Kitchen Window Herb Garden

I love to cook and for me one of the joys of summer is being able to go out to my large herb garden and pick fresh herbs to use in whatever I am making.

Since I live in Michigan, winter, however, is a completely different matter. It can be bleak and the view that I love from my huge kitchen window over my sink can often become dreary. To liven things up and to also give me some limited access to having fresh herbs throughout the year I decided last year to make a little window herb garden.

I ordered a long 6" wide piece of glass from a local glass company and using some simple shelf brackets mounted it across my window flush with the bottom of my adjoining cabinets. With a few herb plants and some $1 pots from Ikea my window garden was complete.

Having the plants sitting in my window always cheers me up and it so nice to have a few fresh herbs on hand for cooking during winter. Right now I have basil, oregano, thyme and mint on my little glass shelf and I am thinking about whether I want anything else.

I would love to say that my window garden has always flourished, but truthfully I can't. Potted herbs are not as forgiving as those planted in the ground. With being out of town a lot and sometimes working long hours and forgetting to water them I have had some casualties, but luckily I can always plant more seeds when I screw up.