How to Grow a Garden on a Windowsill

While many of us grow flowers and other houseplants on our windowsills, few of us are using this space to grow something edible. If you’ve been dreaming of growing juicy tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, or fragrant herbs for a long time, but you don’t have a garden, no worries. Many veggies can sprout and flourish in just as much space as your windowsills can offer.

We at Bright Side selected a few tips on how to grow fresh and tasty vegetables and herbs on your windowsill, and believe us, you don’t need to have a green thumb to do it. Limited space is no longer an excuse for not having your own personal garden!

Make a vertical garden out of plastic bottles.

The best part of this DIY garden is that you can recycle unwanted plastic and make the most out of your window space. The herbs and veggies grow through cutouts in bottles, and the upper bottles are connected with the lower ones. There are holes in the caps and the bottoms of the bottles that allow water to drip from the upper layers down to the lower ones. The bottom layer of this structure is made of bottles that collect water which you can reuse for watering your vertical garden.

You can find detailed instructions on how to make a garden like this here.

You can try growing bigger plants like cherry tomatoes and cucumbers too.

This type of tomato garden involves plastic bottles that serve as planters and bigger plastic containers that support the whole structure and collect wastewater. You can plant your tomatoes at time intervals so that you can harvest them non-stop.

You can find detailed instructions on how to make this garden here.

Traditional planters are also suitable for growing cherry tomatoes.

Cucumbers are climbing plants, so they’ll need some wires or ropes as support.

You can start with growing onions if you don’t feel confident yet.

Who knew there were so many ways to grow onions on a windowsill? It seems they can grow in almost any type of planter, so if you are a beginner, onions may be just perfect for your first indoor garden experience.

For example, you can make a little onion garden out of a big plastic bottle. You’ll need to cut off the top of the bottle and make holes at even intervals, as shown in picture 1 above. Layer by layer add soil and place the onions along the bottle surface so that they face the holes with their tops (this is where they’ll sprout from later), as shown in picture 2. Finally, place some onions on the top layer of soil, as picture 3 shows. Regularly water your onions and you’ll see a lot of green leaves soon.

You can find detailed instructions on how to grow this little onion garden here.

And here are some more ideas on growing onions that you may find helpful:

Sweet peas also feel fine on a windowsill, just remember that they need support.

You can also grow cilantro...

...or basil.

Microgreens are also a good choice for your windowsill garden.

Microgreens are immature plants that are harvested with scissors shortly after they sprout. All you need to grow these pretty baby veggies are a container, some soil and water and, of course, the seeds. Here are the microgreens that can be easily grown at home: chia, broccoli, cabbage, sunflower, cauliflower, and buckwheat.

You can learn more about growing microgreens here.

You can even try growing microgreens in eggshells.

Eggshells can be used as eco-friendly planters, just don’t forget to rinse them thoroughly. You can find detailed instructions on how to make this beautiful and sustainable garden here.

Still thinking you need to have a green thumb to grow veggies at home? Try scrap gardening! It’s pretty simple.

Don’t rush to throw away vegetable leftovers, because you can regrow these scraps and enjoy the harvest! All you need are some kitchen scraps, a container, and some water. Here are the vegetables you can try to regrow from scraps: onions, romaine lettuce, celery, ginger, potato, carrots, beets, and even pineapples.

You can learn more about scrap gardening here. And here are some pictures of sprouted kitchen waste that can inspire you.

Do you like gardening? Have you ever tried growing anything on a windowsill? What did you grow? Let’s share our gardening tips in the comments!