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Seeds on the Sill I'd never tried to grow anything from seed on a windowsill. Most of my sills are too narrow to hold much and I figured it would be messy and a bit of a bother to have to move plants every time I wanted to open or close the window's blinds. I'd also recently replaced all of my home's windows with more energy efficient double pane that also had a tint to them that would keep out some of the bright Arizona sunshine. I happened to be in a Lowe's to pick up some small tool I needed when I noticed not far from the main entrance a nice display of seeds and seed starting paraphernalia by Ferry-Morse®. There were trays, peat pots, peat pellets, and narrow seed starting containers along with small bags of seed starting mix. I couldn't resist, and before I knew it I had a couple of bags of starting mix, peat pots and windowsill greenhouse kits stuck under my arms. I also picked up a couple of packs of seeds because they were fresh, and pelleted for easier handling. Boy talk about an impulse buyer! Congratulations to Lowe's for their in store marketing. I had no intention of buying any of that stuff when I walked into the store.
It didn't take long to open up the packages and start planting. The windowsill containers with the peat pellets were filled with warm water as directed and the pellets quickly increased in size. Extra water was poured off and a few seeds were dropped into the pellets and carefully covered over. A label identifying the seeds was added and placed on its side in the tray. The plastic lid to hold in moisture was then placed on the tray. I also filled a 10-inch by 22-inch plastic tray with peat pots and Styrofoam containers I recycled from the produce section of the grocery store. It didn't have one of the plastic greenhouse domes to help hold in moisture and I watered the freshly planted containers with a hand pump, half gallon sprayer. I had two useable windows. One faced the northeast, the other the southeast. Both had nice five and a half inch tiled sills. A few days after planting the seeds the first basil seedlings appeared through the condensation of one of the mini greenhouse covers. They grew fairly quickly and seemed to have elongation apparently suffering from the lack of light as the seedlings stretched toward the window. The containers were rotated on a regular basis to keep the seedlings growing upright instead of leaning toward the light. It was obvious the window light was not really adequate for good growth. The same was even more apparent with the tomato seedling.
The small Styrofoam flats of coleus and chive filled peat pots seemed to do a bit better in the windows as did the Thunbergia alata, black-eyed Susan vine. The germination percentage was poor on the black-eyed Susan and when there's only 25 seeds per package you wonder if it's worth it. These seeds were mail ordered.
All in all, the growing seeds on a windowsill worked. It would have worked even better if there's been more light coming in the two windows I used. There's also the problem of acclimation. Once the seedlings are large enough to transplant to other containers they'll need to be grown somewhere protected until spring weather arrives. The plants will then need to go outside and get acclimated or hardened off, gradually introducing them to full sun to prevent foliage burn.
Ideally, in the winter, the seed starting windows should face south so they can get lots of light as the low angled winter sun moves across the sky. You don't want shade trees blocking the light either. Use a good seed starting mix so there's less chance of damping off and be sure to keep the seeds moist. Read the instructions for planting the seeds. Some may lay on the surface of the soil while others will need to be lightly covered. You can purchase seed growing supplies as those pictured on this page or you can recycle all kinds of containers for growing your seeds. For more information on starting seeds see Starting Seeds. (2008) |
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