insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 13 - March 2016 | Page 42

FOOD+DRINK

Your Own Windowsill Garden
Not everyone has a garden, not everyone wants a garden, and even those who do
sometimes aren’t particularly keen to go out in all weathers to attend to it. And yet, there
is something so utterly satisfying about growing something – whether it be flowers,
vegetables, or herbs – from scratch that occasionally even those who are less than green
thumbed get the urge to plant something and take care of it. BY LISAMARIE LAMB

Some of the time that urge passes without incident. The rest of
the time it can be easily soothed; the answer is a windowsill
garden.
Windowsill gardens are perfect for homes with little or no
outside space, or houses with gardens that are the domain of
the kids or the pets, or even those that have a patio and not a
lot else – certainly nowhere to grow anything. Windowsill gardens
are ideal for people who want to produce something to be proud
of, but who don’t want to go outside to do it. Basically, everyone
and anyone can make a windowsill garden.
According to the National Trust, we in the UK have around
600 acres of space available on our windowsills that could be
used to grow plants and veggies. Imagine that; imagine being
able to simply reach up and pick your own beetroot or chard or
lettuce or strawberries or rosemary. It doesn’t get fresher or
more exciting than that when it comes to perfectly organic, totally
homegrown.
The problem many of us face when gardening is the labour
intensive nature of it. It’s not for everyone. It’s not a weekend
job, or something that can be put off until we have enough time
or feel more like doing it. Watering, weeding, caring for your
precious plants has to be done on a daily basis, and when it’s
drizzling and damp that isn’t going to inspire a Tom-and-BarbaraGood-Life feeling in anyone.
But having a windowsill garden dispenses with all of that;
within easy reach, inside, it’s not such a chore to water them
every day and pluck out the bits that don’t belong there. In fact,
because it’s all being grown on the windowsill there are far fewer
weeds than there would have been had it been out in the ground,
which makes the job even easie ȸ()Q