While perusing through the aisles at Costco, I come across a large shelving unit stocked with vibrant and irresistible-smelling herbs. Each box comes with 6 herbs. There was parsley, sage, mint, thyme, basil…and basil. The cardboard tray advertised a rosemary plant as well but none of the neatly lined trays had rosemary, instead there was a double dose of basil. Since I have a large rosemary bush in my backyard, I wasn’t too concerned.
I run my index finger across the leaves of the sage plant, bring it to my nose and inhale. I probably don’t need anymore plants this year, but I can not resist; these herbs were following me home. While driving back, inspiration strikes! Why not turn the window that faces our courtyard into a window sill herb garden?
To start, I bought six 7″ terracotta pots to plant the herbs. Since my window is only 28.5″ wide, I am only able to fit four of these pots along the window sill. The other two will need to be placed somewhere else in my home. Since these will be sitting on a window garden ledge (once I construct it), I also purchased 6″ terracotta plates to fit under the pots.
I also acquired some potting soil (making sure it was for indoor use) and stones for the bottom of the pot. The technique of putting stones at the bottom over the drain hole is something I learned from my mother. She says it helps to ensure proper drainage. Since this is a woman that can even take care of orchids, I do not argue and simply follow this tradition.
It will take me some time to design and construct the window sill garden box. I’ll keep you updated. When I finally build the window sill garden box, there will be plenty of photos and even plans to download!
Right now I need to take off as I have just figured out how I am going to build a couple of trellises in the courtyard so that the star jasmine plants can climb up the wall. I’ll share the photos and plans of the project with you soon.
For now, if you are interested, here are the plans for an urban vegetable planter box. Happy gardening!
