the greatest chance of success, follow these tips.

Before you see sprouts, cover your plants with plastic wrap loosely. You want to allow air to get to the plants but the goal is to hold in the moisture as much as possible to provide the best environment for growth.
Place your plants in a warm spot, such as on top of the refrigerator until you see sprouts. Once the plants are sprouting, you should move them close to a window to optimize their sunlight exposure. And at this point, you also want to remove the plastic wrap.
Water the tray as needed. Your goal is to keep the tray’s water levels above the bottom of the pots.
Monitor the soil’s moisture. Something could go wrong with your string siphon and you don’t want to discover that too late. When you add water to the plate, just check to see how moist your soil is. You don’t have to check daily. And if anything goes wrong with the string siphon, begin watering each pot every other day instead of using the plate method.

Benefits of an Indoor Garden

Whether you’re planting an indoor garden out of convenience, necessity or just because you like looking at plants throughout the day, you’ll experience many great benefits from your garden.

1. Reduced Stress Levels

Research shows that having plants in your home can help make the home more comfortable while also soothing those who live there. You’ll feel at one with nature and studies show that caring for your plants provides a lower stress response, which means a more steady heart rate and blood pressure.

2. Sharper Attention

You won’t get the same benefits from artificial plants but having real plants in your home can improve your attention span. This research study found that students that had live plants in their learning environment were more attentive and had better concentration levels than students that did not have real plants.

3. Better Productivity

Studies show that having plants in your work environment boosts productivity. Part of the reason for this is because plants reduce stress levels and if you’re less stressed, you’re in a better frame of mind to work efficiently. And you might experience fewer sick days when you have a plant near your work environment.

4. Improved Indoor Air Quality

Plants remove contaminants from the air. A 1980s NASA study reported on phytoremediation and provided greater context for understanding how the process works. Some plants are more effective at cleaning the air than others so before you plant anything, research the benefits of these air-cleaning varieties.

Window Replacement to Prepare for a Garden

Window gardens are a great way to support your passion for gardening. For the best results, you’ll want to have energy-efficient windows that block drafts from hitting your plants. Old windows likely won’t create a good environment for your plants to grow.2FL Windows, Siding & Roofing offers professional window replacement and a team of experts who can recommend the best window options based on your needs. We can also provide information on garden window replacement to provide the best possible environment for indoor plants. Schedule your free in-home estimate and consultation.

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